One of the objectives of every business is to attract more customers because without customers, it will be impossible to achieve the other goals of the business. With more customers comes more sales which in turn translates to more profit which is the aim of every business owner – making profit. Hence, it is very important to pay close attention to the needs of the customers.
Any business owner that wants to succeed must give adequate attention and interact with his clients, listening to their complaints and suggestions as regards to the accessibility and usage of its products and services. A company for instance may have so many customers or clients. It is the duty of the company to treat each customer with care because in business, customers are regarded as gods and for a good reason.
A large company will need more people to attend to the customers and employing more people comes with extra cost of labor which will affect the company’s profit margin. Most times, no matter the number of customer service representatives a company employs, they may not be able to attend to all the complaints of its customers at the appropriate time.
This could be because there may be too many customers needing attention at the same time or maybe the customer service personnel may not be on duty as at the time the customer needs help (unofficial hours or night shift). It could also be because of a shortage of personnel. Employing a customer service representative may also be self-defeating for the business owners because due to circumstances beyond their control, a customer care representative can get moody or might not be in the right frame of mind to attend to the customer effectively with patience and respect.
After all, being human means you’re prone to imperfection. A chatbot is an artificial intelligence program that allows a business to efficiently interact with its customers. It does the work of a customer care representative with so much efficiency.
Chatbots eliminate all the problems associated with employing a customer care representative. It saves the company a lot of money that could have been used to employ so many people thereby increasing the company’s profit. Chatbots are also very reliable mainly because they are not affected by human characteristics such as sadness, anxiety, tiredness, sickness, or human emotions like love and hate.
The use of chatbots is not restricted to customer service as chatbots have a wide range of uses which may include simplifying online payment, sending useful information and news about the company, 24/7 online assistance, gathering customer or user data that will be useful for a market survey (email, phone number, address, age, sex and so on), building an environment for trust and Engagement.
As a computer program, chatbots work through websites, messaging applications, mobile applications, or by phone. Another advantage of chatbots is that they are not downloaded like applications and hence it’s not necessary to update them.
You may be wondering, what type of businesses are chatbots most suited for? Well, the world is evolving into a global community. And most businesses are now taking advantage of different avenues to make sure that their products and services reach more people in the global market. Many businesses now have websites and applications as they try to grab a share of the online market.
Now you can buy food, book flights, buy concert tickets, order transportation, make payments and even bank online. You can do virtually everything you can think of online. Due to the digitalization of the business world chatbots have become very important and whether you like it or not the use of chatbots in business is the future of digital marketing. Virtually every big company now requires the use of chatbots in it’s operation. Here are some of the Businesses that mostly require the use of chatbot.
- Real estate Business : Real estate business on its own is based on relationship between the buyer and the real estate agent hence you can say that it is relationship-oriented business by nature. Nowadays people prefer to buy land and properties from the comfort of their own homes. Even though chatbots may not be able to replace the Agent-client relationship as of now, they have been able to replace agents in the area of providing information and answers to general real-estate questions. Many real estate companies now own a website on an app on which they display properties that they have for sale and lease as the case maybe and the chatbots are available 24/7 to provide information on each proper as well as information regarding the real estate company in general.
- Healthcare Business: Recently there are some apps and websites like “Health Tap” where you can just type in your symptoms and it will give you a doctor’s advise as regards to your symptoms. Some chatbots go as far as prescribing medication for some general disease symptoms. Chatbots in the Healthcare sector also give you an insight on diet and healthy routines that can help you ensure that you stay fit and in good health. People have a bad habit of forgetting to take their medication at the appropriate time and dosage. Apps like “FLORENCE” for instance is a Healthcare chatbot that can help notify you to take your medication at the proper time, it check your symptoms and sends daily health tips on healthy lifestyle, it can also help you contact a health care professional to give you proper advice as regards to your health situation. Healthcare chatbots do not in anyway substitute the work of a real doctor rather it serves as a reminder for you to take your health problems seriously. So if you are really sick, you should go to the hospital and have yourself properly examined
- Entertainment Business : The entertainment industry has become one of the fastest growing and most lucrative business industries right now. People are in constant demand for entertainment and recreation to ease their mind from the day’s struggle. People generally want to take some time out to relax and have some fun after working. People no longer have time for such recreational activities as going to the park, skating or riding a bicycle rather they prefer to chat and play video games on their smartphone. Chatbots such as Facebook and Instagram help to keep their users entertained. There are also several gaming chatbots that help keep you entertained.
- Banking Business : Different businesses are normalizing the use of Chatbots. The banking sector is no exception. The main reason why chatbots are very suitable for the banking business is mainly because they provides a better customer care service experience to the customers.
- They also help to reduce the stress and work load on the banking staff by dealing directly with the customers. Chatbots help banks in carrying out such tasks as greeting customers, obtaining information and possible solutions as regards to their problems, providing requested customer information, accepting payment from a user in the for of deposits, making payments on behalf of the customers and so many other minor tasks. Banking chatbots are operational in the mobile banking application of a bank. The can also be integrated into a bank’s website.
- The use of chatbots in the banking business has a lot of advantages which includes 24 hours customer care support allowing customers to solve their immediate banking problems on weekends or after normal working hours. They also provide easy communication between customers and bank managers by helping the customers or client to contact the bank representative in the quickest possible time. The use of chatbots for banking provides the customers with a more personalized experience.
- They do this by accessing the full information of a customer making it easy for them to know exactly what the customer would like before he or she starts the conversation process. Not all customers’ problems require the help of a bank staff. The use of chatbots reduces the work load on the bank staff thereby enhancing their efficiency and productivity.
- Transportation business : Due to improvement in computer power and more access to data In real time chatbots are now emerging as a powerful tool in the transportation industry. Drivers can now interact with chatbots for directions and chatbots in turn help them to calibrate and navigate to their destination. Most cars now have the GPS chatbot that helps you point the direction to your destination.
- Transportation companies like Uber now have apps that make use of chatbots to provide good transportation services to customers. The use of chatbots in transportation business is shaping the future of logistics interactions. The use of chatbots helps to improve the services of a transport company in so many ways. Firstly, It allows customers to track goods that’s are beings transported thereby giving the customer more confidence in the services of the transportation company.
- People tend to believe what they can see more than what they cannot see. Chatbots helps customers that wish to ship a certain package to prepare ahead of time to meet the internal rules and shipping conditions of the transport an logistics company. The chatbot helps to assign tasks to the appropriate staff. As in the case of Uber where you get to choose the type of car you like.
- Chatbots helps you to book a time and place of delivery and it also helps you to track the package. Chatbots also allows customers to amend and order or change the destination of a package should their be a mistake. You can also complain if you feel like you are not satisfied with the services of the company.
- News and information business : These days you can find several news articles online and chatbots are always there to help you access the information you are looking for. Chatbots have a great influence on news and the media. They help you to personalize the type of information or news you want to be getting by asking you certain questions and using your data to personalize your information flow.
- Most times the information you’ll be getting may be coined from your areas of interest. The CNN chatbot is one of the most popular chatbots in the News and information sector mostly because it connects with the individual in such a way that Is very personal.
- The use of chatbots here ensures that you only gain access to news and information that concerns you. If you are interested in sports or entertainment, the chatbots help make sure that the information you’ll getting will be based on your are of interest.
In conclusion. The use of chatbots in business cannot be over-emphasized as it has grown to become a very powerful tool any business can have. It is definitely the future of business and many business owners are now accepting it fully as an integral part of their business.
The use of chatbots in business has so many benefits. Hence, it is a welcomed development in the business world. Any business that wants to succeed must be willing to incorporate the use of chatbots in its day-to-day activities. The type of chatbots a business can use depends on the type of duty the chatbots are to perform. The business world today is very competitive and customers are always looking for customized solution their problems so you as a business owner has to make your business unique and stand out of the crowd.
You have to devise new ways to make sure that your customers are satisfied with your product and services always because that’s what will keep them loyal to your business.
Chatbots provides you with a solution to help ensure that your customers are satisfied always. It doesn’t matter the type of business you are doing as long as you want to maintain patronage, you have to keep your customers and clients happy and the most efficient way to do this is to ensure that they are provided with solutions to the different problems they may have as regards to the use of your products. Chatbots give high-quality customer support as well as other benefits at a very cheap rate.
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