What is a Chatbot?
A chatbot is a software that provides customer service by simulating conversation. Due to its interactivity, many customers prefer posing questions to a chatbot rather than digging up information on a lengthy webpage.
How Does It Work?
The simplest command-based chatbots are preprogrammed with answers to specific questions and respond to a small assortment of options, much like an Interactive Voice Response tool in a company’s phone system.
Advanced AI chatbots are programmed with a greater ability to understand “natural language” queries. This way, users can ask questions as they would with a live customer service agent.
Virtually all chatbots live in the bottom corner of the user’s screen and pop up in response to website activity. They provide a preprogrammed text greeting that prompts the user to interact.
Pros of a Chatbot
Scalable
A chatbot is highly scalable. Thousands of chatbot sessions could be going on at once, and chatbot AI will dutifully field each one. This is easier than trying to manage a team of dozens of live support agents.
Instant
A chatbot responds instantly to queries and does not require users to wait in a queue. Even if a question gets the wrong answer at first, your system can always be improved to perform better in the future.
Conversion-Friendly
Some businesses, such as retailers, connect their chatbot software to their inventory systems and CRM. This allows the chatbot to make product suggestions based on previous user behavior.
Cons of a Chatbot
They Can’t Replace Humans
It might be obvious, but chatbots are no replacement for humans. They can’t be programmed with all possible queries, so the option to speak to a person must be available.
They Can Be Costly or Time-Consuming to Set Up
To launch a chatbot, it needs to be equipped with plenty of relevant content. This can take a great deal of time – that means committing hours in-house or investing in a vendor.
Regulations
While regulations around AI chatbots are few today, that might not always be the case. As society catches up to technology, there’s no telling what restrictions might follow.
58% of companies using chatbots are in the B2B sector: If they’re the right fit for your customer, they can be a huge boost to your digital marketing and sales strategy. Request a consultation with AIMG to find out what other digital marketing tactics you can implement to boost your conversion rates and acquire more leads.