Thursday, March 16, 2017

Why Your Business Needs A Chat bot

Recently we have been discussing to add a chatbot for our new venture and that lead me to write this article on why a business will need a chatbot and what are the advantages of it.

What is a Chat bot?


In a very simple definition, a chat bot is a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.


So yes a chat bot is nothing but a computer program which can handle communication with users over the internet using the smart and artificial intelligence programmed in it by the developers. So in a way chat bot is your virtual customer care executive which does not exits in real life but it's in computer. Many of the businesses and website have real time talk to customer care on their website. You start a chat and in few moments you got a reply from one of the executive. But may times it's not human it's bot replying to your queries and helping you in finding a solutions to your problem. It talks like human, it behaves like human and it lead conversions like human but the fact is it's chat bot program which is replying to you. Many of the businesses are using the chat bots successfully and many of the companies are developing chat bots. Real challenge right now in chat bot development is that you have to make it really really smart to handle all types of conversation and with the increasing use of Artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning, natural language processing chat bots are becoming smarter and smarter. Even smarter than human as well. 

One of the biggest trends in social media, specially social messaging apps, are bots and bot stores. Technology analysts predicted that bot stores will be the biggest thing since the rise of app stores. in 2017 we will see many developments on chat bots. Most of the businesses will opt for chat bot services to improve their business practices and customer care. Here are some reasons on Why Your Business Needs a Chat Bot

1) 24 X 7 Customer care


Computer do not eat, computer do not sleep, it needs only constant power to be on for 24 X 7 hours. So if you are using chat bot for the customer care, your customers will get 24 X 7 hours services. They can contact you any time and your bot will reply to them on behalf of you. This way your customer will be much satisfied and you can attend customers queries across the globe and different time zones. You don't need a call center and team of executives to handle it and it's cost effective too as you don't have to pay salary to customer care executives and do not need to invest in customer care center infrastructure, just invest in a chat bot and it will work for you all the time.

2) Better Customer Engagements with Buying Influence


Most of the companies selling online their services and products are using chat bots customer engagement. A customer browsing through your websites, products and services online on your website and chat bot can give more options to your customers based on customer preference and it will be more interactive experience to your customers and users as they feel it as a very personalized approach and they will be happy with this and you will get better customer engagements with this. Also chat bot can ask for the user preferences like what style they want and what brand they want and based on that, it will suggest the buying options thus influencing customer with more buying options.

3) Boost Social Media Engagement


In April, Facebook announced it would be opening up its increasingly influential Messenger platform in beta — and allowing brands to start using chatbots there. Not only can this help brands to achieve better sales, but it’s also a natural way with which to bolster social media engagement. By deploying a useful chatbot on Facebook, you’ll be far more likely to attract users on to your business page – where you are hopefully already bending over backwards in order to drive sales and engage with consumers on a personal level.


4) Simplify Your Business Processes


A chat bot is not just for the customer care and sales, it can even help you with your businesses. A custom chat bot designed for your business can help you simplify your business processes and let you be more productive in your business. A chat bot can also take business decisions based on certain parameters and help you in maintaining flow of your business.

In a way, chat bot is going to take industry by storm in upcoming years and chat bot will act as


  • Your lawyer
  • Your personal stylist
  • Your personal assistant
  • Your doctor
  • Your financial advisor
  • Your teacher
  • Your Accountant


and many more you can imagine.

2 comments:

  1. In one of the recent articles in ET it stated that some of the large Indian business houses have started using chat bots for HR function... I was amazed to read it as when I grew up learning about HR it was always taught that HR is a function where personal touch is most important or the key element. Times are changing and a rightly penned down by you Mr. Hiren Dave. Chat bots are now becoming necessary for improved customer service.

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