Good customer service is crucial in brand loyalty. It’s what keeps people coming back.
Consider your favorite restaurant. Think about the little things that make every dining experience memorable: pleasant greetings by the staff when you arrive, quick and efficient service, and maybe even the complimentary garlic bread on your table while you wait for your food.
Businesses need to remember that to be successful at gaining and keeping customers, they need to have both a solid digital marketing strategy and excellent customer service. Downplay one, and you’re likely going to see it not only impact your numbers but also the way people perceive your brand.
One way to elevate your customer service is to implement the use of chatbots.
Most businesses today are already using these robot side-kicks, and it’s not surprising why. 56% percent of consumers prefer to communicate with a chatbot rather than wait to speak with a customer service representative.
We’ve all been there. We’ve listened to the hold music. We’ve been told we’re 35th in the queue of people waiting to get their concerns heard. It’s frustrating! More importantly for you, it’s bad for business.
With chatbots, you can provide great customer service to everyone who gets in touch with your business.
6 Benefits of Chatbots for Customer Service
If you’re still wondering whether the bots are for you, here are six benefits of using chatbots for customer service:
Allows You to Sell Directly on Social Media
What better way to ramp up your sales than to be right there where your customers are – on social media.
The great thing about incorporating chatbots in your business is you can sell directly through private messaging on social media platforms, like Facebook and Messenger. This way, you not only make it easier for people to shop, but you can also catch every potential customer where they are and when they intend to make a purchase.
This is important because social commerce is projected to grow to $2.9 trillion by 2026.
What does this mean? More and more Internet users will no longer go to websites to shop. They would rather browse on social media and buy items that strike their fancy right then and there.
Depending on how your chatbots are programmed, they can even give product recommendations and lead customers to the right pages based on what they want.
For instance, a user can chat with a bot and say they’re looking for a “white skirt”. The bot can then link to items that match that search query.
This results in faster checkouts and–voila! More sales.
Provides Customer Service that Never Sleeps
Since we’re human, we need to sleep. We even need to take breaks at work to perform at our optimum capacity. The bots, however, don’t even blink.
This means that once you’ve implemented automation in your customer service support, each customer is attended to no matter what time of the day they reach out. They could even be from a different time zone and it won’t be an issue.
This also ensures that customer concerns are addressed in a timely manner. No more waiting in line to access a resource that they need or find a product that they’re looking for.
In fact, 64% of Internet users say that 24/7 accessibility is the feature that they like the most about chatbots. And why not? Chatbots are able to answer 80% of standard questions from customers.
Helps Make Customer Buying Journeys Smoother
With AI chatbots, businesses are able to provide personalized one-on-one communications with customers based on where they are in their buying journey.
Chatbots can be programmed to address specific types of customers, so businesses can help users, whatever buying stage they’re in, get exactly what they need.
An example of this is a chatbot that can provide prompts to consumers to make purchasing seamless and fast–from looking for items to checking out their cart.
One of the biggest problems that businesses encounter is high drop-off rates, where carts are abandoned just when customers are supposed to check out. While several factors affect this, one of the biggest reasons why people don’t proceed is bad customer experience.
Some examples of this are hidden charges that customers only find out when they’re checking out or an unnecessarily long check-out process.
A chatbot can streamline the whole shopping experience so customers get right to where they need to be. This can be beneficial regardless of whether a customer is looking to buy right now or simply trying to get to know more about the business.
Generates and Nurtures Leads
Chatbots are also helpful in generating quality leads and nurturing them so they have a higher chance of converting.
They can do this by asking questions to determine each customer’s preferences, buying journey, and intent for the visit.
But that’s not all. Chatbots can also improve the customer experience by providing incentives for getting in touch or visiting a website by offering discount codes or leading customers to helpful resources based on what they need.
Reduces Customer Service Costs
Another huge benefit of chatbots is it cuts customer service costs significantly. It costs to train people, build infrastructure, and pay salaries to a customer service team.
With chatbots, you will be able to maintain and even enhance your customer service without having a large customer service team. All you need to do is pay a subscription fee, and you can have round-the-clock support.
Gives Time Back to Your Customer Service Team
As soon as the bots are programmed and implemented, they can answer routine questions and handle simple concerns. This allows your customer service team to focus on more impactful transactions or conversations that need greater care.
This not only makes your team more productive, but it also reduces stress in the workplace, with customer service reps that no longer need to put in overtime hours all the time or take more calls than they can handle in a day.
Responsive Chatbots Make Good PR
Chatbots that can provide timely support and help maintain positive customer relationships also makes great PR. The better the customer experience, the better your brand’s credibility and reputation.
Aside from that, chatbots can also be programmed to help businesses monitor brand perception and online sentiment, as well as gather valuable feedback in real time. These insights are crucial for shaping PR strategies that hit the mark in terms of shaping a positive brand image.
Take Care of Your Customers Better
Ramp up your customer service using chatbots and turn conversations into opportunities for better sales and conversions.
Don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered!
Talk to us, and we’ll show you how!
Jossaine Nunez is a freelance article writer, blogger, and SEO-driven maven. While her true passion lies in writing fiction, her love for storytelling extends to helping brands convey their message in ways that are both engaging and helpful for attaining their business goals.
Jossaine’s interests in writing particularly about people, for people – which translates to brand audience engagement – stems from her experience as the Editor-In-Chief of Siliman University’s The Weekly Silimanian, which published slices of life and educational pieces surrounding university life. Her piece, A Review of Leoncio Deriada’s People on Guerrero Street, published in the Silliman Journal on discussions and investigations in the humanities and sciences, earmarks her foray into the world of writing about, and writing for, humans that make the world go round.
