Since the announcement of Facebook in 2016 about the chatbots integration in their messaging platform, more than one thousand bots have been created. Although these numbers are significant, most of these intelligent assistants are unknown or in a testing phase. On the other hand, small businesses do not use them because they think chatbots are complex to implement and difficult to maintain. However, the growing popularity of email applications and the user’s needs of personalized services require innovating companies and professionals which stand out. Actually, there are no reasons to worry about because chatbots have arrived to modernize and improve the communication with your customers.
What is a chatbot?
Better known as “BOTS”, virtual assistants or chat agents, chatbots are human-programmed applications to automatically maintain conversations in natural language with clients. The goal of these virtual agents is to help consumers make decisions on simple issues. From product information to technical support, chatbots are designed to help Internet users by providing them a tailored experience to the new mobile usage codes.
One of the most important features of chatbots is their ability to integrate with artificial intelligence. This allows the robot to learn as it is programmed to respond to new situations
What can virtual assistants do for your business?
Definitely, chatbots are revolutionizing corporate customer communication. Here are some examples of how to take advantage of them :
• Guiding the customer purchasing process with a dynamic of questions and answers;
• Provide a direct and private communication channel with your company that is available 7 days a week and 24 hours a day;
• Automate first level customer service;
• Collect customer data or offer automated subscriptions;
• Send custom confirmation and services notifications;
• Receive service orders or e-commerce purchase orders;
• Decrease the number operational tasks of your team.
Which are the digital platforms most relevant for using Chatbots?
Chatbots can be integrated with almost all digital platforms. The most popular are websites, social networks (Twitter and Facebook business pages), mobile apps as well as some collaborative work software like Slack. However, the complexity of the chatbot implementation is variable depending on your choice.
It is important to know the main limitation of chatbots is not the platform where they work, but the relevance of the interactions with the user. In this way, it is important to care about the quality of the natural language and the precision of the answers as well as to avoid sending too many messages and solicitations out of context. In this way, until artificial intelligence evolves to correct these problems, some information will need to be processed by a person and not by a robot.
Which tools to develop your virtual assistant?
It’s a fact, there is a multitude of options for developing Chatbots, but, in my opinion, Chatfuel is the most relevant to start with. The main advantage of this free service is the simplicity and their existing bot models. Even if the examples are only available in English, it is possible to develop your chatbot in a few clicks in any language.
Do not wait any longer, and upgrade your relationships with your customers. It’s time to launch your Chatbot.