More than 60 percent of U.S. consumers today prefer to use automated customer service, according to American Express. This includes digital self-serve tools such as websites, apps, and — notably — chatbots. But what is a chatbot, exactly?
Putting it simply, chatbots use artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate conversation with humans, especially for customer service or business growth.
Live chat has become a vital tool for audience engagement and customer satisfaction, but it’s sometimes tough to field enough human customer-service representatives to meet the need. That’s where chatbots can help. Plus, the technology is only growing in popularity: Gartner predicts that 25% of customer service interactions will be handled with a chatbot by 2020. So, if you’re looking to scale your self-serve options for customer interaction, you may want to consider a chatbot for your website.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Brings New Life to Chatbots
In November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked an artificial intelligence (AI) boom across the tech and business worlds. ChatGPT’s popularity has entrepreneurs thinking about how AI can lighten their workloads and make their customers happier.
If you’re considering implementing more AI tech at your company, customer service chatbots are a good place to start. They have a more established history than generative AI platforms, and your customers can ask to have a human intervene when necessary. Let’s learn more about chatbots and how you can use them for customer support.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is an AI program that simulates conversations with humans. The AI interprets the questions and messages a person sends and replies with answers based on the information in its database.
Some smart use cases for a chatbot include, but aren’t limited to, the following:
1. Answering FAQ
Chatbots can help your customers navigate a large section of online resources or find answers to common questions. They can also guide customers through complex processes, such as setting up a new account or customizing your product.
2. Placing and tracking orders
Chatbots can efficiently accept secure online orders. They can also respond to inquiries for tracking or help repeat customers quickly reorder. Amtrak’s virtual agent, Julie, helps passengers pick the right route and book reservations for a trip, for example.
3. Finding resources
Chatbots can expedite the lead-generation process by helping point visitors to the part of your site they’re looking for. Some of the best chatbot examples provide real customer value in a way that isn’t directly based on sales. eCommerce retailers that help customers build style profiles are one example of this tactic.
4. Getting connected to the right help
Chatbots can be used to help route customers to the right source of support without having to wait on hold or navigate a phone menu. This can be valuable for lead generation or for businesses with multiple service lines. For example, MedWhat is a medical chatbot designed to help patients search for possible diagnoses based on symptoms.
These bots can’t quite replace customer service representatives — they work best for offering basic advice and answers. But they can take on those more menial tasks to give your customer support team more breathing room. Plus, they can work 24/7, meaning that customers don’t have to wait to get straightforward help after working hours.
How to add a chatbot to your website
If your chatbot isn’t designed to solve a problem, it can easily create confused or frustrated customers. Conversational UX expert Dr. Carmen Martinez advises companies to start small with a chatbot that’s designed for a clear purpose, such as placing orders or getting connected to the right product. “Think about the problem she needs to be solved,” and create positive interactions by “defin[ing] a persona for the chatbot.”
To get the most benefits from your chatbot, you’ll need to add it to your website in a way that matches your and your customers’ needs. Fortunately, you have opportunities throughout the integration process to make your chatbot your own.
1. Choose a platform
Research the chatbot platforms out there to look for options that fit your budget, customer service needs, and industry.
The most popular chatbots out there work as part of a greater customer service platform like Zendesk, HubSpot, or Re:amaze. These options all work with WordPress websites if you need a head start. If there’s a chance you could end up switching customer service platforms to add a chatbot, keep your support team in the know.
Think about these features as you look for the right chatbot for your company:
- Customizability: Check how each software’s customization process works. You might get a good idea from feature pages, but don’t be afraid to dig into a program’s help center to find exact instructions. Customization is key to chatbot function, so a straightforward workflow will make it easier to succeed.
- Analytics: Look out for analytics features, too. See what performance metrics each program tracks and if they present them in a way that makes sense.
- Industry-specific features: Some chatbots have industry-specific features that could help your customers navigate your business. For example, if you’re in the travel industry, keep an eye out for the ability to book and manage trips.
2. Set up and customize your chatbot
Once you decide on a chatbot program, it won’t be ready out of the box. You’ll need to train it with questions and answers related to common customer challenges.
This process should start with your customer service team. Ask them about the questions they get the most frequently and their answers. Get an idea of what these entire conversations look like by paying attention to any “what if” situations and follow-up questions.
With that information in hand, write up answers for your chatbot based on what your customer service team told you and your brand voice. Clarity always comes first. In situations where you need to choose between fun language and clearly answering a question, go for the latter.
Time to go back to your customer service team. Ask them to review your answers and look for any unanswered questions or holes in your logic. Any questions your chatbot doesn’t address will end up going to them, so they’ll appreciate you saving them the time in advance.
Then, enter your support-team-approved questions and answers into your chatbot’s logic flow. It’ll look something like this chatflow from HubSpot:
3. Test conversations
Test your questions and answers thoroughly before your chatbot goes live. You’ll want your chatbot meeting your customers’ requests and providing correct information.
Begin by asking your questions word-for-word and checking that each question’s path works well. Once you know your questions work as written, start asking similar questions with different phrasing. Here, you might need to add new questions or contingencies to account for the wording your customers could use.
This is another place where you could get your customer service team involved since they know how your customers tend to phrase questions. But, it’s not as necessary as it was for the previous step.
4. Launch and tweak
Release your chatbot on your website when you feel confident it can answer the most common questions your customers ask. After launch, make these two tasks a habit to ensure your chatbot stays helpful:
- Keep in touch with your customer service team: Every few months, ask your support team if customers have any new questions that your chatbot doesn’t address.
- Revisit your questions when updates happen: Whenever you have a new product, feature, or service, think about if you’ll need to add new questions to your chatbot related to your update.
Ways to ensure chatbot success
In addition to the strategies mentioned above, these practices will keep your chatbot running smoothly:
Keep your company and customer data private
Some AI chatbots use the questions they receive to train themselves to better understand future questions. While this technology makes AI so adaptive, it also means it can hold sensitive data, so we need to treat it with care.
Read your chatbot platform’s security policies carefully and make sure you understand how it will use your and your customers’ data. When in doubt, check with an in-house security expert or hire a consultant.
Perform regular maintenance and updates
Keep your chatbot software up to date at all times for the best security, function, and AI learning possible. If you don’t have your chatbot software set to automatic updates or open it often, set weekly reminders to keep it updated.
Measure your results
Make it a habit to check your chatbot’s analytics to see how much it’s helping your customers and customer service team. Some chatbots, like Re:amaze, require you to connect an integration like Google Analytics first.
These metrics can clue you in on your degree of success:
- Completed conversations: The number of conversations your chatbot has completed with a human
- Goal completion: The number of conversations where the customer achieved what they wanted to
- Goal completion/completed conversations: The ratio of successful conversations to total conversations, which can tell you how helpful your chatbot is
- Dropped conversations: The number of conversations where the customer quit the conversation
- Average conversation length: How long conversations take on average, which can show how quickly your chatbot can help someone
- Customer satisfaction: The rate at which customers report being satisfied with your chatbot after using it
Take into account any customer feedback on your chatbot you get through customer service inquiries or surveys, too.
Let AI take some of the load off
AI chatbots offer assistance in human-first operations by making life easier for your customers and your support team. If you can focus your chatbot implementation on automating simple customer service tasks, you’ll give your service agents and customers more breathing room.
There are even more ways that AI can automate your website besides chatbots. We explore a few options in our blog post on using AI in your business and website.
How will you drive more value to your customers with a chatbot?
You should now be prepared to answer the next time someone asks you, “What is a chatbot?” This powerful customer service tool can help WordPress.com website owners scale human service agents and meet powerful new use cases, such as helping customers find quick answers or purchase the right product. Are you ready to jump into the AI chatbot world?
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