Choosing the right chatbot for providing a great customer experience

20.05.2022

Conversational chatbots are transforming customer service as we know it. Growth has been so spectacular in 2021 that some organizations are reporting 70% fewer calls, chats and emails after automating customer service with chatbots.

A chatbot is a software that simulates human conversation through text or voice interactions. It uses AI technology and natural language processing (NLP) to understand what a human wants and helps the person achieve the desired outcome or identify quickly the needed information. It can be used in all kinds of messaging applications, mobile apps or websites.

Having these details in mind, let’s dive in and learn more about the types of chatbots businesses can implement and the benefits they bring to the overall customer experience and internal processes.

Type of chatbots businesses can leverage in their operations

As highlighted above, chatbots have a wide range of implementation possibilities. However, at their core, they are split into two categories:

Rule-Based Chatbots: These use predefined scenarios and rules and the interaction is done by clicking on predefined options or by using keywords. These rules guide the user with follow-up questions to eventually get to the correct solution. The answers the user receives are also predefined so your company is in full control of the conversation at all times. The implementation process is fast and not so complicated so the price is usually affordable. As a downside, the interactions with this kind of chatbot seem robotic and all the improvements must be done manually. In addition to that, businesses need to constantly update their scenarios based on the previous conversations with the users and the new patterns identified in the interactions.
AI-Based Chatbots: These use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and unlike the rule-based chatbot, they don’t use keywords or predefined sentences. The AI-based chatbots can be trained in answering basic questions regarding account balances or offer information about new services, promotions or other business-related inquiries. The more it interacts with its users the better it becomes at answering their demands. The chatbot can understand typos or grammar mistakes, will improve without further assistance and will feel more natural than the rule-based chatbot. As a downside, the fact that these bots go through a learning process will make the implementation process more costly and time consuming. Also, the fact that it is not using predefined structures will make the conversations less predictable and prone to errors, at least in the initial phases.

Benefits of chatbots for businesses

Now that we know the types of chatbots, let’s also walk through some of the main benefits of implementing such tool in a company:

Valuable business insights: By collecting the data from the chatbot conversations, businesses can be notified early regarding any problems that the customers are experiencing at a given moment.
Always-on customer service and reduced waiting time: The chatbot is able to offer 24/7 customer support in a cost-efficient way. This facilitates greater customer satisfaction since clients will not wait for a transfer to a real person.
Reduced customer service workload: A good chatbot will help the customer support department focus on more challenging tasks and not lose precious time on routine tasks that can be automated. A chatbot could also provide information about past chatbot conversations to a specific customer helping in delivering relevant solutions for a problem .
Uplift in sales and product features: By learning what clients want to purchase at a given time, the sales team can upsell and cross-sell products or services to better fullfill the customers’ needs. In addition to this, based on the most frequent questions and request, a business can decide to develop new features and implement upgrades to the product or service to maintain great customer experience.

Final thoughts:

The use of chatbots in customer service increases client satisfaction and saves business costs. Even if the bots are not yet perfect they are the best way to provide quality support for the customers 24/7. If you want to use chatbots for your business, OPTI can assist you in implementing the right tools in a cost-effective manner. Reach out today!

Choosing the right chatbot for providing a great customer experience

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