WHAT IS A CHATBOT?

The term bot refers to software that automates certain tasks.

Chatbot is a software that uses artificial intelligence for automating conversations.

Chatbots are programmed to understand customer requests, respond, and complete certain tasks. From the user's perspective, the chatbot is an easily accessible tool that saves time. Instead of downloading an additional app, making a call, or searching for information on the site, it is enough for the user to simply send a message.

Chatbots can provide product recommendations and shorten the customer path.

According to the study by Gartner 85% of consumer interactions with businesses will take place without additional human intervention by 2020.

Businesses have to make sure they are visible everywhere their customer is looking. Nowadays, the place where users spend most of their time is messaging applications. Studies show that almost 70% of users choose live chatting feature instead of calling or emailing for information.

Facebook Messenger is the most popular messaging app with 1.3 billion active users worldwide.

Messenger enables businesses to connect with their users and potential customers in a new way. Whether it is raising brand awareness, attracting new customers, shortening the buying path or customer service, the Messenger chatbot can be an essential solution to a variety of problems.

When it comes to customer service, it is important to understand that consumer behavior and needs are changing. One of the major advantages of chatbots is that they provide instant answers. Chatbots respond to requests in real-time, maintaining the usual style of conversation.

Each business and its model is unique, so the chatbot can be effectively applied to solve a variety of problems. A well-tailored Messenger Chatbot can help business to achieve great results.

Sephora achieved an 11% increase in bookings through the use of Messenger Reservation Assistant. They sought to encourage more customers to visit physical stores, making it easy to book time for an individual makeup session.

In a 3-step process, Messenger enabled users to make a reservation. The booking process begins with users entering their desired city. Once the desired store location is selected, the chatbot provides you with all available dates and times and allows you to make a reservation in Messenger app.

SnapTravel has also achieved great results with its Messenger Chatbot solution. In one year, the chatbot made hotel bookings worth more than $1 million.

Accessing SnapTravel via Messenger is much easier, as there is no need to download an additional application. Users can send messages directly to SnapTravel to book a selected hotel. All you have to do is provide basic information such as location, date and budget.

Fashion empire Tommy Hilfiger has adapted a highly successful chatbot solution for business at Fashion Week in New York. 87% of the users who interacted with the chatbot at least once turned back and started messaging again. The company noted that users spent on average 3.5 times more on messenger than on any other digital channel.

There are two basic technologies that can be used to create chatbots:

Chatbots using chat automation technology have a database of pre-defined responses and operate by selecting the most appropriate one based on the user's request. Chatbots of this type cannot learn or add new answers themselves. Instead, they only select the answer from the database.

Artificial intelligence or machine-learning chatbots are more sophisticated, but they can handle many different queries. This type of chatbot is able to respond to more complex queries by formulating the responses itself. AI chatbot is able to learn and improve by himself.

The growing popularity of chatbots has become a fact. Consequently, more and more people are trying to customize one by themselves. That is why poor implementation examples are far more common than good ones.

Often the chatbot is created completely without purpose. Following the latest trends, some businesses decide to use the chatbot simply because everyone around them does so. Later, such a chatbot does not perform any clear function to the business, and instead of creating a positive experience for the user, it only makes it more confusing or annoying.

Another common problem is improper or incomplete technical implementation of the chatbot. Such chatbot is like a fuel-less car that can't go anywhere. This is also the case with the chatbot, which can provide the user with one or the other answer, but does not fully encourage user engagement and does not provide an opportunity to continue the conversation after the reply.

Not sure if your business needs a Messenger Chatbot? The answers to this question can be found in this post.

Fill out a free consultation form and within 15 minutes we will find out if we can help your business grow!