Linda Dozier: 5 Benefits of Using Chatbots for Customer Engagement

Constant improvements to chatbot technology allow more accurate bot interactions. As a result, chatbots have changed the customer service game. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Consider that chatbots allow quicker response time to customer queries and faster resolutions. In fact, a HubSpot study found 71% of people are willing to get assistance from messaging apps. So they want quick solutions to their problems.

In addition, a Facebook study found 65% of millennials, 65% of Gen Xers, and 63% of baby boomers would much rather send a message than call customer service.

Keep these customer preferences in mind. Businesses must start prioritizing the use of chatbots to engage their customers and enhance user experience.

Increase Customer Engagement With Chatbots

Check out some of the top ways in which chatbots can help you increase customer engagement.

#1: Available 24/7 for Your Customers

24/7 availability is one of the biggest benefits of using chatbots to engage your customers. Your support agents cannot work throughout the day and night. Even if you have teams taking different shifts to provide 24/7 support, it’s going to end up costing you a ton in wages and overhead. Chatbots are an inexpensive and effective solution to tackle this issue.

Your customers may have questions or issues that arise outside of your regular service hours. With chatbots, you can provide them with answers and resolutions at any time, even when your customer service staff is unavailable.

#2: Provide Quick Resolutions to Pressing Issues

A lot of people who contact customer support do not have a lot of time to wait for a response or resolution. Long hold times for phone support and slow email response times may quickly ruin the customer experience.

This is particularly harmful because 82% of consumers expect to get an immediate response to their sales or marketing questions. And 90% expect an immediate response when it comes to customer service questions.

In the case of chatbots, there is no wait time to start talking about your issues and to get a resolution. This allows for faster response times, which ultimately results in faster resolutions to customer support issues. You’ll be able to quickly engage your customers before they get frustrated.

In fact, a LogMeIn study found that 74% of consumers see the benefit of interacting with chatbots to get quicker resolutions and better support accessibility.

An Accenture study also found that chatbots could resolve 80% of chat sessions without the need to involve a human agent over chat or phone. So besides improving your resolution time, chatbots also free up time for your agents to handle issues that need human involvement.

#3: Provide Accurate Answers to Simple Questions

In some cases, customers may approach customer service only to get a quick answer to a simple question like information about their return or shipping policy, product features, etc.

So it doesn’t really make sense to send an email or wait for several minutes to speak to a support agent over a call. Chatbots can offer quick and accurate answers in these situations with zero wait time.

Normally, companies build chatbots with predefined responses and rules for basic and common questions. But aside from this, there are chatbots powered by AI and machine learning technology.

These chatbots can adapt and learn over time to increase the accuracy of their responses. They are ideal for increasing customer engagement as customers seek precise answers to their questions.

Amadeus, a leading solution provider for the tourism and travel industry, was able to start providing faster, 24/7 customer support service with the help of chatbots. They used an Aivo virtual assistant equipped with machine learning technology.

That technology allowed it to adapt and learn through every interaction. So it was able to provide precise and instant answers just like their customers needed.

They saw a 70% deflection of traditional channels, with the chatbot solving 3,300 cases a month. In addition, 78% of the answers it provided were effective.

#4: Ensure a Personalized Customer Service Experience

One of the advantages that chatbots have over human agents is that they are machines. This means they have the ability to process mountains of data in the blink of an eye.

They will be able to automatically collect customer details and history from your CRM, instantly providing them with a personalized response that’s relevant to their previous experience.

This is extremely important considering how human agents have to spend some time sieving through your customer database and find the most relevant information.

The LogMeIn study cited earlier even found that customer service agents end up spending 25% of their time finding relevant personal information about a customer.

Amazon’s chatbot, for instance, can instantly retrieve information about a customer’s most recent orders.

If you have any questions or issues with any of your past orders, you can simply select the relevant item and the chatbot will ask you what kind of questions you have about it.

This minimizes the need to go through the whole process of providing your order number to an agent, waiting for them to look it up, and so on.

#5: Cross-Promoting Relevant Products/Services/Content

Chatbots can also help you engage your customers through seamless cross-promotion. They can execute this in a natural and non-pushy way that’s relevant to the ongoing conversation.

For instance, say the customer needs more information about a certain product feature. The chatbot could direct them to a high-quality blog post or webpage that thoroughly describes this feature.

In some cases, the chatbot may even find it appropriate to cross-promote relevant products or services that go along with what a customer already has.

For example, let’s say the customer inquires about how to care for the new suede shoes they’ve recently ordered. Provide them with a useful guide, of course. But the chatbot could also recommend your brand’s suede cleaning kit.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are tons of ways in which chatbots can help you engage your customers more effectively. They can help you provide quick resolutions and prompt responses at all hours of the day even when your team isn’t working.

Since they can quickly access your customer, product, and content databases, they’re also exceptional at providing a personalized experience and cross-promoting highly relevant content or products.

So make the most of chatbots to start delivering a better customer service experience and watch your business grow. Got any questions about any of these points? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "5 Benefits of Using Chatbots for Customer Engagement" was first published on Small Business Trends