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Owning a business is not a piece of cake. It takes careful management of a lot of moving parts. It takes patience and dedication. Plus, streamlined processes to get things rolling in the right direction. And with so much work, it’s no wonder that the need for simpler solutions has become essential to a business’s success.
Enter automation. Using artificial intelligence to make business processes more efficient is no longer a thing of the future. These solutions are here and they are here to help.
One of these solutions is the chatbot. Chatbots were designed to streamline customer interaction. They save you time and money on customer services, while also improving your customer satisfaction levels. If you’ve ever dreamt of an assistant that always has the right attitude and the right answers and that rarely needs to check in with you, the chatbot is your dream come true.
Today we’re rounding up some of the most amazing ways in which chatbots can improve your customer satisfaction and take your business to the next level. Read on to find out why a chatbot is the best solution for your customer interaction needs.
A chatbot is an efficient way to streamline your business’ customer service interactions. Another name for a chatbot is ACE, namely Artificial Conversational Entity. And that is how they can best be described.
They are assistants that take over and automate your online conversations with customers. Complaints, clarifications, recommendations, you name it. They have the conversations your customer service representatives would have at a fraction of the normal time and cost.
The technical side of chatbot implementation is now easier than ever, no matter what type of landing page builder you used, you can integrate Chatbot programs into your website to guide visitors through the site and toward a purchase. You can have them handle your instant messaging needs or integrate them into your apps.
Chatbots are either simple (scripted) or smart. Simple chatbots understand certain keywords and provide relevant answers. They are less skilled at handling more complex questions and tasks and are limited by their ability to work on a prior script. Smart chatbots are, of course, smarter. They are AI-trained to understand variation and can provide answers to more intricate questions. Their secret weapon is Natural Language Processing or NLP for short. These chatbots are known for improving customer satisfaction. Why? Because they offer more efficient support and a more intimate, personal experience.
The main benefit of chatbots is that they automate your interaction with leads or customers. But, without making conversations impersonal. On the contrary, chatbots are known for boosting customer satisfaction levels because they help build relationships on a more personal level, at least in comparison to the FAQ section. For instance, 8 out of 10 customers report engagement with a chatbot as positive.
Customers appreciate the interaction with chatbots for several reasons. First of all, they feel tended to. That alone weighs a lot in how likely a customer is to return. Just imagine how you react when you enter a store and are immediately greeted and tended to by a friendly shop assistant.
Next, chatbots are very efficient at offering quick solutions. No time wasted from the time they enter your website to the time they find what they are looking for is bound to make your customers happy.
Other benefits of using a chatbot are:
Introductions are behind us, and we went in detail over why chatbots are something that your business should definitely consider. Now let’s have a look at the area that is nowadays the main differentiator between a failing and successful business – customer satisfaction.
1. Streamlining the Customer Journey
We all know you have mere seconds to convince a visitor to turn into a customer. And you also have many chances of losing a potential customer when they don’t find what they need fast.
Chatbots can save the day and increase your sales and profits by increasing your website’s usability. Engaging with a prospective buyer and providing support and quick answers is a surefire way for businesses to gain customers. Say someone visits your website looking for more information on the product you offer. They go to the home page and wander around. To get more information, they will need to click a lot of ‘more info’ buttons or read blog posts. Or call.
A chatbot can jump in from the beginning to help the potential customer better understand what they need, what you can provide, and how they can order. This way, the buyer is happy that their problem was tended to in a timely manner and you are happy that they turned into a customer.
You can also train your chatbot to give a special offer to visitors. Or inform them of any special discounts. Chatbots can provide potential customers with additional information to help them on their buyer’s journey.
Since the use of the webinar software has enjoyed a steep increase, chatbots are here to help too. As webinars are used for upselling, leads conversion, high ticket sales, or just increased customer education – the use of the chatbot significantly simplifies the process of converting a cold visitor to a webinar participant.
Still, wondering how a chatbot can positively influence customer satisfaction and resulting sales? How about a 999% ROAS? Here is a detailed case study of how an online store was able to drastically increase their sales, just by implementing a couple of chatbot technologies.
They can give references to blog posts or tutorials so that potential customers can better understand how your product can help them. Then, they can assist them in the buying process, with payment options or delivery methods.
On top of all that, the chatbot is there to offer your customers the support they need at any time of day. Or night. Because unlike human staff, the chatbot doesn’t need sleep or breaks. And it rarely asks for help. Customers will appreciate being able to always get their answers and you will not waste any opportunity for a sale.
2. Providing Immediate Answers to Customer Queries
Let’s go back to the shop assistant metaphor. Imagine the difference between your experience when you enter a shop and no one gives you the time of day versus when you are greeted and tended to.
Negative experiences can scare customers away. Many times, you won’t even know that’s the reason they haven’t returned. Maintaining high standards of customer satisfaction is paramount. It can make or break a business. 69% of consumers shop more with retailers that offer consistently positive online and offline customer service.
Yes, tending to customers the right way can be difficult and take up a lot of resources. But, that’s the main reason chatbots were designed. They can take that load off and improve your customer satisfaction pronto.
For instance, HelloFresh brand had issues with response time, they needed to have separate customer service representatives to tackle the messages from social media, and sometimes they were quite late with their response.
Chatbots are great at starting conversations and keeping potential customers engaged. They are there to say hello and give a warm welcome. Then, when the potential customer has a question, the chatbot will instantly have the right answers.
Do you want those pants in another color? Done! Do you wonder if that dress goes with those shoes? They can tell you that, too. Not sure when you want the product delivered? The chatbot can give you options.
Chatbots are proactive and provide immediate solutions. Train them well and they will know exactly what to say and when. Chatbots can even detect if a customer is frustrated or unhappy. They continuously learn from previous conversations and improve the quality of their response.
3. Improving Your Customer Support Processes
Speaking of the recipe for customer satisfaction, it is made up of several important elements. Friendliness and promptitude are major factors that we just covered. Next up is convenience.
Getting knowledgeable support easily is very important to customers. Let’s take an example. One of your customers needs assistance for returning a product. Before chatbots, their options were to call or send an email about their issue. Then, they had to wait to be directed by an automated service to a customer service representative. Or, wait for a reply to their email. Some would maybe write to you on Facebook that they want to return their product. Either way, all these options take time.
They take time for your customer, but also your customer service representatives. They need to go back and forth by mail or phone to understand the customer’s issue. Then, they need to search for the customer in the database and come up with the appropriate solution. Chatbots do that instantly.
While you are not surprised to discover that chatbots can significantly increase your efficiency in customer service, there is a nice case study worth sharing. Due to the virus outbreak, the industry that received one of the strongest hits – is the hotel business. A decrease in sales can not allow you to keep all your staff and COVID regulations push you towards more attentive customer support. So you are getting in a downward financial spiral.
Not only does this chatbot provide an increase in sales and is a cheap substitute for the missing workforce – most importantly it allows minimizing the direct communication with the hotel employees. This way it tries to tackle the risks associated with COVID while keeping customer service levels high.
Improving customer satisfaction is all about cutting down that time to (almost) zero and providing valuable information promptly. The customer looking to return their product can use the Facebook chatbot or your website chatbot to find out what your return policies are. Problem solved! No time wasted on waiting, no faulty interactions. Reducing the time it takes to provide a solution will encourage the customer to return because their interaction with your brand was satisfactory.
4. Making Customer Experience Personal
Chatbots don’t have to be the impersonal robots you used to see in movies about the future. They are capable of being fun and engaging. So, they can blend in perfectly with the latest digital marketing trend of personalized customer experiences.
Studies show that 80% of people are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. On top of that, a whopping 90% say that they find personalization appealing. No one likes a brand that’s stuck in the past. Everyone expects prompt services tailored to their personal needs. And yes, chatbots can help with that, too.
You can use chatbots to get feedback from customers through surveys. This way, you can get answers on how to deliver better customer experiences right from the source. Unlike survey emails that often get discarded, chatbot surveys collect real-time feedback that can help improve your marketing efforts.
You can use chatbots to find out if customers are satisfied with their performance, but also to learn about your customers’ needs, wants, and expectations. This will allow you to tailor experiences according to your customers’ feedback.
Keeping customers engaged and offering personalized experiences has to include some fun. And, as I mentioned, chatbots can also be trained to be that. Instead of programming your chatbot to use army language, train it to be your customer’s best friend. One example could be: ‘Hello and welcome to our website. How may we help you today?’. But that’s just lame.
How about: ‘Hello Jane! Great to see you again! Did you wear that last dress you purchased? Looking for shoes today?’ Now, that’s personalized. Chatbots can instantly detect a previous customer and pull up all their information to deliver the best customer experience. Wouldn’t you be more likely to spend on a website whose bot knows what you may need?
5. Next Level Social Media Management
Social media for businesses is no longer optional. It’s where brands can be transparent, interact with their customers, and build their image. It’s a great channel for businesses to appeal to their potential customers on a more personal level. And it’s a very good source of leads and profit.
Social chatbots are ready to take on this space as well. Chatbots can manage your customer interactions on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. They can send personalized messages to customers and respond to queries. They can also go one step further and engage with customers by making recommendations and providing sales support. They can help customers navigate their options and choose what suits them best.
For instance, if you decide to grow your audience with a referral contest you can leverage this approach even more with the help of chatbots. They allow you to send a message to users who comment on your Facebook posts, if they reply, they become a subscriber.
Social chatbots can also do smaller tasks if that’s what you need help with. You can let them be in charge of answering the most frequently asked questions and just use them to help bring leads in. After that, chatbots can refer the potential customers to a living, breathing sales rep that will close the deal.
The most awesome thing about chatbots is that they not only help streamline the way you do business, but they are also customizable to fit your brand’s image. Make it as fun or as charming as you want to attract the right buyers and smooth their transition through the sales funnel.
Due to the increasing competition, customer satisfaction is becoming the main differentiating factor. On the other hand, scaling customer support that will be available 24/7 and replying in few seconds or a sales team that can screen every cold lead that is coming to the site is difficult, expensive, and sometimes just impossible.
These factors make businesses lose a lot of potential clients or make the existing one unsatisfied. That is the main driving factor behind the success of chatbots. The support that they can provide to your company already now is significant and not only they are here to stay but their growth year on year is speeding up.
Straight answers to the 10 most important questions about getting started with chatbots.
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