Asking whether chatbots are right for your business is like asking if social media marketing is right for you. Even if they haven't reached your industry yet, bots are on their way.
Messaging apps are becoming the next big thing in marketing. Social media is still king, but messaging apps are slowly taking over. The way to profit from this is through bots.
However, be careful
When a new channel begins to show promise, we tend to get overexcited and overwhelm our audience.
A little moderation will go a long way, especially with chatbots. As efficient as they are, research shows that people really don't like them. They can be the key to overwhelming success, but their proper application is crucial.
What exactly is a chatbot?
To that question, there is a simple answer and a complicated answer. The complicated answer does not belong to you as a marketer. You just need to know that a "bot" is a piece of software that automates a task or a set of tasks.
There are a variety of bots available. Some can handle a variety of tasks, while others are more limited. Bots are designed and built to do very specific things. In practical terms, this means that the chatbot program will have a series of pre-written responses to interact with humans.
Imagine your company makes harmonicas. Your website is often visited by people looking for the best harmonica. Implement a chatbot instead of directing them to support staff. The chatbot initiates the interaction when the person visits your site. Answer the visitor's questions using preprogrammed responses.
Instead of communicating with someone else, your customer receives a response from an automated system. It's more agile, faster, and best of all, it's instantly available.
The benefits of bots
Chatbots have obvious benefits on the surface. You don't have to pay a staff member to provide customer service. However, that's not all. Bots are useful in many other ways, as well.
Bots are easy to build and implement. You can design a bot for Facebook Messenger in less than half an hour. Of course, this won't be the most sophisticated bot ever made, but it will get the job done. Even a simple Facebook chatbot can be very useful and profitable.
Bots provide simple answers to simple questions. Most people just want a quick and easy answer to a short question. Instead of having to browse a database or talk to a person, people can get their answers instantly and go on their way.
Bots always do their best. An interaction with a bot will always be predictable. Your brand image will always be presented in the best possible way. A chatbot will not lose its temper or insult anyone.
The potential of bots has yet to be explored. Bots are being adopted en masse and the sky is the limit for them. Currently, it is difficult to predict how to bot usage will evolve. However, the above statistic about messaging apps is worth considering. When messaging apps finally take over, the companies with the best bots will lead the pack.