Communicating effectively with customers is critical. And yet, meeting these expectations can be a challenge for any business faced with high volumes of inquiries and leaping time zone differences. Small teams in particular are vulnerable to being overwhelmed.  

Fortunately, chatbots can help you meet customer needs in an affordable, rapid, and meaningful way.

Chatbots are controlled by rules, and you teach them to interact with your customers. It simulates human conversation by responding to keywords that tell it your customer is asking or requesting something, among many others. Some chatbots with AI features get smarter with each conversation it has, as it keeps learning on its own.

Here are a few things that a chatbot can do for your small business:

1. Receive all orders and bookings from your customers

High volume orders and bookings can be made easy with chatbots. When a customer interacts with the chatbot and goes through the flow of booking or ordering, the information the chatbot records goes to a database used to fulfill the service or deliver the product.

Automating this process reduces the chance of mistakes, reduces turnaround time, and increases customer satisfaction. It makes sure you're able to do tasks efficiently and accurately.

2. Saves you the costs of building apps

Developing an app costs time and resources, which can be reinvested somewhere else. Creating a chatbot and hosting them on platforms customers often interact with lets you connect consistently with your customers, saving you the effort and money you'd have needed to develop your own unique app.

Popular messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp can be used to house your chatbot. People use these apps every day, and it would definitely be convenient to have your chatbot on apps they’re often on.

Website chatbots such as Intercom, Drift, and Zoho can also serve as a help desk to assist or answer any of your customers’ queries. If your customers spend a lot of time on your site, it's better to have your chatbot ready to make sure everything is in one place.

3. Improve your customer service

Besides prompt services and quality products, customer support is crucial for businesses. Queries and other customer concerns can be overwhelming to address in high volumes. Your customer service agents have limits, and they can’t help all your customers at the same time.

A chatbot that runs 24/7 can help sort customer concerns with what can be addressed by FAQs, and what may need to be solved by your active agents.

4. Retrieves analytics about your business

A chatbot can record all commands and responses given to and by customers. When your customers talk with the chatbot, information can be taken from the chatbot’s database.

These are important pieces of data that can be used by different departments (i.e. operations, sales, and marketing, etc.) to make decisions related to the business. It can give you valuable insight about customer behavior, quarterly and yearly performance, and popular trends.

5. Reduces your operational costs

Developing a chatbot can cut costs in resources and increase revenues for you. When customer requests are addressed and concerns are resolved by the chatbot, this allows your team to accomplish more challenging tasks that require decision-making.

Happy customers and employees are their own rewards, and this can signify even more growth for your business.A chatbot will be appealing to businesses dealing with high volumes of orders, bookings, or concerns. The only thing you need now is a friendly and engaging mascot for your customers to feel comfortable talking with!