Why Launch a Chatbot for Your Business Today?
People are always excited about up-to-date tech and new gadgets. One of the latest trends is focused on auto-operating, AI-driven software. That’s why from shopping online to 24/7 support, chatbots today are becoming very useful for business-customer interaction.
In general terms, a chatbot (also known as a Bot, chatterbot, talkbot, or IM bot) is nothing but software that performs automatic tasks. To be more specific, today’s chatbots are virtual agents that were developed to communicate with internet users in a natural way. Which natural way do we mean? Well, chatbots converse with users in more habitual human language rather than in clicks, drag-and-drops, pop-ups, and other traditional user interfacings.
Herewith, chatbots can be functional, since they’re programmed to work independently from a human operator. Chatbots can answer questions formulated to them in natural language and respond like real people. It provides responses based on a combination of predefined scripts and machine learning applications.
Chatbots interpret and process people’s messages and give back an instant pre-set answer. This software is used today on platforms like Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Line, and WeChat or it can be used even on your website.
But why the idea of using chatbots is so popular, especially among brands? Well, according to Sprout’s study almost 90% of messages that require a response are ignored by brands, with an average wait of 10 hours for those that do get a reply, even though consumers expect a reply within four. This is where chatbots come in. Marketing communication, support, or other similar services provided by chatbots is an effective way of improving Customer Service for brands and businesses.
Types of Chatbots
Today there is a variety of chatbot types available on the market, but only a few of them are effective. The Mbicycle Python development dedicated team has strong expertise in operating and implementing AI-powered chatbots. They usually highlight three main types to work with:
- Rule-based chatbots
- Intellectually independent chatbots
- AI-powered chatbots
The first type of these three is the simplest one. To interact with rule-based chatbots users can just click on buttons and use pre-defined scripts. To provide relevant answers these chatbots require people to choose some specific options during the interaction. As a result, these bots require a lot of time to guide users to their goals.
But even with this disadvantage, rule-based chatbots can be a great choice for the right purpose. For example, you can set them for analyzing your leads’ behavior. So, this is the case: a chatbot asks questions and people answer them using special buttons. Then a bot analyzes collected data and provides a report. But, for more advanced scenarios with many options or factors, choosing these chatbots isn’t the best solution.
Intellectually independent chatbots use Machine Learning which helps them learn by getting more and more user inputs and requests. Further, that helps chatbots to recognize particular patterns and make decisions with minimal human interference.
For example, a user reports to an intellectually independent chatbot: “There is an issue when logging into the account”. The bot understands the words “issue”, “account”, and “logging” and provides a pre-defined answer based on these words.
AI-powered bots combine the best of the first two types. These chatbots are based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) — the field of computer science, which focuses on creating intelligent machines that are able to work and “think” like people.
AI-powered chatbots understand free language, but also have a predefined flow to make sure they solve users’ problems correctly. They can remember the context of the conversation and the user’s preferences, as well as switch over from one point of conversation scenario to another, and address random user requests at any moment.
AI-based chatbots use Machine Learning, AI, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand people and handle all the incoming tasks properly.
Benefits of Using Chatbots
One of the best things about chatbot development is your company doesn’t have to be big to tap into this trend, with platforms like Chatfuel, Dialogflow, Microsoft Bot Framework, etc. Any Facebook user today can use these platforms to create a virtual agent and tune it for its purposes.
This is an opportunity for startups and SMEs to increase their sales by making use of the opportunities that come with chatbots. They can implement AI-driven chatbots in their everyday work to automate most of the processes connected with orders, support, shipping, and communication with customers.
Here are a few more reasons to start using chatbots for your business purposes, if you still don’t:
1. Using chatbots helps you avoid any possible “human errors” since bots are driven by AI and they’re also self-learning. Due to this chatbots constantly adapt and improve their algorithms over time.
2. Chatbots can analyze the context of the conversation, measure users’ emotions, and adjust their messages according to different pre-defined user profiles (with information about age, job title, location, etc.)
3. Chatbots are always in-touch whenever you need them, regardless of business or purpose from simple lead generation to full-fledged automated sales. They can handle your tasks 24/7 in a little pop-up on the bottom right of your screen.
4. And last but not least – yes, they’re definitely more cost-effective for your business than any other worthwhile alternatives.
Like messaging apps have become a very popular channel among brands to reach their audience, chatbots are gaining more and more popularity across completely different fields and industries.
By implementing a chatbot into your marketing strategy, you’ll be able to learn more about your audience, analyze the behavior of your customers, tailor your marketing efforts, reach new consumers and monetize your social media profiles. So, it’s no wonder that the implementation of chatbots is so popular on a variety of different platforms and services today.
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