What is a Chatbot – See Why Chatbots Are the Future of Web Design

Chatbots have become an expected integration into most businesses’ web design, providing users the opportunity to find information that cannot be located on-site or gain access to a software-supported AI.

What is a chatbot?

A chatbot is a computer program that’s designed to communicate with human users. Programmed to work independent from any human interaction, a chatbot is essentially a type of artificial intelligence.

The use of chatbots among small business websites

The industry and market around chatbots is expected to grow to $1.2 billion by 2025. Why there exists this level of growth around chatbots has to do with many consumers’ preferences to communicate with chatbots for customer service inquiries. The demand of users has resulted in business website owners ramping up chatbot use, conducting AI-influenced conversations in greater numbers than ever. They are boosting sales and engagement in a big way, helping business achieve objectives in impressive fashion.

The 3 elements making up the perfect chatbot

The ideal chatbot is going to have to do three things, the most important of which is to help. A helpful chatbot involves giving them the information and capability to act in facilitating positive customer service interactions. Second, they must be friendly. In order to be friendly, you don’t want to frustrate a consumer by using an AI-based chatbot that isn’t capable of getting anything done. If the recommendation is always going to be to ‘send an email’ or ‘call us’, that’s not friendly and that’s not helpful. Lastly, the language a chatbot uses must be conversational. A chatbot that’s conversational, helpful, and friendly wins the day.

Why chatbots are the future

Chatbots are the future of web design and digital marketing, being used today in so many amazing ways including for online customer support, phone interactions, information filing or retrieval, to help with eCommerce purchases, or as tech support. Almost every brand with a website could stand to benefit in some way from chatbots which are surprisingly easy to deploy. The future of chatbots is only going to see the release of more complex, AI-driven chatbots. Banking, finance, retail, government and other sectors make use of these type of chatbots. Knowing this, we ask, why can’t you do the same – you can.

Does my business need a chatbot?

Chatbots are a 24/7 customer service rep there and ready to engage at notice. They collect information and valuable data, are pleasant and helpful, don’t need sleep, don’t take breaks, and are like having an interactive 24/7 business card. If you don’t understand how a chatbot could help your business, chances are employing one without purpose isn’t going to lead to much. Thankfully, there are some examples of companies who have successfully used chatbots you can find below which might be able to help inspire a way to use them with your brand.

Task-specific chatbots are an opportune starting point

If you don’t know where to begin on your journey with chatbots, consider a task-specific approach. This is what Sephora’s done. Sephora used a ‘reservation assistant’ chatbot which enabled customers to send a message through a chatbot to a beauty specialist and reserve appointments. They also have a ‘color match’ chatbot which combines with AR to help in the selection of the right color of makeup for their face and/or outfits. Ask yourself, does your brand have any single tasks that could be better managed through the use of chatbots – if so, write them! A task-specific chatbot will keep the conversation moving between a user looking to buy and a brand looking to sell.

To order something with a chatbot

The master players in ordering product with a chatbot is Starbucks. Starbucks’ MyBarista app utilizes a chatbot which allows users to order by voice or text. The chatbot will even send a message once the beverage is prepared. You can arrange payment and everything in the app. For brands selling foods or smaller products common to re-ordering, a chatbot in an app or chatbot on its own through a website can help facilitate orders quicker and more accurately in some cases than having customer service agents on stand-by.

Ordering with a chatbot should be easy

Combine a chatbot like this with the knowledge of customer preferences, previous order information, and more, and that’s a personalized digital web experience you can’t beat. Dominos’ chatbot is built right into Facebook Messenger, allowing a user to order pizza without creating a user account or having to leave Messenger. It’s all done right there in Messenger. To this point, when you can use a chatbot to make customer service ordering easy, you’re more likely to generate orders without busying up phone lines or shutting down emails with a plethora of difficult-to-manage orders.

Chatbots are becoming more popular in healthcare

In healthcare, every dollar must be stretched to an infinite degree. In areas implementing technology, software, and apps into their healthcare interactions, chatbots are being used to answer questions, make appointments, provide different healthcare options, make medication recommendations, and helps to put the user in charge of their own healthcare. If you have a customer base that’s coming to you monthly, semi-regularly, or on a subscription basis, using a chatbot like this can potentially provide more value at no additional cost to you.

A chatbot as a way to practice

Another great example of an interesting way to apply a chatbot to a small business website is Duolingo, a Spanish language-learning platform. Users can speak with their chatbot and in conversation, practice their new language. The majority of their 150 million users regularly use these chatbots. Can your brand use a chatbot to help users learn a new skill or practice a skill? Advantages in a chatbot is that it offers no embarrassment or judgment. A person can just practice, whether it’s playing music, trying a new language, or otherwise.

The proof is in the result

By next year, 25 percent of all customer service interactions in North America will involve a chatbot. If all this hasn’t convinced you enough of why to use chatbots for your website, let’s look to the thing that matters most – sales.

There are two surprising findings of a study released in October 2019. The first is that if a buyer realizes they are talking with a chatbot, for some companies, their purchase rate drops by 79 percent. This is assumed to be because most chatbots are less empathetic and less knowledgeable than their human counterparts.

The second finding is that in most cases, chatbots outsell human customer service agents by 4 times on eCommerce and online shopping platforms. If you are selling through an online catalogue, guess what – a chatbot can help. You will move more product and you don’t need to pay a customer service agent to oversee any of the transaction.

5 reasons to try a chatbot in your digital marketing

 Advertise your brand but do so in interpersonal, human-to-human like interactions. Chatbots can be programmed to have a tone, style, and attitude akin to your brand. Want fun and quirky – you can have it. Direct and old-school – you can go that way as well.
 Collect a ton of user feedback and customer data. Every chatbot interaction gets categorized, allowing you to see what users are saying about you, what’s selling, what information they’re interested in, and what questions keep coming up.
 Chatbots will improve your customer service ratings with more timely interactions, to hopefully satisfy the needs of users looking to buy or obtain information that may not be openly available on-site.
 Handle the entirety of a product sale, no matter where the customer is from. Use your chatbot on social media even, helping to guide the user from interested to buyer.
 Generate more leads. Leads can be had 24/7. Integrating a chatbot into your website, generate leads all night long. Someone want to buy your product at 4 o’clock in the morning – no problem! You have a chatbot there ready to facilitate the sale.