Chatbots are a necessity for small businesses. Nobody enjoys seeing popups on a website, but it all changed with the introduction of chatbots. Today, almost every website on the Internet contains a chatbot agent in charge of customer service, but it doesn’t bother users because chatbots help them to get around quicker.
Chatbots have taken the world by storm in the last few years, but what seems to be their secret? If you don’t know the answer to that question, keep reading our post to see seven proofs that chatbots are a great necessity for small businesses.
Chatbots: Definition, types, and basic features
We are here to discuss the benefits of using chatbots, but do you really understand the basics of this relatively new form of technology?
By definition, a chatbot is a software program that can hold a conversation with a human user. In other words, it’s a digital customer service agent with the ability to initiate a meaningful conversation with real persons.
Customer support Chatbots speed up and simplify customer service, which makes the entire industry flourish. You can see them almost everywhere these days, from dissertations services to digital marketing or engineering websites. According to the report, the chatbot market size will climb from $190 million in 2016 to $1.25 billion in 2025.
The two basic types of chatbots:
- AI-powered communication bots: Artificial Intelligence relies on natural language processing to help chatbots develop a natural way of communication. That way, AI-powered bots can answer a broad scope of questions and learn and improve along the way.
- Command-powered communication bots: The second type of chatbots is preprogrammed so as to suggest certain question sets and then guide users to a more specific question within a given set. It cannot give any answers outside its databank, but its accuracy is 100% for the existing types of inquiries.
Now, the key question is how to design a high quality chatbot for small businesses. While it all depends on the nature of your small business, there are a few general tips on how to craft a reliable chatbot. First of all, your digital agent should be well-designed and look friendly. Make sure to give it branded features and use top-level images and text formatting.
Besides that, it is essential to keep your chatbot minimalistic communication-wise. Instead of bombarding users with tons of messages, the chatbot should keep the conversation to the bare minimum and ask only the most relevant questions. That way, your customers will not waste time and they will be glad to address the chatbot again.
7 reasons why you need a chatbot for small businesses
Now that you know the general chatbot-related information, you should also learn why we've turned to chatbots for small businesses. Without further ado, let’s take a look at seven reasons to use a chatbot for customer service purposes.
The first reason to deploy chatbot technology for small businesses is obvious – they will make your business much better and more efficient. Chatbots will bring you unparalleled functionality that no other service or agent can match. Here’s why:
- Chatbots are always available and fully operational around the clock
- Chatbots reply to users’ messages almost instantly, thus eliminating time-waste
- Unlike human agents, a chatbot can run multiple conversations simultaneously
- A typical chatbot can answer about 80% of users’ questions, while it redirects the remaining 20% of clients to human agents
If you paid attention to the previous item on our list, you will realize that for small businesses, chatbots are extremely cost-effective. Although the platform requires a certain amount of investments at the very beginning, it will soon pay off big time. How come?
First of all, chatbots work non-stop. They don’t take breaks, don’t need sick leaves, and don’t go to annual vacations. Secondly, they don’t make mistakes caused by tiredness or lack of concentration.
Jake Gardner, a human resource manager at the best paper writing service, adds that chatbots represent a one-time investment: “It requires little to no additional costs in the long run, which means you don’t have to pay additional salaries or bonuses.”
Another thing you should know is that chatbots guarantee a highly personalized user experience. The system is user-friendly and designed so as to maintain lightweight conversations while solving practical problems. A study reveals that 90% of small businesses report faster complaint resolution with bots.
At the same time, chatbots store client-related data and rely on the exiting information to continue conversations with the same customers in a more natural way. They don’t have to repeat questions or ask for the same inputs once again as it’s all in the system already.
The Internet is essentially a two-way channel of communication, but lots of platforms (such as websites or mobile apps) are still not allowing users to take action freely and easily. Chatbots eliminate this problem for small businesses because they take customer engagement to the highest level.
Today, you don’t even need to navigate through the website to find the content you’re looking for. All it takes is to ask a chatbot and it will guide you to the desired link in no time. This encourages visitors to engage while increasing overall customer satisfaction levels.
Cross-sales activities are yet another way chatbots can improve small businesses. Namely, a smart bot can contribute to your sales efforts by giving users relevant suggestions about products or services.
For example:
The platform is able to give personalized product recommendations based on the client’s previous interactions with your company and the entire history of purchases. Another option is to assist users during website navigation in order to help them find a given product faster.
Do you know that 80% of your company sales come from 20% of your customers? It’s a well-known business principle that clearly shows that you need to convert as many one-time buyers into regular customers.
The only way to do it is by offering a standout customer service, which is where chatbots play a major role. Thanks to the chatbots’ speed, personalization, and accuracy, you can build stronger relationships with each customer and turn lots of leads into loyal shoppers and perhaps even brand advocates.
The last reason why an intelligent chatbot for small business comes in the form of data accumulation. We already mentioned that chatbots are a powerful data management resource that enables entire organizations to accumulate lots of user-related information, so it’s up to you and your sales team to make use of massive data libraries.
Up to you!
Chatbots have revolutionized customer service by making it faster, cheaper, and more efficient and are a necessity for businesses. If you are running a small business, you should definitely consider adding it to your customer service arsenal. We showed you the seven most important reasons to do it, but now it’s up to you to make a move and enjoy the benefits of a digital customer service agent.
Check out this blog on how multipurpose chatbot can help in achieving multiple chatbot needs.
Get started with an AI chatbot today.
About the author
Michael Gorman is a digital marketer and one of the best paper writers at the assignment help agency.
Michael writes amazing college essays, but he also specializes in topics like customer service and email marketing.
He is the father of two kids and a passionate long-distance runner.
