Time is money in business, and chatbots can save an organization ample time by automating various operations, like customer service and marketing, to optimize costs while also improving the customer experience. Besides taking up repetitive tasks and reducing the burden on your existing staff, chatbots kill customers’ wait time, enhancing their overall impression of your business.
According to IBM’s study, businesses can save up to 30% on their customer support costs by integrating a chatbot in their frontline staff.
Besides customer support, chatbots also double up as sales and marketing tools. Even data suggests that modern users are open to purchasing from a chatbot.
Millennials, who form the largest percentage of users for many companies, are twice as likely to use a chatbot that assures a personalized shopping experience. The benefits of chatbots are also not limited to any industry. According to Chatbots Life, the top five sectors that have benefitted from the incorporation of chatbots are real estate (28%), travel (16%), education (14%), healthcare (10%), and finance (5%).
As you can see, chatbots can revolutionize your business’s core aspects with substantial benefits, both in terms of revenue and customer experience. Here are some key benefits of using chatbots in your business that you shouldn’t miss out on:
Chatbots Help in Reducing Operational Costs
A bot launched by JP Morgan Chase & Co can analyze complex legal contracts at a much faster rate than humans. This bot named COIN can complete several labor-intensive tasks in a few seconds, which otherwise used to take lawyers over 360,000 hours a year to complete. Shocking, isn’t it? Well, this is just one example of what chatbots can achieve for your business.
Automation in customer service is another critical area that can reduce costs for businesses. Research indicates that 29% of customer service positions in the US can be automated through chatbots, saving businesses $23 billion annually. In case you are wondering how this is possible, you’ll be excited to know that chatbots can be trained to answer repetitive queries without human involvement in any industry, reducing the burden on your customer support team. Chatbots can also engage multiple customers at a time, increasing your support team’s overall productivity.
In general, investing in a chatbot can save you the additional costs of hiring more agents. You also don’t have to worry about scaling up or scaling down because a single chatbot can take care of a multitude of requests. From a business perspective, this leads to more tasks being completed at a lower cost, leading to increased profitability.
Chatbots also come in handy for streamlining your internal workflows. They can be used to communicate with employees, answer questions within the organization, and even finish HR-related jobs. Additionally, you may use your chatbot for designing an automated onboarding process and building an internal knowledge database for your employees.
Chatbots Improve Customer Service
Speed and efficiency are the two main pillars of effective customer service. Unfortunately, it is often a challenge to provide instantaneous service on phone or chat, especially during peak times, owing to staff and cost-related limitations. Chatbots solve this issue by delivering immediate customer service around the clock.
This is important because 82% of buyers expect you to respond to their queries in a span of 10 minutes or less. A third of your customers also feel frustrated if they have to wait too long for resolution or repeat themselves to customer service representatives multiple times. Chatbots can turnaround the situation by answering up to 80% of routine queries instantly.
The success of chatbots in customer service is reflected by the fact that 37% of users depend upon chatbots for quick query resolution in urgent situations.
Besides speedy service, chatbots work 24/7, which means your business never sleeps once you have a chatbot onboard. This is especially useful for lead generation as your chatbot will take down all the necessary details from visitors, even when your staff is sleeping. Customers who prefer self-service also enjoy interacting with chatbots that can direct them to relevant FAQs or connect them with live agents in case a simple resolution is not possible.
Chatbots are Endlessly Patient
Endless calls, repetitive queries, deadlines, customer goals; there’s a lot of pressure that your support agents face every day. It is only human if they lose patience at times, especially when dealing with demanding customers. Thankfully, bots are still incapable of emotions and don’t feel frustrated or impatient even when asked the same question several thousand times.
Thus, bots not only help you provide your customers with fast and efficient service; they also don’t get bored, tired, or frustrated, ensuring consistent customer service at all times.
Chatbots Can Personalize Your Marketing Experience
Customers no longer want to be treated like numbers. They expect businesses to reach out to them with customized recommendations and offers. Chatbots help you curate personalized shopping experiences for your customers by analyzing their browsing data and reaching out to them with relevant offers when they are most likely to act on them. Besides targeted marketing, chatbots also improve engagement and sales by pro-actively reaching out to your site visitors.
For example, your chatbot can initiate a conversation to inform visitors about ongoing sales and promotions. Suppose a visitor spends more time on a page, your bot can ask them what they are looking for, and also suggest suitable options to make the overall experience convenient and time-saving. Most users love this kind of service, which is similar to being assisted by a personal shopper in a brick and mortar store. Most importantly, chatbot software can be integrated with your messaging apps and existing CRM to collect, store, and update user data centrally for a higher degree of personalization.
Grow Your Business with Chatbots
AI-powered chatbots have turned around customer service as we knew it. By enabling swift customer service at all times, chatbots make it easier for your business to meet customer expectations and exceed them as well.
The best thing about chatbots is that they improve with usage. This means the more the customers interact with your chatbot, the better it will understand them and guide them to the right resolution.
In addition to customer service, bots can be employed in several other areas like sales and marketing, budgeting, HR, and streamlining internal workflows. Unsurprisingly, 80% of entrepreneurs are expected to use chatbots by the end of 2020. So, if you still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, it is time that you do to leverage all the fantastic benefits that chatbots can bring to your business in addition to increased profitability and growth.
