AI-based Chatbots in customer service and their positive effects on businesses

In order to provide customers with more ease and a better experience, more companies are turning to Artificial Intelligence-powered Chatbots. This includes reducing customer wait times and creating a personalized communication channel.

Today, customer experience is a game-changer for brands. Brands are being pushed to improve their customer service strategies to be in the competition. Although there are a variety of options, AI Chatbots is a leading and essential component of any customer service strategy.

So, do you know what is AI-Powered Chatbot?

An automated tool that enables to communicate with people through text, audio feedback or both, is an AI Chatbot. It’s an application that can think like people and have conversations with you in clear terms. It is independent of interference by humans. 

Now, when we say that AI Chatbots can operate independently of human intervention, it means that they can basically function based on the knowledge base available to them. AI Chatbot is the growing and advanced application in this digital era.

With the technological advancement, businesses are increasingly moving from conventional to digital platforms to interact with customers. Companies introduce Artificial Intelligence on their digital platforms to achieve comfort through technology. Chatbots are one of the AI technique which is rising and being used utmost. 

AI Chatbots have been widely adopted already. They provide new communication opportunities for companies around the world. According to a survey, By 2021, it is expected that 80% of businesses will have implemented some form of Chatbot to their systems. While companies will be expanding themselves to implement AI Chatbot, many have already applied it like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and messaging applications like WeChat and Facebook. 

AI Chatbots are becoming an important invention of technology. They have been adopted by brands because of their ability to be more efficient, fast, and increased customer engagement. AI-Powered Chatbot has come out as the superpower for many businesses in this customer-centric world. 

After the Covid-19 pandemic, the digital rise became unstoppable. The lockdown has surely made businesses understand the importance of digital platforms and how important it is to optimize business sources.

Customers are vividly present in digital space and using it extensively. When you are able to interact with the majority of your audience it then becomes vital to ensure they are satisfied and happy with your services. Today customers hate waiting. According to a survey, when it comes to emergencies, 37% of customers expect quick responses.

Which simply means if you take more time to solve customer query, they will move out. AI Chatbot has successfully solved this problem by being more scalable. They allow businesses to handle customer requests fast and increase customer loyalty.

Reportedly, “Chatbots are preferred by 69 % of customers due to their ability to respond quickly to simple questions”. Therefore, it is simple that AI Chatbot has played a crucial role to improve customer services. Below are few mentioned advantages of AI Chatbot that has enhanced customer service:

• AI Chatbots analyse customer responses and provide relevant information right away that provides personalization to customers.

• AI Chatbots respond in real time.They are the quickest way to connect with your customers. For both companies and consumers, this speed will result in time and cost savings.

• AI Chatbot improve user experience. By being more interaction and engagement. It gives your customers more ways to communicate with you.

• AI Chatbot improves customer loyalty. They provide customers with instant one-on-one answers, which is exactly what they want. It keeps customers happy and fulfilled with the problem-solving strategy and effective guidance.

Chatbot-enabled platforms can improve brand recognition, sales/lead generation, marketing engagement, and customer service.

Let’s look at how improved Customer service has open many opportunities for businesses and impacted positively:

• 24*7 Customer Support has helped business to be always available

Global or local, for every business customer support is the most significant factor in performance. According to a survey, More than half of consumers expect companies to be open 24*7.

Now when your customers have such expectations, it becomes necessary to fulfill them. The drawback was that many times customer executives were not available instantly to solve any query. So, when you have the opportunity to be able to provide services to your customers 24*7, then why not?!

Reportedly, the greatest advantage of making Chatbots available for the online services that consumers use is “24-hour support.” 

Through 24*7 availability, AI Chatbots enhance the customer service process. They are configured to provide immediate automatic responses to repetitive questions and to route requests to a real person when a more complex action is required. 

Additionally, companies may use Chatbots to perform several tasks at once, ensuring that no customer has to wait. This will encourage businesses to expand their operations to new markets and ensure that no customer has to wait.

• Increased Customer Interaction and helped business to enhance Customer Engagement 

Many times when customers visit a website, they left puzzled if they don’t get navigated. Sometimes they don’t have enough time to reach out to customer support. This not only affected the customer interaction but also not able to increase the engagement for the businesses.

According to a report, 56% of consumers prefer to message a business for help rather than call customer support.

But today in such cases while visiting a website, customers can automatically find a pop-up on their screen, which says: 

Hi!, How may I Help you? This can solve 50% customer problems.

It is true that sometimes customers don’t interact until and unless the communication is initiated by another side. Looking at today’s scenarios and competitiveness, it is highly impossible for businesses to personally interact with their customers. 

AI-Powered Chatbot solves this problem, by initiating the interaction with each customer at any time of day, about any issue. This not only increases interaction but keeps your customers engaged with your brand, enhancing customer engagement.

• AI Chatbots aid in the growth of a Business revenue

Deploying Chatbots has helped businesses to increase customer engagement with personalized messaging. With the customer details that Chatbots collect, personalized messaging that assists customers along the “buyer’s path” is feasible. By collecting details and convincing the user can create a lead for the business. To increase conversion rates, Chatbots ensure that the flow is in the right direction.

AI Chatbot increases lead generation and impacts business sales. “Chatbots, according to business leaders, has boosted revenue by 67% on average.”

Conclusion

According to a report, over half of the enterprise companies (such as Google, IBM, and Facebook) will spend more money on Chatbots than smartphone apps by 2021. 

There are more benefits and advantages of using an AI Chatbot for Businesses. AI Chatbots are used for customer support, sales, marketing, and engagement. Although AI Chatbots cannot replace humans, they can greatly enhance the customer service experience by providing a friendly tool to obtain the information that customers need. Understanding and identifying the areas is critical, therefore, AI Chatbot deployment should begin immediately to reap these benefits.

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About the author:
Neha Modgil, COO, TECHVED Consulting