Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular emerging technologies. AI chatbots are transforming the customer experience in unexpected ways. In this article, you will learn how chatbots enhance customer experience and key benefits of using chatbots for your business.
How AI chatbots interact with customers
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular emerging technologies. It’s changing the business dynamics in a lot of ways and one such way is by enhancing the customer interactions. We have AI-driven chatbots that are transforming the customer experience and helping us unfold the newer business opportunities. An ideally perfect chatbot delivers a seamless customer experience in which users can’t tell if they are talking to a machine or a real human being. But before we move ahead and discuss the ways in which chatbots are transforming the user experience, let’s first try to understand what a chatbot is.
A chatbot is an AI-based software that communicates with humans through a live chat interface. This interaction can take place through platforms such as Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, a brand’s website or app, Facebook Messenger, and even Alexa.
Simple chatbots are capable of scanning the keywords from a customer’s inquiry and deliver pre-packaged answers. While on the other hand, advanced chatbots that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) use natural language processing and can create responses and conversations that are more complex. AI chatbots are more flexible than simple chatbots while speaking to the customers and when the human doesn’t give the exact message they have been programmed for. Instead, they keep learning from the conversations they have with the users to help customers with their queries.
AI-powered chatbots can tap into customer information and provide personalized experiences as they are better integrated with the CMS and CRM platforms underpinning a brand’s online presence. But how do they actually enhance the customer experience? Here are some of the most popular ways in which AI-powered chatbots are transforming the customer experience and providing customer satisfaction.
AI chatbots enhance customer experience
- Seamless live chat:
Customers can easily engage with chatbots in a similar way as they do with live customer support employees in an online conversation. Most of the chatbots follow natural language processing methods that allow them to analyse the questions asked by the customers and answer to them accordingly, meeting the needs of the client. Chatbots can easily be integrated with a company’s website or mobile application for better results. - Analysing customer data and insights: A chatbot can pop up on any product page that offers additional information about your services to boost the sales and purchasing process. They can also provide customers with product recommendations by analysing user behaviour. They keep a track of customers’ shopping history, modes of payment, etc and uses them to offer a better and enhanced customer experience.
- Chatbots make friends and build relationships: Most of the companies believe that it would have helped in transforming the customer experience if their agents had more time to make outbound and proactive contact with their customers. Well! Chatbots can help in revolutionising the way brands stay in touch with their customers. Be it a simple email or a birthday text, or just taking friendly feedback about your services from the customer, chatbots can jazz it all. And as chatbots don’t have human empathy, they don’t have bad days or get frustrated from regular client queries which helps them provide a smooth customer experience.
- Personalizing the customer experience: Chatbots are exceptionally well at collecting customer data from support interactions. After all, it’s the computer software powered by AI and machine learning that is doing the work. It helps the live support agents to personalize their interactions with customers by making use of this information. Chatbots work as virtual assistants that can easily feed customer data to the customer support agent in real-time, facilitating the agent to give the customers good information and solutions based on their current needs as well as past interactions with the company.
- 24/7 customer service:
Unlike your human workforce designated for live chat support that needs some rest, chatbots can work 24*7. Customers’ needs can arise outside of business hours during which your staff members won’t be available at their service but the customers need a way to seek out answers to their vital questions. A chatbot could be your saviour in those cases as it can answer to customer queries irrespective of the time so that your customers don’t have to wait for a response from a voicemail or email message. - Automated operations: Most of the operations such as customer support and in-store experience can be automated with the help of chatbots powered by AI. They can send timely notifications to customers about your product updates or new features. Using chatbots, we can implement smart shelves and they can help in inventory control as well. Automating your customer experience not only reduces the chances of errors caused by human intervention but also reduces the cost. Hence, chatbots are an ideal way to transform customer experience in a cost-effective manner.
Benefits of AI chatbots for businesses
There is a lot of benefits offered by the chatbots driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning. They help businesses transform their identity by enhancing the customer experience. A chatbot is an ideal choice for you as:
- It provides you with a global goal and reach along with an actively growing base of customers.
- It offers support across multiple channels such as website, in-app, on social media, and several other platforms.
- It facilitates you with a 24*7 customer support team with high efficiency.
- The usage of AI chatbots helps you reduce your customer service costs and find more efficient ways of scaling your customers.
It is evident from many studies and reports that modern customers want quick, frictionless solutions to their problems and instant answers to their questions. They don’t like to wait at all. Also, in a world where people have only been using phones for customer support, it is hard to adapt to AI chatbots. But there is a growing need and demand for smart and efficient solutions, just like AI chatbots. They come with a lot of advantages and bring new opportunities to transform your business. Hence, to stay in the competition, it is necessary to change and adapt as per customer behaviour. Drop us an email at [email protected] to learn how our AI-powered chatbot solutions fit your business needs.