If you’re looking for a way to engage with your customers, ensure that they can reach you with any queries, and give yourself an additional opportunity to upsell, then a chatbot could be an excellent addition to your site.
If you’re not sure what it is, a chatbot is an automated way of communicating with your customers on your website via text. You can program it with responses to any number of questions that your customer might have, or you can even link it up with AI software that will practically simulate a conversation with a real-life person.
Give customers a speedy response
If you want to compete in today’s market, speed is key. Unfortunately, around two-thirds of consumers expect a response to any query they pose within 10 minutes, which is a difficult benchmark to meet even during working hours!
Using a chatbot means that your customers can access the information they need quickly, which helps to improve service and also increases trust. If all of the information about your business is easily accessible, this tells your customers that you aren’t hiding anything and that they can trust you.
If customers can’t access the information they need, this could prompt them to abandon their order with you and even go to a competitor, so this is important.
They are a preferred communication channel
According to recent reports, 56% of consumers would rather use chatbots than speak with a company directly on the phone or over email.
It comes down to the desire to self-serve. People want to resolve their query when they have it and without having to talk to another person.
Think about it, if you’re shopping in your pajamas just before going to bed, you’re unlikely to want to have to call a customer service representative and pretend to be awake! It’s far preferable to find the information you need on an FAQ section or by talking with a chatbot!
Plus, an increasing number of people who don’t like talking on the phone at any time, so a chatbot would be a major bonus.
If your website offers a chatbot that has helpfully resolved a query in the past, this is a strong reason for people to come back to your site when they have orders in the future.
Consistency
There is nothing more frustrating than talking with a customer service representative who tells you one thing, only to be told something completely different the next time you call in.
It’s easy to see how it happens. Call centers are fast-paced environments that often have a high level of staff turnover. That means that training may not always be as comprehensive as you would like. Plus, call center operatives are only human! So, it’s easy to make a mistake.
If you use a chatbot to answer customer queries, the answers will always be the same because they come either from the pre-programmed responses you have input or from the same piece of AI software.
This means that you provide consistent support at all times, which helps build trust from your customers and eliminates frustration from being given inaccurate information.
Multi-lingual support
A huge benefit to chatbots is that they can be programmed to work in any language.
This has a number of benefits:
- Increases your reach. If your website and accompanying chatbot can be translated into any language, this means that you can provide the same service to customers anywhere in the world! This is a huge opportunity for expansion.
- Increases repeat custom. Surveys have shown that someone who is provided customer service in their first language is 74% more likely to be a repeat customer. Thus, communicating with someone in their first language is important to build trust in your brand.
- Fewer calls to your contact center. If someone can self-serve in their own language, then they won’t need to call your contact center if they have a problem or query. This saves you time and improves customer service.
Record answers
If customers have resolved a query with your chatbot, they have the opportunity to download a transcript of the whole thing to refer back to later. Transcripts will also be saved to your servers.
This means that they have a record of the steps to take to resolve the issue if it should recur, but it also means that if they need to contact you again, it’s much easier to see the conversations they have already had. This removes the need to have the same conversation or suggest the same troubleshooting steps multiple times.
Increased sales
A recent survey indicated that websites can increase their sales by 67% when using a chatbot.
Chatbots can be used to guide your customers through the sales process, helping them to locate the products they need and place their orders. If customers can more easily find the things they need, then they are more likely to complete the order process, so this is important.
Providing good quality assistance also helps customers to feel as though you really care about providing service, which leaves a good impression and makes it more likely that they will come to you in the future.
Patience
If a customer service team member is rude to a customer, this can have serious negative consequences.
Rude customer service staff can damage your reputation, cause customers to go elsewhere, lose your sales, and impact on other members of your team as they deal with the aftermath of a customer who has been treated poorly.
The great thing about chatbots is that they don’t have feelings. So, they will never lose their patience and be rude to a customer; they will merely keep trying to help resolve the customer’s problem until they succeed.
Personalization
It’s possible to configure your chatbot with a personality of your choosing, which means you can use the personality best suited to your business.
For example, if your brand identity is fun and playful, you might design your chatbot persona with this in mind. In the same way, if your image is more professional and a little more serious, your chatbot could reflect this.