Chatbots and their benefits for user experience

In 2019, businesses are finally starting to understand the role of artificial intelligence and its impact on their business operations. Even though only 16% of businesses have already invested in AI solutions, this number is expected to triple by the end of 2019.

Forrester also believes that, now that marketers understand the fundamentals of AI, they will use it more intelligently and implement it creatively. And, this is exactly where chatbots stand out, taking user experiences and inbound marketing to a whole new level.

Want to know how chatbots can supercharge UX?

Let’s dive in!

Increasing Customer Engagement

You can use chatbots to engage your customers on so many levels. For example, you could notify customers about your latest content or time-sensitive deals via your Messenger bot. For example, if hosting a long-expected live video, chatbot notifications are a great opportunity to create buzz around it and attract greater audiences.

Another beautiful thing about chatbots lies in the fact that you can use them to tell your brand story in a highly interactive and engaging way. Ironically, bots will humanize your brand, giving you a chance to infuse your unique tone of voice, sentiment, values, and emotions.

Most importantly, they make customer interactions natural. Interacting with a chatbot can be as pleasant as talking to a friend. Users’ answers directly impact the storyline, making the entire interaction far more exciting than talking to a customer support rep or sending an email. Stats say that, sometimes, 63% of customers don’t even understand that they’re talking to a bot.

One such example is Humani: Jessie’s Story. Jessie is a typical 20-something that experiences a bunch of everyday problems, such as having a crush on a guy that doesn’t notice her, trying to find a new apartment, or losing her job. Most importantly, the way the bot interacts with you is completely natural. When she sends you a new message, it appears in your Messenger notifications. Her language is laid back and simple — typical for her Millennial character. Her messages are fun and intriguing, simply enticing you to answer them and find out what will happen next. As a user, you’re the one that impacts the string of communication by giving her tips and asking questions. So, if it weren’t for her avatar profile photo, you would soon start thinking of Jess as one of your friends.

Personalizing User Experiences

Your customers now expect you to provide them with highly targeted messages. Each step of their buyer journey, from the content you send out to your customer support efforts, needs to resonate with them. According to SalesForce, 57% of consumers are eager to share their sensitive data with you to get more relevant deals and offers. Another research study shows that they’re even ready to wait longer to receive content relevant to them.

Chatbots can play a fundamental role in personalizing UX. They listen to your customers’ individual needs and problems and try to provide relevant tips and personalized answers fast. For example, Sephora’s chatbot asks customers to take a brief quiz before continuing their interaction. Based on their answers, it tells them which products are best for them and provides actionable tips. Most importantly, users can upload their photo to see how certain products really look on them.

Improving Customer Support

Customers want you to provide timely feedback across multiple channels. For example, did you know that an average online consumer expects a brand to answer their question in less than 24 hours?

But, what happens when your customer support representatives clock off or if a customer from a different time zone asks a question in the middle of the night? Well, this looks like a job for a chatbot.

Chatbots don’t sleep. They’re there whenever a customer needs them, providing immediate feedback 24/7. With the proper website chat management, you will ensure your bot can process large quantities of customer information, organize it, and provide faster feedback. This is a job humans would need hours (if not days) to accomplish.

Ebay’s ShopBot is a perfect example of real-time customer support. It asks customers lots of questions about their preferred products, brands, and prices so it can help choose the right ones as fast as possible.

Acting as Separate Search Engines

Tim Soulo recently emphasized that, in 2019 and beyond, any platform with search functionalities can act as a separate search engine. And, this applies to your chatbots, too.

Let’s say you’re running a coffee shop. Before a customer makes a purchase, they will want to research your site, get your store’s map, read the reviews and, finally, make a purchase. This means that they will need to switch between at least 3 different pages to take the desired action.

With, chatbots, on the other hand, a user can do all that from one place, without leaving the app. Most importantly, apart from text-based messages, chatbots understand different kinds of inputs, including voice-based messages.

For example, Starbucks’ bot improves coffee experiences, helping customers skip waiting in lengthy lines. It lets them find the right Starbucks coffee and order it using either textual or voice commands. Then, the bot will inform you about the price of the product you ordered and tell you when it will be ready. Most importantly, it even includes the rewards program, incentivizing each purchase with loyalty points.

Adding Value through more Precise Lead Generation

Even though lead generation remains the top priority for many marketers, 63% of them say this is one of their main challenges, as well. One of the major problems they face is generating useless — this could be either incorrect or outdated information.

This is where chatbots can help. Let’s compare them to a human customer service representative.

Namely, your customer service representative talks to one person at a time, they use some traditional marketing tactics to generate leads and, above all, they follow up with all potential leads.

Chatbots, on the other hand, provide instant customer support, irrespective of how many people reach out to it at the same time. Once it engages with your target audience and starts building a relationship with them, it asks them naturally whether they’re interested in getting more killer content in their inboxes. When a customer says yes, then a chatbot keeps asking them precise qualifying questions to learn more about their needs, problems, and preferences and identify potential leads. Above all, instead of reaching out to all those people, it follows up only with those that are more likely to convert.

Integrating Chatbot Data with other Marketing Practices

The reason why people interact with your brand’s chatbot are multiple:

• Finding the right product and ordering it directly from the app.
• Staying on top of your latest deals, offers, and content.
• Receiving personalized product recommendations.
• Experiencing problems with your products or services and expecting your chatbot to help them solve these problems.
• Having fun participating in chatbot conversations.

Irrespective of the reason why they’re starting the conversation with your chatbot, one thing is sure — to get personalized answers, they need to log in and inform a chatbot about their exact problems, needs, and preferences. The language they use, their flow of interaction, purchasing habits, choices they make are also invaluable data you can use to personalize your marketing campaigns in the future.

This data will not only let you improve your chatbot and create better-engaging narratives, but can also help you with other aspects of marketing. For example, you will be able to create more personalized content that addresses the real issues your customers face. You will also be able to identify the most common questions they ask and use them to create a solid FAQ page and knowledge base. Not to mention improving your deals, products, and services.

Over to You

If you still have concerns about implementing chatbots, keep in mind that these are still humble beginnings of chatbot marketing. There is still lots of room for future improvements. You know what they say — Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Still, chatbots have been already used by many popular brands, changing our perception of real-time interactions and personalization forever. Soon, they will become a mainstream form on inbound marketing and customer support. And, if you want to maintain your competitive edge, you need to jump on the AI bandwagon as fast as possible.