Chatbots are much more than just a digital assistant. They help small businesses save their money, close sales, and connect with customers in a progressively digital world. Their popularity has ascended during the pandemic, with many small and medium businesses forced to do more with fewer resources and staff. Chatbots are all about gaining the efficiency and productivity of the business. Usually, small businesses operate with limited resources, which makes digital interactions, automation, and utilizing data so essential. Applications like Chatbots can free small and medium business owners and their employees to focus on their core business. They rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to perform tasks that are typically done by humans. Businesses can use chatbots to help find qualified sales leads, improve customer service and engage customers at different points in the sales journey.

How are Chatbots Used?

Chatbots can be used in different areas of small business’s operations. There are new applications of chatbots that are evolving in the market. For small businesses, Chatbots can be used in the following ways.

Customer Service: Call centres commonly use chatbots as they can provide a quick reply with a default answer for the more common questions, freeing up customer service representatives to handle more difficult queries.

Sales: Small business owners are employing chatbots to engage with customers, mainly during the time of pandemic as more sales are taking place online. They are also using it to interact with potential customers. A bot can engage in live chat with a customer who has questions and offers an instant reply.

Marketing: A bot can be an efficient way to communicate with customers and upsell, particularly on Facebook Messenger. Using a bot, businesses can automate conversations with existing customers and potential new ones, and they can suggest items, provide information, and send leads to sales and marketing teams, all without the need for human intervention.

Some of the Effective Strategies for Chatbots Replies

Here are some of the styles and tactics which small and medium business owners can employ with their artificial intelligence Chatbots.

Customer Service: While using chatbots for customer service, keep the Chatbots reply message short, clear and concise to prevent the customer from exiting the conversation.

Sales: Chatbots can provide sales representatives with solid leads; however, they need to focus on qualifying questions and capturing contact information at the same time. The responses should lead the prospect to the correct channel.

Marketing and Engagement: The responses that Chatbot provides when it’s performing marketing functions will depend on the particular goal of the business. If it is to direct users to a certain page of the website, then it is recommended to use the Chatbot to invite them to learn more. The Chatbot can also offer a discount or deal in exchange for an individual’s email address.

Surveys: Surveys are a great way to get customer feedback or glean ideas for new products and services. However, Chatbot responses can vary. The format varies, depending on the length and subject-matter of the survey.

Businesses should choose a chatbot software solution that helps them achieve their primary goal. For instance, if you want a chatbot to increase the number of leads, focus your search on lead generation chatbots. It is also imperative that you trust the provider with your data.

Source – Business News Daily