Nowadays it is very important to be able to serve the customers on your site immediately. We live in a world where everything goes fast and people want immediate answers to their questions. Aren't you doing this? Then they click your site away and they look for an alternative. Now, of course, you can't answer customer questions all day long. One solution to this is chatbots: a chat that automatically answers frequently asked questions. But is this such a good solution? In this blog we will tell you more about it!
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a tool that allows you to respond to questions from website visitors in a chat program. So there is a conversation with a robot. Chatbots are often integrated into traditional chat programs such as Facebook Messenger,Telegram and Slack.
The development of chatbots is in full swing and they are getting better and better. Of course, we're getting further and further in terms of technology, so the future for chatbots looks promising. Whereas a chatbot could only answer questions, nowadays it can also perform simple tasks such as scheduling an appointment in your calendar or making a reservation at a restaurant.
Benefits chatbots
Having a chatbot can be very useful for businesses. Below we describe some of the benefits of a chatbot:
- It saves time: where people need to be used in a live chat, a chatbot can answer infinite chats at the same time. This saves a lot of time that can also be put into other work;
- Less costs: because no more employees need to be employed, it also saves quite a bit of money. Building a chatbot also costs money, of course, but this does not outweigh the cost of employing employees on a daily basis;
- Always available for questions: a chatbot can stay on day and night. Employees are not available all day. With a chatbot you are constantly available and that is an added value;
- Quick answer: a chatbot answers almost immediately. Where people can wait for customer service during crowds, a chatbot answers quickly. A customer's satisfaction often decreases when he or she has to wait a long time so this is definitely an advantage.
Chatbots cons
However, there are also some disadvantages to using a chatbot.
- Lacks empathy: chatbots of course have no feeling. In customer service, however, empathy is a very important aspect. By understanding the situation as a company, customers often become more forgiving and will make another purchase. A chatbot will not understand a tedious experience;
- Don't take into account spelling mistakes: Chatbots can't recognize spelling mistakes. It is therefore important that the messages are typed flawlessly. This is of course not always the case and can cause irritation to the questioner;
- Incomplete answer: once a non-standard question is asked, it's hard for a chatbot to answer. Of course, a specific situation can always occur and with the chatbot you can't give a full answer.
Examples chatbots
However, a chatbot can work well and is therefore regularly used by companies. Two examples of well-functioning chatbots are I am pop and Flow.ai. I am pop is widely used by artists who want to stay in touch with their fans. For example, the chatbot can send newsletters or announce events.
At Flow.ai you can build your own chatbot, entirely according to the needs of your company. An example of using the chatbot is 'Train'. This can be found in Facebook Messenger and you can ask questions such as: "What time should I take the train if I want to be in Amsterdam at 09:00?" or "Are there any disturbances on the Zwolle-Groningen route?". Handy right?!
What do you think, outweigh the advantages of chatbots? And do you use a chatbot for your company?
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