AI chatbots – do you need them? Think about this: How long would your customer wait to get the answer to a query? How long would it take them to click a button and get to the next website where their question is answered immediately? Seconds is what it takes to lose a customer in today’s digital age. If that’s not the outcome you want, then yes, you need AI chatbots.
The growing need for round-the-clock customer support is not the only reason AI chatbots are gaining popularity. This article will discuss the real benefits of AI chatbots and help you see the pros and cons of implementing them in your business.
AI Chatbots Are Revolutionizing The Way You Connect With Your Customers Are You Ready To Embrace The Change With AI?
What is AI Chatbot?
An artificial intelligence chatbot is a software application that uses AI to stimulate human dialogue with users. These bots combine Machine Learning with Natural Language Processing. They differ from traditional chatbots, and their responses are not pre-programmed. AI chatbots are flexible and can adapt to users’ input over time. They can also generate an algorithm that will cater to users’ needs.
AI-powered chatbots are most popular in the customer service industry. They perform functions such as replying to FAQs, offering product recommendations, and performing basic transactions. They are also frequently used to collect survey responses in the research industry.
Read more: Leading NLP Platforms that Support Chatbot Development
Rise in AI Chatbot Adoption Across Various Industries
AI chatbots have gained popularity across various industries. The chatbot market is valued at USD 7.01 billion and will grow to USD 20.81 billion by 2029.
Where is this growth happening? Everywhere!
For customers, chatbots translate into faster responses, better customer service, and easier sales flow. Industries can leverage this to their benefit. AI chatbots can help lower costs, increase conversion rates, and boost sales cycles. From the e-commerce and real estate industries to the medical industry. AI-powered chatbots have managed to assist and automate various tasks.
Some industries where the benefits of AI chatbots are evident:
- Conversational AI chatbots in customer support
- AI chatbots that nudge customers with proactive product suggestions in marketing
- Appointment scheduling and personalized care plans in healthcare
- Instant, personalized financial advice in banking
- Virtual tutors and course advisors in education
- Easier booking processes and shorter queues in tourism
- Streamlined checkouts and personalized product recommendations in retail
This is just scratching the surface when it comes to the benefits of AI chatbots in different industries.
Has AI Changed Chatbots to Better Service Businesses?
AI chatbots are not preprogrammed like ordinary chatbots. They are designed to search the Internet and generate answers based on credible sources. The world of artificial intelligence stops for no one. It is constantly changing and generating new and better tools. Chatbots have learned to use this to their benefit and evolve alongside AI.
Originally, chatbots were programmed only to provide appropriate responses to prompts. AI chatbots have evolved to generate leads, gather insights, and recognize sale patterns. They are now capable of performing critical operational tasks for the company. AI chatbots have gained the ability to learn and adapt. AI chatbots can save time and effort by automating and streamlining difficult procedures thanks to the diverse nature of artificial intelligence.
What are the Pros and Cons of Implementing Chatbots?
As with any emerging technology, AI chatbots have their own set of pros and cons. Yet, when the pros and cons are recognized, they can be used to improve chatbot functioning.
Here is a list of the pros and cons of implementing chatbots within your organizational framework:
Pros –
Provide Around-The-Clock Customer Service
This is perhaps the biggest pro of implementing chatbots. Your chatbots will be available to customers 24/7. They can answer any question your client may have with unparalleled speed. This results in boosted customer satisfaction. Another reason why the chatbot’s 24/7 availability is beneficial is because it frees up human agents. When your employees are not performing mundane tasks, they can concentrate on more vital activities. This will, in turn, boost the productivity of the organization.
Provider Personalized Customer Experience
Everyone’s communication style is as unique as their fingerprints. This makes it important to provide appropriate and empathetic responses to each query. For instance, chatbots enable users to interpret informal language and regional dialects. They can also augment discussions with plugins like photos, carousels, and documents. They can also analyze speech patterns and discern the intent behind interactions. This gives the customer a more personalized experience with the chatbot. Thus, leading to further engagement with the company as a whole.
Gather Customer Insights
The key to corporate success is customer satisfaction. AI chatbots can learn your customers’ preferences and likings. Through their FAQs and requests, you can learn all you need to know about your customers. AI chatbots can also lend a helping hand with strategic decision-making that is set to provide personalized service with each interaction.
Cons –
Have Less Understanding of Natural Language
Research and efforts are being made to improve chatbots’ ability to use natural language while communicating. Despite these efforts, machines aren’t quite there yet. Shortcut keys are often used to speed up answers and boost efficiency. This comes with a backlash of misinterpreted language, misspellings, and unintentional language tones that could be rude. However, with effective advancements, this problem will cease to exist.
Need Regular Maintenance from Time to Time
Chatbots require regular modifications, optimization, and maintenance to keep their knowledge base fresh and appropriate. This can become an additional workload for company owners. Chatbots must also be updated with fresh and pertinent data to provide the best possible responses to customer concerns and requests.
The Role Of Chatbots In Boosting Brand Loyalty & Experience
What are the Benefits of Using AI Chatbots?
There are countless advantages to adopting AI chatbots. From reducing costs to driving sales, they can offer efficiency in various areas of business management. Some of these benefits are:
Enhancing Customer Service
An artificially intelligent Chatbot’s primary advantage is improving customer service. These bots are designed to answer questions from clients, fix issues, and provide personalized assistance. By automating repetitive and mundane processes, they can further improve customer service by freeing up service agents to focus on more complex duties. Thus, improving the overall customer experience.
Cost-Effective
AI-powered chatbots are a brilliant solution for scaling customer support operations without raising any alarms of overhead costs. Unlike employees, chatbots don’t require salaries, benefits, or breaks. An online AI chatbot can have unlimited interactions with multiple customers simultaneously, making it a cost-efficient solution if you have limited resources.
Driving Sales and Lead Generation
AI powered chatbots also play a vital role in driving sales and lead generation. They are a perfect little salesman who maneuvers the customer through the website. First, they engage website visitors in real-time conversations and provide product recommendations. Then, they answer pre-sales inquiries and guide customers through the purchasing process.
Accessible Across Various Channels
Artificial Intelligence chatbots can be integrated and accessed through multiple communication channels. These include websites, mobile apps, social media pages, and messaging apps. Customers can engage with your organization through their preferred channel, providing flexibility and convenience. This also adds to the element of personalization that comes with AI powered chatbots. Customers feel as though the chatbot is built for their convenience.
Top Benefits of AI Chatbots for Your Business:
Let’s take another step into the benefits of Artificial Intelligence chatbots. This time, we’ll look at how they can benefit a customer and business separately.
Generate Leads
When you visit a website, the first thing that pops up is a hello message asking you if you require any assistance. Sometimes, the website will ask you to enter your email ID for a better experience. These are online chatbots at work. Even before the chat begins, your chatbots can start collecting leads. As the conversation progresses, your chatbot will select qualified leads and send them to your sales agents or the service team.
Provides Conversational Marketing
Marketing chatbots have gained steady popularity. They can recommend products, take orders, and nudge customers down the sales funnel using conversational AI. They also provide post-purchase care through personalized future campaigns sent to customer emails. Thus, filling the gap between the customer showing interest in your products and the sales representative joining the conversation.
Mitigation of Human Error
Chatbots are more efficient than humans at problem-solving. One of the main benefits of AI chatbots is their ability to drastically reduce the need for human agents, which lowers business expenses. By using chatbots to handle routine client inquiries, personnel can concentrate on more difficult duties that the chatbot can’t perform. The agents don’t have to stress about answering questions with inhuman speed but rather have time to focus on requests that require more attention.
Top Benefits of AI Chatbots for Your Customers
With businesses becoming more customer-centric, it is important to recognize and present the benefits that AI chatbots bring to your customers. Here are some of them:
Multilingual Support
AI powered chatbots can easily integrate and communicate in many languages. This presents the company as an inclusive space, and customers feel more comfortable with the support they receive. Customers from international regions can engage with your company with the help of chatbots. This helps the client to explain their issues clearly and get useful support.
Proactive Customer Service
The use of passive customer communication stunts most companies. This means they only respond to customers but never start the interaction. With AI powered chatbots, your customer interactions will be proactive and progressive. Over 68% of shoppers have stated to experience a more favorable view of brands that offer proactive customer service.
Easy Checkout
Artificial Intelligence chatbots can take a conversation from the message board straight to the checkout page. They can engage the customer and pamper them with all their needs. Chatbots can also create a shortcut to the checkout page, making it infinitely easier for customers to purchase a product. This reduces friction points before the sale and improves the user experience.
Case Studies and Examples of AI Chatbots in Business
Let’s look at a few examples of AI chatbots in business around us.
4X Increase in Sales with Personalized Beauty Assistant
In 2016, the multinational beauty retailer Sephora introduced “Sephora Virtual Artist.” This is an AI chatbot on Facebook Messenger and Kik. The customized AI-powered chatbot offers personalized makeup recommendations and beauty tips.
Additionally, users can digitally test the product before buying it. Over the last six years, the results have shown a 4x increase in online sales!
Financial Assistant Surpasses 2 Billion Client Interactions
The whole process of visiting the bank for anything can be immensely tedious. Hoping to change this, Bank of America inaugurated “Erica,” a customized AI-powered virtual financial assistant available through their mobile banking app. Erica can help with various tasks, from checking balances and paying bills to tracking spending. Erica has helped over 42 million clients get answers to their questions, with 98% of them answered within 44 seconds! That speaks volumes for what it has done for customer satisfaction and loyalty.
MUSA Increases Operational Efficiency and Employee Support
Fingent’s AI-powered virtual assistant MUSA has proved to be a boon in supporting employee queries. MUSA (Multi Utility Smart Assistant) is integrated with Fingent’s internal employee management system and draws information from there to effectively answer HR and IT queries from employees. This has resulted in better work productivity and translates to better outcomes for clients.
AI-Powered Virtual Assistants Enhance HR Performance
Yes to AI Chatbots!
As Artificial intelligence advances, businesses discover that adopting AI chatbots is a strategic necessity. The benefits of AI chatbots are manifold, and they have proven their mettle in improving the experience of both businesses and customers. Contrary to myths that AI chatbots are expensive and difficult to maintain, you can make AI work for your business. Experts at Fingent specialize in creating custom AI chatbots for clients from all industries. We have the tools and the expertise to make AI chatbots a worthwhile asset for you.
Let’s chat and make it happen.
