As technologies are evolving, companies are looking at newer ways to interact with customers to gauge current behavior. A custom chatbot is considered as the best tool for lead generation which provides business insights through data analytics. Custom chatbot development is a must for every business today to improve profitability and save costs.

Chatbots have changed the face of customer interface and also brought about a drastic change in the way businesses make decisions. Customer service chatbot has become a viable option for businesses for customer support solutions. You have most likely dealt with chatbots in your internet life, so, let’s have a deeper understanding of what a chatbot is taking you further in the journey.

Why businesses should use Chatbots

We will not load you with jargon, the facts would speak for itself!

• • According to credence research, the chatbot market is expected to grow exponentially between 2016 and 2023.
    
  • According to a gartner report, 50% of the enterprises will invest more on chatbots than on mobile apps.
    
  • Juniper research has highlighted that by 2022 companies are estimated to save $8 billion from the use of chatbots.
    
  • Global market insights has highlighted that by 2024, the overall market size for chatbots will be $1.3 bn
  • Chatbots in the customer service industry is already catching up because a whopping 67% of customers worldwide have already had their first experience with a chatbot. And if this is not enough, we see a bright future ahead because it is estimated that close to 85% of customer queries will be handled by a chatbot!
    

Do you need some other reason! Understanding Chatbots

Simply put, a chatbot is an Artificial Intelligence software created in order to perform a multitude of tasks without the need for human intervention. There are several tasks a bot can do, from making a reservation at your favorite restaurant to providing you information about weather. Chatbots are capable enough to engage the customer in a conversation and are increasingly a part of various messaging applications.

Hence a custom chatbot is a software system usually developed by a professional chatbot development company to interact or chat with the customer in a natural language (usually English or any other language which the bot is designed around). Chatbots help the user to resolve their queries in a quicker manner, are far more responsive and the best part is that it helps the companies to collect data; yes! Lots of it!

So, in order to improve customer service, chatbots enhance customer experience by giving them on-demand answers to their questions anytime and anywhere. It also can take an unlimited amount of queries and have proven their mettle as queue destroyers and information storehouses.

Businesses have resorted to conducting their business on internet platforms which has resulted in a humongous growth in the number of websites that are hosted. But, if you look at the graph below, the growth of Chatbots have been exceptional and is almost tagging along with the growth of websites.

Projected chatbot growth based on 200% growth rate. Historical website statistics from Internet Live Stats.

Numbers are encouraging so what’s stopping you from approaching us to get your own customer service chatbot?

Businesses using chatbots

Some industries have not tied their hands, and have been quick to encapsulate it. Almost 80% of businesses are looking forward to investing in chatbots by 2020. A chabot development company can create chatbots for websites or also build a customer service chatbot for a messaging application. You can also create chatbot for your business needs, but you need to have it now or later! There are some use-cases which we have highlighted to get an inkling about how chatbots are deployed in these industries. Let’s take them one by one.

Retail and consumer goods

When you visit a website on your mobile device or otherwise, you click on the navigation bar and run through several screens only to realise you are yet to locate your favorite product. Any irked customers will then even abandon his or her cart and log out of the website. Yes, that is perhaps the scariest thing about having a retail business suffer it. But worry not! Chatbots have successfully fixed this problem of product discovery. When you are on the page seeking products, a chat window appears whose aim is to assist you in finding your product. Chatbots in retail industry are applicable in E-commerce, in-store retailers, fashion and food industry.

A famous retail brand Burberry provides its custom chatbot which shares the latest collections and customized offers based on their location. It understood that in order to ensure 24/7 connectivity it has to come on the chatbot development platform.

Even for the employees of retail industry, chatbots have helped them focus on sales rather than splurge their time on resolving customer queries. A harsh reality for salesforce personnel is that 66% of them are not even using their time doing what they are supposed to do.

Banking

Another industry which is truly trending with the latest chatbot development platform is the banking industry. They also are the early adopters of chatbots. Personalised banking which is the prime selling point of any bank have used chatbots to improve customer experience and service. These chatbots help the customer to resolve their queries, ask for their account balance, transfer funds and a lot more. Bank of America had created a custom chatbot called Erica which was primarily created for the quick query resolution.

On the front end, chatbots have helped banks to improve user experience but even on the business side, chatbots have helped banks to perform tasks like contract review and analysis, password management and employee engagement.

Legal

It is hard to imagine, but yes chatbots have made waves even in the legal industry. JP Morgan, the corporate financial and legal giant had approached a professional chatbot development company to create COIN. The chatbot was specifically created for back end operations, but it proved to be way better than human minds. The ability with which it analysed complex legal documents, made it an essential part of the corporate’s skeleton system. With the inundation of legal jargon everyday, evaluating a document is a hugely time-driven activity, but with COIN JP Morgan has managed to save costs and increase the productivity of its employees.

Education

The face of the education industry is changing globally. Education companies to level each other in competition are coming up with newer ways of improving student experience. Right from helping learners learn new languages, recording feedback to professor assessment and student scoring, chatbots are there assist at every step. Admit Hub created a chatbot that assisted new students steer through the college transition process. There are other popular chatbots like Jill Watson that seconds as a teaching assistant and Duolingo which teaches different languages.

Airlines

Travel based chatbots are synonymous with almost all airline companies. They are majorly used to send announcements for ticketing, to help the traveller through web check ins, provide diverse flight options and to make other arrangements. A popular Mexican Airline Volaris uses the Vale chatbot which means “OK SURE” to enhance customer experience with the airlines.

Benefits of chatbots

Chatbots are seeing a wider adoption now compared to a few years ago. With the rise of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence, chatbots are creating new ways to communicate with customers with a custom chatbot or the like. Though chatbots started way back in the 1950’s its popularity has been experienced only recently. We look at the benefits that chatbots bring to companies who adopt it.

1) Presence on messaging platforms: It is true that customers like to interact with a brand in messaging platforms. It is not just easier to use but also has a faster response time. New and old companies now have the opportunity to reach their customers faster by featuring their chatbots on these messaging applications for brand recognition and service.

It is also known that after downloading prime apps like FB, whatsapp and Instagram, 65% of smartphone users are actually not downloading any new apps in a month. So it is possible that companies are losing out because there is a probability that their apps are not downloaded. So being present on a popular messaging platform will give them the required boost and visibility.

2) Enhanced customer service: This is perhaps the biggest selling point of having a customer service chatbot. A survey has shown that about 83% of online shoppers need assistance while they are on the site. They may require assistance in understanding which products fit their needs and budget, delivery questions, payment and a lot more. In such a scenario chatbots helps by provisioning help like an actual salesman.

According to Gartner effective customer service is an important condition to achieve organisational success. Chatbots can help you stay online 24/7 and cater to the needs of the customer round the clock.

Many companies work only a responsive chatbot platform wherein they only respond to the queries. But with competition heating up, companies no longer have the luxury to be passive. Companies now create chatbot which start conversations with people to engage them and build their interest levels.

3) Increase in customer engagement: Retaining the interest of a customer is a difficult task to do and maintain. Needless to say, it is one of the most important functionalities that needs to be dealt with seriously. A research pointed out that those companies that engage their customers on social media platforms were able to extract 20% – 40% more spending. The engagement does not have to be strictly business, it can also be entertaining and funny.

4) Gaining insights: We now know that chatbots are a great way of communicating with customers. They also help in getting customer feedback on products and services which aids the business in getting insightful tips for future decisions. If for instance, your landing page is capturing a good visit ratio but is poor on conversion, then your custom chatbot can get to talk to these customers and ask them why they are leaving the page abruptly.

Apart from these, chatbots can also be used to track purchasing patterns, understand consumer behavior. As Forbes rightly implied with its research, the data that chatbots get can be used by companies to decide on which product to market, at what price and which one to relaunch.

Lead generation also will get stronger by the day, thanks to the efforts of the customer service chatbot.

Companies can now track commands and responses and with this they adding new and fresh data everyday which gives them insights on how to further direct their business process.

5) Cost savings: To clear the air, if you implement a fully functional chatbot it is much cheaper and faster compared to creating a platform app or hiring employees to do the task. Chatbots are automated and have the ability to take on several customers all at the same time. By employing chatbots for customer interaction, companies are saving up costs especially employee cost.

For E-commerce industry conversational bots are already the future and we give you predicted use cases of chatbots here.

Source: Drift

Types of Chatbots

Chatbots are not created on common grounds because every business has a different need. Every chatbot is different from the other in terms of size and applicability. In some scenarios, even a basic chatbot can do the trick while some businesses require complex chatbot platforms to exhibit their best side. It is wise to discuss the types of chatbots currently functionable in the market.

Button based chatbots

These are the most commonly used chatbots which are presented before the customer in the form of buttons. These chatbots are handy when only common questions are asked but for advanced scenarios they surely are not a favorable way to deal with the customer. It is also valuable information that button or menu based chatbots achieve the least results in terms of a gratified customers.

Keyword recognition based chatbots

These chatbots unlike the menu chatbots can listen to what the customer is typing and try to respond accordingly. They use customised keywords and AI to understand what kind of response is appropriate. The only problem with this type of chatbot is when there are keyword redundancies of similar questions.

Contextual chatbots

They are by far one of the most commonly used chatbot types. These chatbots use machine learning and AI to remember conversations with specific users. They are also smarter than the previous two bots because they can assimilate information to improve based on what customers are asking and how they are asking. A good example of this will be ordering a pizza. A contextual chatbot will allow users to order pizza and also store the data for every encounter. It will store that information and the next time you converse again, it will identify you and ask if you want to order the previous options. A good custom software development company like us will help you to work through more complexities and seamlessly integrate them into your overall system of things.

Understanding the main type of chatbot is totally different from the structure which you want to use while making it. We intend to make your understanding deeper when it comes to adoption of structure while constructing your chatbot.

Platform Based chatbots

Chatbot platforms helps you to create a chatbot on your own. While many chatbot platforms have a simplistic drag and drop menu other types need more technical understanding and analysis.

Some of the benefits that come with platform based chatbots are- 

• • • They can be easily integrated with any messaging platform like FB, telegram and skype.
      
    • Many platforms also allow you to integrate your chatbot to your own website your mobile app.
      
    • Such chatbots also can be directly connected to a third party services like a payment gateway
      
    • Platform based chatbots are also cheaper to use and sometimes even free!
      
    • With the use of chatbot platforms,you can also decide your business logic as well as chatbot behavior.
      

Custom based chatbot

You want to create your own chatbot and with your preferred API like a healthcare assistant, or a booking agent, then you should think about creating your chatbot from scratch. You then have to create a solution with a custom logic that meets your business needs. So with your own API you can create your own chatbots with in-built features of your choice.

To create your own custom chatbot you need to hire a chatbot development company which will understand your requirements and guide you accordingly. We suggest you go for a custom based chatbot chiefly because it will help you get refined data and will help you give the most personalised experience to your potential customers. Other benefits that a custom chatbot gives you are:

• Your dream to integrate the most complex of all operations and functionalities can now be done thanks to your decision to opt for a custom chatbot.
• We will also provide your bot with exceptional UX and also aid you to reach the right technical solution for your business needs.
• Our development team will also conduct regular tests ensuring that your chatbot is bug free
• After the bot is completed for use, our development team will also ensure that we provide you with continuous technical assistance for bot improvement.
• Custom chatbots have the undue advantage of industry wise creation. You can now customize the bot based on your industry to enhance personalisation.
• The best part about custom bot is that it warranties data security. Your data is accessible only to you unlike platform chatbots where the server side can always access your information.
• When your platform chatbot service provider has a breakdown, it will affect the performance of your platform chatbot. With custom chatbot you can eliminate this issue and reduce dependency on your service provider.
• With Custom chatbot you can have access to important data regarding customer that helps you generate specific reports and provide detailed business analytics that helps you in your business decisions.
• Your business is dynamic, but platform chatbot will make it rigid. Custom Chatbots understand the need to change with changing business needs. It will help integrate new features as and when your business needs it.

Which one to opt for?

We still want to give you a comparative picture so that your decision-making process about which chatbot to go for is easier.

So still in a fix? Still don’t know which one to choose?

So, we recommend that there is no right answer for this question. Understand that you know your business well and you know its complexities better than us. So, if your business operations are complex and your bots need to be perfectly integrated without hiccups, we suggest you contact a professional software development company.

Remember Bots are all about customer interface, so if you want your customers to have a better experience, create the best bot they’ll ever see!

“If you picture a journey of chatbots from the 1960’s to now, you can see that what was once a fantasy of being able to communicate with a nonliving virtual being is now a part of our daily lives”