Businesses will always innovate alongside technology. And with the digital age allowing more consumers to voice out their opinions regarding brands and the way they conduct business, it’s more crucial than ever to have superior customer service to avoid tarnishing their reputation.
Thanks to the development of chatbots, more and more companies are integrating this technology into their customer service teams, allowing artificial intelligence to solve the problems of consumers.
For more information and the latest innovations of the tech industry, check out robots.net.
Emergence of Chatbots and E-Commerce
With the constant advancement of artificial intelligence, could it be that humans are no longer the smartest beings in existence? We live in a time where intelligent and sophisticated machines are rising.
Using artificial intelligence, chatbots are computer programs that imitate human conversation through a mix of voice commands and/or text chats. Chatbots are integrated with learning algorithms, allowing them to function independently from human intervention.
Throughout history, there have been numerous chatbots in existence like Eliza, considered the first-ever chatbot developed by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1994.
With programmed keywords, Eliza could answer with an automated response. This paved the way for more sophisticated chatbots in the coming years like Alice, Jabberwacky, and most recently, Mitsuku.
Artificial intelligence coupled with retailers thanks to the rise of e-commerce. Growing at an unprecedented rate worldwide, consumers are skipping the mall and opting for shopping apps to get some retail therapy by swiping their fingers and clicking their mouse.
Since consumers are no longer in physical stores, employees can’t address concerns if the customer stumbles upon a problem such as delivery updates or sizing inquiries. This introduced a problem in customer service since unresolved queries resulted in a less satisfying experience for customers.
Thankfully, the integration of chatbots in e-commerce solved this problem!
Benefits of Using Chatbots
If you’re still apprehensive about delegating the crucial aspect of customer service to artificial intelligence, fear not because here are some proven benefits of using a chatbot to manage queries and concerns.
24/7 real-time support
Customers can hail from almost anywhere since the shop can be accessed digitally, so it’s hard to have a team to address every concern on the spot because of timezone differences.
With automated Chatbots, consumers can get the help they need the moment they need it in real-time despite these differences. It minimizes the risk of losing a purchase because the consumer couldn’t navigate the website or find the right item.
Machine learning features
Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that allows computer systems to learn from given data sets and make predictions. There are different kinds of machine learning techniques, but most of them require minimal human intervention.
What’s great about machine learning features is that the chatbot can make decisions in the absence of human experts and even teach human personnel new things because machine learning methods can offer new insights.
Proactive customer interaction
Before, a customer would have to seek out customer service, but today chatbots are the ones who initiate interaction with consumers.
A simple “Hi, how may I help you today?” can pop up in a small chat box at the bottom of their desktop screens so users are aware that real-time support is available should they need it.
This leaves the user in charge of how much they interact with the chatbot if at all, providing a better user experience.
It can track customer satisfaction by compiling the interactions for analysis
Because artificial intelligence also tackles data analytics, your chatbot can come equipped with the tools needed to track customer satisfaction.
By filing their interactions with customers, chatbots can see which responses users are more responsive to and how they react to the customer service through their language.
Relieves human personnel of manually answering repetitive queries
Not only do chatbots improve overall customer service experience, they even reduce your cost of operation as its presence relieves human personnel from manually answering repeated queries.
Consumers are a curious pack and they want to make sure that the product they buy is the best of its kind. Because of this, they tend to ask questions that thousands of others have asked before.
Sure, you can have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, but consumers rarely take the time to find it and read through every single one to find the question they want to ask. Instead, they’ll just go to the chatbox and message the retailer directly. So your original problem is still there.
If your chatbots are integrated with automated responses to frequently asked questions, your team can do other important tasks instead of answering each question manually.
Improved user experience, which can translate to sales
Because chatbots are always available with instant responses that include solutions to consumer problems and queries, consumers have superior customer service and better user experience.
The ease of which they can navigate and shop through your account will translate to sales and positive reviews, which will earn your business more loyal subscribers who will tell their friends all about how interactive your business is with its audience!