Benefits of Using AI Chatbots That You Need to Know

If you think AI chatbots are revolutionary, you’re a little late to the party. According to a Gartner study, by 2020, 25% of businesses will use AI chatbots for providing customer service across channels.

It makes sense to deploy an AI chatbot on your website as it can help you collect valuable customer data, resolve issues, and even generate sales. Many people are already comfortable interacting with chatbots, so, they will not have a long learning curve.

More importantly, AI chatbots can help you reduce the cost of various processes, especially customer service operations.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why you should use AI chatbots for your business.

Customers Find Chatbots Convenient

Customers don’t like to wait in line to get their issues resolved. No one likes to hear, “You are currently number 23 in the queue, the estimated wait time is 45 minutes. Please hold.”

With an AI chatbot, your customers can get instant resolution to their customer service requests. This can help you keep your customers happy. And, a happy customer is a loyal customer.

You will not have to make any extra efforts to retain your existing customers. Moreover, they are likely to give your brand positive reviews and recommend your products and services to others.

Most chatbots can answer simple questions without human intervention if you choose the right chatbot platforms. Conversational AI chatbots can provide customers with human-like responses to enhance their experience.

Chatbots Can Handle Multiple Customer Requests

Customer support executives can only entertain one customer request at a time. This means that you will need more people on round-the-clock shifts to handle the maximum possible number of customer requests. That can be expensive.

Therefore, it is a good idea to deploy an AI chatbot to handle multiple customer requests at the same time. Chatbots can work 24/7 to provide relevant solutions and information to your customers, as they do not need a break.

In many cases, customers only need simple information that well-trained chatbots can easily provide, without any human intervention.

In the case of complex requests, smart AI-powered bots can transfer the issue to a human agent. This can reduce the workload of your human customer care executives.

As chatbots get more sophisticated, the proportion of requests they can handle autonomously will also grow.

Chatbots Can Get You More Sales

The use of chatbots is not limited to resolving after-sales issues. They can also help you generate leads, drive sales conversions, and upsell or cross-sell products.

AI chatbots can lead potential buyers down the sales funnel by simply being available to answer their questions. They can help prospects find the products they’re looking for and provide them with the information they need at the right time.

Having sales agents work 24/7 is not feasible and that’s where chatbots can help.

Sophisticated and properly-trained sales chatbots can:

• Engage with your existing customers and prospects
• Personalize communications based on previous interactions
• Provide helpful advice or product recommendations based on previous interactions and past purchases
• Guide customers through the sales funnel, making it easier for them to buy
• Upsell and cross-sell by suggesting other relevant products and offers at the time of purchase

AI chatbots have the potential to save you money and drive sales conversions.

To get started, check out some of the best conversational AI chatbot platforms you can use. I’ve reviewed a few of them on my blog, ShaneBarker.com. You can choose the one that best fits your needs.

For more information about what a chatbot is and the opportunities and challenges associated with using a chatbot, check out the infographic below.