Published on April 6th, 2017 | by Guest

Why Incorporating Chatbots into Your Small Business Plan Matters Most?

Have you ever considered incorporating chatbots into your social media marketing strategy? Are you not sure enough about the benefits of using chatbots for your small business? If that is the case, in this blog you will discover why you should consider using chatbots, how chatbots can help your small business to grow, how the process of creating a chatbot and implementing in your business plan is not as complex as most business owners and online marketers think, and how an effective chatbot could convert any social media marketing strategy into a successful one. So, let’s start with the basics.

What Chatbots Actually Are?

Chatbots are basically automated messaging systems that are usually built to respond to customer queries without any human assistance. Chatbots rely on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to minimize conversation and are built with language assistance capability. AI and machine learning advancements give chatbots the ability to recognize and interpret what a customer is saying.

There are approximately 30,000 active chatbots built into Facebook Messenger, also available on other messaging platforms such as Apple, Slack, WeChat, iMessage and more.

Some Most Famous Chatbots

Nowadays, more and more people are spending a lot of time on smartphones, using messaging apps and this is why chatbots are becoming a more famous choice for business world. Chatbots have the power to respond instantly to resolve customer’s queries, anytime, everywhere, which can significantly provide a positive user experience.

Some famous chatbots are:

Poncho which provides local weather forecast at the click of a button
X.ai serves as a virtual business assistant that can schedule your important meetings
NewsBot delivers news notifications whenever needed
Xiaoice is a Chinese chatbot, developed by Microsoft which acts as a friend

Why Use Chatbots for Your Small Business?

Being a small business owner, you should consider using chatbots as part of your small business plan. There are a few reasons why businesses should use chatbots:

The rising popularity of social messaging apps have made it essential for businesses to use them for their benefit. A recent study shows that 60% of millennials have tried chatbots and 71% of millennials would prefer to use chatbots from major brands.

In fact, chatbots are providing all the same types of features that made social platforms so popular. So, if you are looking to advance your business, you want to meet all the latest technological requirements of today’s market, and right now it is messenger apps.

In addition, the direct messaging feature of chatbots enables your brand to build a more closer interaction with you customers. Chatbots has a great potential to answer customer’s queries anytime, thus giving your business a great opportunity to engage with your customers.

Chatbots provide a great, seamless and responsive option to help customers through the purchasing cycle by quickly responding to all their shopping queries. Customers can complete financial transactions by using chatbots and payment systems such as PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, Braintree and more.

Most of all, chatbots are tailormade to feel like you are interacting with a human, not machine, to provide customers a more human touch.

Chatbots greatly help improve your customer service. You can improve your business ordering process though this tool.

Chatbots Can Build Quickly and Easily

Chatbots sound like relatively complex thing, but if truth be told, they actually don’t take much time to develop. This is indeed a great news for businesses that are not ready to incorporate chatbots into their small business plan.

To create a chatbot for your small business, it’s advisable to hire a developer who understands all the technicalities and complexities involved. If you are not in a position to go for this option, don’t worry. There are some tools that can help you create a chatbot for your business.

OnSequel, Chatfuel and Bostify are some tools that enable you to develop chatbots for messenger apps.

If you are a small business, SaaS startup, social media marketing agency, web design company or an ad agency, and thinking to use chatbots as a part of your social media strategy, then it is advised to keep this points in mind:

Human Interaction is Essential

Chatbots are an amazing way to improve your customer service and provide a great user experience to your customers. But keep in mind that chatbots should not be used to completely replace the human interaction. Make sure customers are still able to engage humans in your business.

Have a Clear Strategy

Always keep a clear chatbot strategy in your mind. Set some clear goals based on what you hope to accomplish with a chatbot and stay determined to meet those goals.

Promote Your Chatbot

Once you built your chatbot, it’s time to promote it effectively. If do it wrong, people may not realize your brand has one, and chances are you will be losing out. Adding some plugins within your website can lead people directly to your messaging app.

Secure Enough

Make sure you do your homework and choose a secure platform. Ecommerce businesses can convert leads into conversions through chatbot as it ensures users to feel secure to provide their credit card details within the app.

I hope, these chatbots basics for your small business will help you improve your social media marketing strategy and customer support service.

Tags: business, chatbots, incorporating, plan, small