There are many ways to use chatbots for business, and companies are thinking of new, innovative ways to use them all the time. Let’s take a look at a few ways chatbots can benefit your business.
Content Delivery
A lot of companies are using chatbot technology to deliver content in a new an interesting way. Websites such as CNN are sending interesting articles to visitors through messaging apps.
Since so many people are using messenger apps like Facebook and Kik on a regular basis, delivering content straight to the platforms they’re already using just makes sense.
This allows companies to reach readers even if those readers aren’t coming to their site daily.
Making Sales
Companies like Dominos and Taco Bell are making use of chatbot technology by allowing customers to make purchases directly through their bots via text message or platforms like Facebook Messenger.
This is beneficial to companies like Dominos, because it keeps stores from being inundated with so many phone calls during peak times, and it’s beneficial to their customers because it’s often faster and less frustrating than calling or using the website.
All sorts of businesses can benefit from using a chatbot to assist in making sales, by offering personalized product suggestion based on input from customers.
Customer Service
The most common use for chatbots is for general customer service, such as answering basic questions, making suggestions, directing problems to appropriate departments, and more.
This is great for chat bots, because they can be programmed with specific responses to your most frequently asked questions and keep you and your employees from having to field a lot of questions that could have been answered by the bot.
Chatbots can improve user experience, too. Customers love getting an answer in seconds without having to wait on hold for a live person or sending an email and waiting hours or days for a response.
Studies have shown that 51% of people believe a business should be available for customer support 24/7. They don’t appreciate companies operating in normal business hours anymore. In the days of microwaves and overnight shipping, patience is growing thinner and thinner. If your company takes 12 hours to answer an email, and your competitor answers a simple question at two o’clock in the morning, whom do you think they will buy from? Whom would they feel most loyal to?
45.8% of people would rather contact a company through messaging than through email. They know email can be slow. They’d rather use a method that gets faster, easier results.
49.5 would rather contact a company through messaging than the telephone. No one likes waiting on hold, and some people don’t like speaking on the phone. Messaging is easier for those people.
The bottom line is that people want chatbots. They save them time and frustration, and in return, it saves you time and money. It’s a win-win situation.
Chatbot Solutions
There are already a number of chatbot products on the market. Some are quite effective, while others have been obviously rushed to market and are full of bugs that will frustrate you and your customers.
Let’s take a look at some of the products that are currently on the market and are considered to be good quality.
ChattyPeople
The chattypeople platform is one of the most popular chatbots available for the Facebook Messenger system, and also works with Facebook comments. They are remarkably affordable, with a 30-day free trial and a permanent free plan for under 100 customers.
The chattypeople platform will even allow you to sell products directly to customers through Facebook with Stripe, Paypal, and other payment platforms.
Botsify
Botsify is another very popular platform that works for Facebook Messenger, but also has a version that works directly on your website. They have a free plan (only for Facebook Messenger) that has a lot of features, but their paid plans (which can be used on a website) start at a very reasonable $10 per month.
Botsify also allows human takeover at any time, so you can have a customer service agent take over whenever the chatbot isn’t helping the customer properly.
ChitChatChimp
ChitChatChimp is poised to be one of the frontrunners in the chatbot realm. It allows absolutely anyone, even with zero programming knowledge, to create their own chatbot.
It can create all types of bots, including:
Customer support bots Sales bots Research-gathering bots Educational bots Entertaining bots
If you need something flexible and customizable that doesn’t cost a fortune, ChitChatChimp is probably your best option.