Advantages of Chatbots for Users and Companies in Today’s World

The idea of robots taking over the world seems blurred and impossible, and it just appears as a fictional plot in sci-fi movies. But the way we have started using AI and robotic technology, the day is not so far when the global business will majorly rely on these advanced technologies only. In today’s scenario, chatbot marketing has become an integral part of business marketing strategies. The advantages of chatbots are alluring more organizations to explore different avenues associated with Artificial Intelligence. 

The expected growth in the chatbot market is near about $9.4 billion by 2024, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.7%. This could be one reason why companies have started investing in chatbots. As per the Forbes report, chatbots are the most efficient alternative to human resources for customer service. This revolution is quite beneficial from a business perspective and with customers.

Chatbots are enhancing the customer experience and brand image in this competitive and customer-centric world. Before discussing the benefits of chatbots, we must properly understand their functionality.

What is a Chatbot?

A chatbot is an advanced software or program that simulates human conversation through voice or chat interactions. They are automated virtual assistants designed to assist users by communicating through text messages on forums, live chat apps, and instant texting platforms. The way chatbot technology is growing, soon, we will witness the advanced version of this technology, and we will not be able to recognize whether chatbots are responding to humans or us. Chatbots not only automate customer communication but also offers instant chat support for your queries. 

What is the Working Functionality of Chatbots?

Chatbots learn from data insights by utilizing natural language processing (NPL) and machine learning algorithms to deliver better customer communication experiences. NPL allows computers to process and understand. NPL is today’s computers’ advanced ability that enables them to understand and proceed with human speech and answer in a language that humans can easily understand. 

There are two processes involved when it comes to NPL in chatbots. The first one is known as Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and the other is called Natural Language Generation (NLG)

• Natural Language Understanding (NLU) –This technology allows bots to understand humans by converting texts into data that the machine can easily understand. 
•  Natural Language Generation (NLG) –It converts structured data into readable text so that humans can efficiently understand the conversation 

Benefits of Chatbots to Enterprises

Chatbots are designed to support and scale businesses in terms of customer relationships. With the help of this technology, businesses save a lot of money and time.  

Some of the prime benefits of using chatbot technology are discussed below:

Cost Effective

Companies are growing their customer service department by using bots and handling complex queries efficiently. Implementing bots requires a certain amount of investment; however, in the long run, it shows significant results, and the cost can be lower than the customer representative’s annual salary.

In a nutshell, we can say chatbots are quite beneficial for enterprises and can efficiently minimize operational costs. Recent research says chatbots are helping the banking sector save millions of dollars annually. In 2019 the same industry was estimated to save $209 Million, and by 2023, savings will reach seven $7.3 billion. 

Improved Internal Process

Chatbots are designed to offer improvised internal communication with customers. Enterprises are using bots for multiple purposes, and the onboarding process is one of them. For example, a newly appointed employee of an organization doesn’t have to connect with various departments to get answers to his queries. Chatbots can answer their initial stage of questions without any difficulty. 

As per an IBM report, 72% of employees cannot understand the company’s strategy. A bot could be utilized to answer employees’ questions related to task prioritization. Also, it can efficiently streamline internal communication for simple queries such as getting Wi-Fi passwords, policies, and many others.

Increase in Sales

Chatbots have the potential to increase the sale of your business. You will be surprised to know, but it’s true. Global business leaders have claimed that implementing bots has significantly improved their company’s sales by 67% on average. 

There are multiple reasons for that:

1. One reason is that bots are strong AI and act as a frictionless platform that is meant to answer users’ queries with algorithm-driven recommendations. Bots are instructed to smartly introduce customers to new services and products of the company. Also, they learn from data insights that make them smart so they can efficiently offer personalized recommendations to the users.
2. Bots are also quite helpful in boosting sales because they are available to assist users 24*7 with a fast response rate. Customers don’t like to be in the queue and have long holding times, which causes them to lose interest in the purchase. But Bot ensures that customers are getting an instant resolution to their queries and constantly engage them through their customer journey.
3. For better customer engagement, companies use bots as another communication channel to reach out to their customers efficiently by offering them information about the latest deal and tips. With real-time customer communication advantages, users get accurate answers for their search.

Expand Client Base

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Messenger are B2B and B2bBots. These are some of the most popular applications companies use bots to reach new customers and expand their client base. According to one survey by Telus International, it was found that 31% of millennials give feedback about services once a week via social media. The complete feedback process becomes straightforward using bots. Facebook has more than 300 bots, and they have become an effective way to reach new customers.

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Customer Psychology

Customers rarely get opportunities to talk to your business. With the help of bots, enterprises communicate with their customers and enhance their customer journey experience. These chat boards are based on strong communication AI that records actionable insights of your customers to find their greatest pain points. Bots help enterprises to improve its product and services. The chances of selling are always proportional to the data given by the customer bots are designed to efficiently save the customer data and help organizations to learn and know about customer expectations.

Chatbot Benefits to Customers

Chatbots are based on Conversational AI that offers several benefits to customer service.

Some of them are mentioned below:

24*7 Availability

A recent study found that 50% of customers expect a business to be available 24*7 for their assistance. With the help of bots, organizations maintain continuous communication between sellers and customers.

However, we accept that bots are not meant to solve complex queries, but with their 24*7 Availability, they add value and try to assist the customer from their end.

The main issue that is associated with bots is how well the bots can go through the customer queries and understand the exact solution. In some cases highlighting 24* 7 availability can create backlash when bots are non-functional due to some security issues or maintenance

Instant Answer or Response

Bots are designed to answer and handle thousand of queries simultaneously. An operator can concentrate on one customer at a time and answer his queries, and he is unable to answer multiple questions from several customers. But advanced technologies such as cloud, internet, and software mechanisms enhance the scalability of boats and allow them to handle multiple queries without hassle.

Consistent Answer

Users hate the situation when they need to interact with different customer service executives. Sometimes, it leads the discrepancies and inconsistencies in answers. That could have many reasons. For example, the agent might be new at his job and doesn’t know how to handle customer queries, or he still needs to learn better customer handling tactics. 

The advantages of the boats are that they can efficiently function on the pre-structured framework, and they are designed to answer from a single source of truth within the command catalog. This reduces the possibility of inconsistency and allows them to answer customer queries without creating any confusion. This is considered one of the prime benefits of chatbots in customer service. 

Recorded Answer

Most chatbots can efficiently record the conversation with the customer and provide them with a copy of the chat transcript for further utilization. These chats could also get archived, and the user could be issued a support ticket for his issues. Customer chat executive has full access to these chats, which helps them to understand the issue in a detailed manner, and they can offer the required solution to the customers. 

Multilingual

The best thing about bots that makes them unique is that they are multilingual, which means they can handle conversations in multiple languages, which is quite a beneficial feature and handy for global brands. With the help of this feature, enterprises can operate in different markets and sectors. The multilanguage functionality of chatbots is quite useful from customers’ perspectives because they have the facility to select their preferred language. For example, suppose a user from Italy is using an American website and don’t know the English language. In that scenario, bots will automatically switch to the user’s regional language in which it can initiate the conversation with the user.

Easily Programmable

There are various predetermined codes on which chatbots function. Bots are designed to carry out multiple tasks without facing any difficulty. With the help of these bots, you can easily schedule meetings, provide an advanced search facility and answer specific questions. Companies timely update their Bot’s command catalog based on recorded user data so that they can assist their customers with perfection. 

Personalization

The advanced conversational AI capabilities of chatbots allow them to store and leverage your interaction to give a personal touch during customer service conversations. For Instance, bots are capable enough to remember a customer’s name and their ticket numbers, which means the Bot can store and learn from the background information of the user and offer an instant solution by accessing the history of your interaction with the company and delivering a personalized experience.