News & Insights

From lead conversion to 24/7 service, chatbots have proven useful in the customer service domains, and can even be developed to provide personalised shopping advice!

Before the term “chatterbot” was coined in 1994, the mother of all chatbots had been developed by Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory way back in 1966. Today, chatbot technology has exploded along with their ubiquity on virtually every sector, from retail to banking and education. The modern face of customer support, chatbots provide quick support and guidance, generate leads for brands and even support payment.

1. Simplifying Things for the Customer

While your website provides everything the customer possibly wants, business owners should not expect their customers to have the patience of digging around for answers. Here is where chatbots prove most useful, as they are able to answer simple, common queries such as product details,  or cut through the chase by directing customers to exactly what they need or even recommending products and offers. For the business, this means freeing up your customer service staff from repetitive customer queries to deal with more complex tasks, thus improving their productivity while cutting down on operational costs – a win-win for both sides.

2. Providing support without emotional hang-ups

As humans, it is inevitable for emotional hang-ups especially when dealing with customer anxiety or unhappiness. Programmed to address queries and suggest relevant content just as customer service agents do, chatbots can treat everyone with the same respect and attention, while steering clear of human errors.

3. Chatbots are on 24/7

Having a chatbot also allows you to provide customer support 24/7 round the clock, 365 days a year, particularly effective for general queries and frequently asked questions. In addition to enabling quick and ready customer assistance, these virtual agents can also escalate more complex queries to human staff for their attention. Through personalised interactions, online customers and prospects are made to feel more welcome, as you can also invest in chatbot technology to provide shopping advice based on the customer’s shopping history and preferences.

4. Converting visitors into paying customers

One of the most useful functions of chatbots is getting qualified leads from interested online prospects, freeing up human staff from making cold calls themselves, and closing sales even in the wee hours!

Besides directing customers to relevant products and services readily, chatbots can also be developed to help customers make a purchase! This is done by integrating payment methods into the chatbot, through the API of a common payment system such as PayPal, Stripe or Alipay. An automated link is generated for your target audience to bring them to a secure portal.

5. Establishing brand trust

Finally, by being your customer’s first point of contact, chatbots can help your brand build trust and credibility. Chatbots help customers solve their pain points through a self-help menu of options, and clearly show what your solutions can do for them.