Chatbot marketing - we look at the key ways chatbots can benefit your business and why you need one.
Chatbots can be a huge benefit to your business. Take a look at the key ways chatbots can boost your marketing efforts and why you need one:
Chatbots have undoubtedly changed the face of user experience. ASOS and Spotify are prime examples of brands using chatbots to enhance user experience.
ASOS has simplified the buying process, operating through Facebook to make suggestions for gifts; ASOS' chatbot also provides image links that send the customer directly to the suggested products. With the addition of machine-learning technology, the bot filters options by asking shoppers a selection of questions - then make recommendations based on their answers.
Spotify enables users to discover and share music directly with their friends in chats. The bot, which also benefits from Facebook’s chat extensions, includes search tools, song suggestions, and a sharing functionality for sending 30-second clips to friends that can either be listened to within Messenger or launched in full on Spotify’s app. In this sense, the chatbot enhances the UX through social connectivity and gamification.
Chatbots can enhance the user experience by providing a greater sense of presence and support (with 24-hour, seven-days-a-week availability). They can function as a booking system, a search tool, and a provider, facilitating the procurement and distribution of information or assets.
Chatbots are not only effective as a customer service tool but can also be used to engage your customers via outbound marketing methods.
This mitigates the need for additional manpower or time when conducting proactive customer engagement.
Use chatbots to send follow-up messages to:
Chatbots can also be programmed to send customers directly to a member of your team, stimulating direct customer engagement. You can even program chatbots to "prompt" - this encourages customers to explain a common issue, which can then be resolved by the chatbot or a customer service representative.
You can expect chatbots to start replacing the more traditional survey format, offering a dynamic, conversational way of conducting market research.
Customer surveys have previously consisted of a rigid series of questions, set in a linear format. Chatbots can be a way of actively adapting to customers’ responses, programmed with the goal of obtaining thorough and valuable insights.
With chatbots, the data-collection process can take place organically, within the structures of the conversation. As chatbot-led surveys mature, brands will be better able to manipulate and refine their survey scripts with the purpose of collecting desired customer data either within the present or at the follow-up stage of the interaction. This can enhance products, customer service, and customer outreach.
Chatbot integration with social media, notably Facebook Messenger, only augments its effectiveness as a market research tool.
A study at Michigan State University, analysing the transformation of the market research industry, showed that Facebook Messenger chatbots have great potential when it comes to attracting mobile respondents and providing an excellent survey user experience on mobile devices.
The comparative study highlighted that "more than three-fourths (76%) of the respondents who completed the same survey via Facebook Messenger chatbot on their smartphones, rated the overall survey experience significantly higher than those who took the web-based survey on a mobile device".
This highlights a heightened consumer receptiveness toward social-media-based chatbot surveys as opposed to web-based surveys - implying that organisations that deploy surveys via social media messenger bots will achieve the most success.
Although the prospect of chatbots might be exciting, it's crucial that you don't neglect other aspects of your marketing strategy. Chatbots are an effective way to boost initial engagement by providing quick information, simplifying processes and instilling a sense of gamification. However, this form of AI does have its limitations therefore authentic, human interaction remains critical in the overall sales process due to aspects of personalisation, transparency and trust.
Want to learn more about how chatbots can help your business? Get in touch!