Dig Into Our Perspective | digital industry group - dig

the business benefits of a chatbot

Written by dig | July 23, 2020

We’ve all been there, shopping online or browsing a website, when a virtual agent pops up and asks if you need assistance. This is a chatbot, and more businesses are turning to them as a real solution for customer service. You might be wondering if your business could benefit from adding a chatbot to your website.

The number one question: are they really smart enough? We say yes! 

While there are limits to what they can achieve, the artificial intelligence algorithms and programming tools to build them are constantly improving, making it easier than ever to fold one into your own business.

So should you invest in a chatbot?

If you don’t, you could find yourself outpaced by your competitors any day now. Several years ago, Gartner predicted this shift in consumer behavior:

“by 2020, 85% of our engagement with businesses will be done without interacting with another human. Instead, we’ll be using self-service options and chatbots.”

Ready for two more stats?

“Over 50% of customers expect a business to be open 24/7.” 

“65% of consumers prefer using a messaging app when contacting a business.” (source: Oracle) 

Customers find the speed and convenience of interacting with a bot gets them the answers they need more quickly than other methods. Millennials and Gen Z are increasingly demanding interaction with chatbots, so if your business isn’t positioned for this change in consumer behavior, you risk losing leads, sales and loyalty.

What are chatbots best for?

  • Answering customer service questions quickly 
  • Routing support calls efficiently
  • Performing frontline support
  • Generating leads 
  • Scheduling appointments 
  • Onboarding and educating customers 

An ever-expanding conversational API allows machines to communicate with customers using a natural language, and development costs are reasonable thanks to the difference between conversation mapping and hardcore AI development. 

So how does that benefit your business?  

Getting customers onboarded, questions answered and support addressed quickly can improve customer satisfaction, build brand loyalty and reduce operational costs. This is the new way of managing the customer experience, and it’s never been more critical. 

Ready to get started?   

The team at dig can walk you through the options based on what your business needs. Our AI experts can help you decide if you need a bot to greet customers, automatically find FAQ articles, book appointments, take warranty information or update subscriptions. We can walk you through the conversation mapping process and implement a bot that will start benefiting your business and helping your customers right away.