Chatbot Strategy: Increasing Customer Engagement Through Messages

We have not, thankfully, seen any of the nightmare scenarios envisaged by science fiction. But the reality is that we now rely on many AI-powered (artificial intelligence) systems. Some estimates state that 76% of companies are now using some form of automation to make their business operate more efficiently.

For any business with a busy website, there is one great strategy for automating some processes and increasing customer engagement – chatbots. But what benefits can they offer your business, and how does a chatbot strategy help increase your customer engagement levels?

Why chatbots can help increase engagement rates

Engagement rates on your website and across any social media platforms you utilize do matter. Good engagement rates can lead to better sales and conversion rates and help your sales and marketing teams plan future campaigns. They’re key to understanding what content best works for your target audience. So, how can you use chatbots to help boost engagement?

1. Availability

Unlike human agents, chatbots work for you 24/7/365. They don’t need holidays or breaks and can answer customer queries (or guide them through your site) anytime. Customers expect fairly quick responses; 12% expect a response to an email within 15 minutes or less. When you also offer channels such as live chat, it’s worth using chatbots and active human agents. 

2. Multiple customers

While your human staff is limited in how many customers they can deal with at any one time, there is no such restriction on chatbots. This means your bots can cope with multiple queries and provide simple automated answers or, where needed, elevate the query to a human agent where the query is a more complex one. 

3. Conversations 

As we mentioned, people want quick responses, especially when it comes to basic info. Depending on their complexity, chatbots can handle simple and complicated conversations. That means your customers don’t have to wait on hold for hours just for a quick password reset, and they can even ask questions about their order status, tracking details, or your latest promotions.

Linked to your CRM, those answers can be quick and more personal. The chatbot can ‘see’ all the previous interactions a customer may have had with your organization. This ensures that queries are dealt with faster and that customers can have higher satisfaction.

4. Data collectors 

You already know how important data can be and with a chatbot system, collecting a wide range of data becomes easier. It can be especially useful in improving your chatbot service as you can analyze data to see what aspects work well and need adjustment. Plus, data is automatically stored rather than requiring a write-up, unlike calls with agents.

5. Personalization

71% of customers expect a degree of personalization in their interactions with you. With your chatbots linked to your CRM (customer relationship management) system, you can give your customers the personalization they want. They can use a customer’s name, link to previous interactions, and provide a more intensive experience overall.

Imagine a customer comes to you for tracking information on their order. As they’ve inputted their email when joining the live chat, the chatbot can pull order details from your CRM – saving the customer from typing up all the information you already have.

6. Language barriers

Language barriers are inevitable if you are operating in the global marketplace. To cover the languages you may have to encounter with human agents, which can be a costly exercise, and business expenses are something you want to minimize where possible. However, chatbots can be programmed with the relevant languages to deal efficiently with customer queries. 

Your chatbot can identify a language or provide the customer with various options. Of course, this will incur initial costs when setting your chatbot system up, but ongoing costs are negligible, thus making it an extremely cost-effective solution. 

 7. Anywhere, anytime

You well know the challenges of moving to an omnichannel approach. Your business may have implemented tools such as VoIP, meaning you have more flexibility. You want to provide a painless customer experience, which means using channels your customers are comfortable with. 

Being able to deploy chatbots across all your channels, from Facebook and Messenger to your website or WhatsApp, means you will boost engagement rates because people can connect with you on their chosen channel and get answers to questions (or pertinent info) faster than they did before. 

8. They’re not human 

This may sound a little strange but think about how many times you have spoken to a human agent and left the call feeling a little aggrieved at their attitude. Even the best of us have days where we feel ill or under a lot of stress! Chatbots are not subject to stress or ailments, so you know they will always deliver as good an experience as possible.

The takeaway 

You are probably always looking for ways to cut your costs, and that can cover anything from free contract management software to implementing automation where possible. Of course, you don’t want any cost savings to have a negative impact on things such as engagement or conversion rates, and chatbots offer you a cheap but effective solution.

There are different levels of chatbots that can meet almost any business's needs. You can use the simpler ones (rules-based chatbots) for tasks on your website, such as suggesting products based on a customer’s search history. More complicated ones (AI chatbots) can carry out more complex tasks thanks to their use of ML (machine learning) and NLP (natural language processing). 

Chatbots are a great way to improve the customer journey and boost the engagement rate. It also means that your human agents can focus on more complex issues and queries and are available if your chatbot can’t deal with a particular question. With automation increasing every year, it’s time to get on the chatbot train.