Why AI? 9 Benefits of Chatbots

Chatbots are human replacements designed to talk to and manage customers through a website for the most satisfying experience. They can be used for a range of reasons, such as gathering information, providing customer service, or building reputations in businesses.

“Chatbots allow businesses to connect with customers in a personal way without the expense of human representatives" says Oracle, "for example, many of the questions or issues customers have are common and easily answered.”

With a rise in technological developments in recent years chatbots have been more and more frequent on websites across the world – in this article, we explore 9 ways business are benefitting from chatbots.

1. Chatbots Generate More Sales

Chatbots help to generate more sales by helping consumers find what they need most. Chatbots can redirect and provide links to key areas of a business that show the best deals and purchases for their customers.

According to Aivo, “your chatbot can be the perfect partner to promote new products and send proactive notifications. They can also offer immediate assistance to your potential customers and help speed up the purchase decision process”.

By using chatbots on a website, sales opportunities can be maximised, and more profits generated per year. As chatbots are able to run 24/7 in most cases, this can be a continuous increase in sales and revenue that can give companies the competitive edge they need over competitors.

Picture a chatbot that could recognise a user and their purchases, identify their general likes, and recommend, upsell, and close!

2. Chatbots Help Customer Understanding

One of the main reasons for using chatbots is to gather information on customers and their preferences, allowing businesses to position themselves, their offering and optimise marketing efforts.

Every sale is a negotiation and according to Scotwork “any negotiation requires us to deeply understand the other side”. Now, what better way of building that understanding than continuously gathering data in real-time, made possible with AI?

By gathering information from customer questions, general enquiries and comments, businesses can sell directly to their consumers in a more specific way and tailor the approach towards them to generate more revenue in the long-term.

3. Chatbots Minimise Operating Costs

Chatbots can limit the operating costs of a business by decreasing the amount of people needed to maintain a strong customer satisfaction level. This can be highly beneficial in raising profit margins and limiting wasted cash flow.

According to Medium Data Driven Investor, “a new study released by UK-based Juniper Research estimates that chatbots will help businesses save more than $8 billion per year by 2022. Bots have the ability to improve the efficacy and productivity of workers in businesses by providing quick answers and solutions to customers with simple queries”.

Furthermore, by using chatbots to minimise costs, companies can reinvest more profit into other aspects of their business to increase customer satisfaction and reputation.

4. Chatbots Save Time

Chatbots can save potential customers time in finding what they need. It makes it easier for consumers to make a purchase as they can find their perfect product quicker and easier.

“Rather than waste valuable and often limited time searching, what they (customers) really desire is a magic button they can press and abracadabra, all of their questions and problems are easily solved" says Neon Gold Fish, "chatbots keep things easy for everyone involved. It may not be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat, but it will sure feel like magic to your customer, without the need to keep any difficult tricks or gimmicks up your sleeve”.

By saving customers time, the journey from research to decision to purchase can be shortened.

5. Chatbots Run 24/7

Many forms of chatbots are able to run continuously forever with little to no maintenance. This makes them the perfect tool for maintaining continuously high levels of customer satisfaction throughout any time for any time zone.

According to Reve Chat, “chatbots can help businesses take customer engagement to the next level. By using conversational AI chatbots, engagement can be driven based on the user data and made more interactive. What’s more, bots can deliver consistent answers, and this helps you avoid dishing out irrelevant information to customers”.

A constant chatbot service can provide the perfect customer service to all time zones at any given moment, helping to maximise the market companies can operate in.

6. Chatbots Build Brand Trust

AI chatbots are often the first point of contact for any potential customers that wish to interact with a brand, making it the perfect opportunity to educate them about a service or product and what the company offers.

"Getting their basic questions answered immediately by a chatbot can definitely improve your customers’ satisfaction” says Emerge ITS, “customers can even ask a chatbot how to reach a real person at your business to answer their more complex questions".

Stronger brand recognition and confidence leads to more sales in the long-term for a business that has yet to build a good reputation.

7. Chatbots Help Reach New Customers

Chatbots are perfect for reaching new customers in different demographics through a range of ways. This can be highly beneficial for growing a business.

According to Research AI Multiple, “B2B and B2Bot platforms such as Kik or Facebook Messenger are some of the most popular apps. Being continuously active on these platforms helps companies reach new customers who may otherwise not want to reach out to the company with an email or call”.

8. Chatbots Provide Consistent Answers

Talking to different customer service representatives of a business can often lead to different answers and conflicting information that can lead the potential customer into confusion. That’s why steady, consistent answers from chatbots are best for building customer relations and improving brand reputation in the long-term.

“Chatbots work best when used specifically. They’re great for routine tasks and commonly asked questions. That’s where they’re capable and convenient, and that’s where they can save you time and resources” says WhosOn.

A set answer for all consumers displays a unified front that can be helpful in building brand confidence amongst the general public to maximise sales.

9. Chatbots Are Multilingual

Businesses often need to market to many different areas across the world for the best chances of growing as a business. This means that they need to employ multilingual employees or use cost-effective chatbots instead.

According to Research AI Multiple, “one of the advantages of chatbots is that they can be programmed to carry out conversation in multiple languages. This is particularly handy for global brands, operating in different markets. The way chatbots exhibit their multilingualism is that they could either ask the user, at the beginning of the conversation, their preferred language. Or depending on where in the world the user is visiting the company’s website, the chatbot would automatically switch to that region’s language”.

Operating chatbots with multilingual capabilities can be highly beneficial for expanding a company internationally or building stronger international relations.