Why Chatbots Are Vital for A Business Website?
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After the industrial revolution, it is the technological revolution of the 20th and 21st century that has changed the very core of life as we know it. Whether we like or not, technology has automated the simplest and most complex tasks and processes, eventually making life smooth and way easy. Just think about it!
You can instantly book a flight, train, or bus ticket in just a few clicks on your smartphone without any need to contact a travel agent or standing in long queues.
You can transfer money in just a couple of minutes from one account to another, irrespective of your location and without visiting the bank.
You can order in your food or groceries from apps on your smartphone while making payments through highly secured gateways and get them delivered on to your doorsteps. And we are just getting started as the number of such examples are practically countless. As customers and consumers, we are always in the search of the next app that would somehow make our lives easier.
In such scenario, the marketing industry is no exception. Here too, consumers are always looking for an easier way to approach companies or their representatives. Gone are the days when customers would call the help desk and wait in queue to get the solution. No longer they want to fill those long complaint forms and wait for the customer executives to call them back. Consumers want instant answers to their queries while having the ultimate control over the entire conversation.
But how to make this possible? The answer is Chatbot.
What is Chatbot?
Theoretically, a chatbot is a programmed interactive chat platform that a website or an app visitor can interact with. These chatbots are developed while keeping the usual human behavior in mind, so when a website visitor converses with any chatbot, they mimic the human behavior while conversing with the visitor. Nowadays, almost every website has a live chat tool embedded so that consumers like us have unhindered, 24X7 support. Chatbots are quite similar to these live chats with the only exception that rather a human responding to all consumer queries, questions and answers are pre-programmed in chatbots. Add AI to this mix, and the chatbot is ready to learn on its own!
Chatbots enhance the user experience and user journey on any website by helping them reach from one end to another without getting lost. Chatbots are like mini guides that help consumers find the apt information or product on a website without any hassle. Now, let’s know a bit more about chatbots and why they are vital for a business website.
Types of Chatbots
Simple chatbots answers only pre-set commands or keywords, which are programmed by the developer. When it comes to the interaction with consumers, their capabilities are limited. For instance, if a visitor asks a bot a question or types a keyword that didn’t match the set of programmed keywords or phrases, the bot would fail to answer the query.
A step ahead from simple chatbots, advanced chatbots are fueled by the power of artificial intelligence while they are conversing with the website visitors. AI and ML help these bots to understand the basic communication and language and provide responses with different suggestions, without the need to enter the pre-programmed keywords or phrases.
Why Use A Chatbot in Website?
Now you may be wondering what a chatbot can do for a website or is it worth all the hype? Or what role would it play in improving the marketing strategies? Or if a chatbot can be employed in a small or mid-size company? Or is chatbot can really do something to add value to the website?
The answer is a big yes. Let’s see how:
Simplifying Things & Processes
A business website is filled with plethora of information, providing customers all answers they could possibly require. However, the main concern is ensuring that the information is at the customer’s disposal as customers don’t have the time to dig around for answers. Rather wasting time in searching information, they wish for a magic button they can click on and their issues are instantly resolved. Chatbot is that magic button as they make things easy for all parties. They are programmed to provide consumers immediately and they do it quite well.
Let The Chatbots Do The Talk
Well, bots are definitely not human, but that doesn’t negate the fact that they can be au natural most of the times. Their approach toward any conversation is same as that of conducting business: organized and natural. And natural to the extent that customers might forget for a moment that they are talking to a bot. Moreover, bots are not human and don’t have any feelings, they don’t have those emotional issues that human usually face, making it easier for their human customers remain calm, cool, and collected. Even when a customer gets all riled up, a bot won’t answer back or contradict. Using a bot for such customer interactions can provide your valuable consumers not only undivided attention and respect, but also gives you an upper hand when it comes to customer experience.
Bots Are Always There
Bots are programmed to cater the needs of your customers, irrespective of their geographical location or time zone. Doesn’t matter if any consumer has any question or issue at 2:00 am in the night, chatbots are there to assist you willingly without any complaints. For small and mid-size businesses, bots are not less than a boon. With limited budget and resources, bots can easily replace live representatives, saving money and other assets.
Build Brand Trust with Bots
One thing that every company or brand strives is customers’ trust and credibility. When there’s an AI-powered chatbot in a business website, it becomes the first point of contact for the potential customers. This is the time where these bots can educate visitors about your products and services, helping the brand establish a strong connection with them.
Still sceptical about using chatbots for your business? Let’s quickly enlist some of other reasons:
- Better customer service
- Improved lead generation
- No need of a human representative
- Hyper personalized customer experience
With so many benefits that chatbots have to offer, you would be soon wondering why your company didn’t employ one before. So, shun away your doubts and leverage this advanced technology to optimize your ROI.
