The Rise of Chatbots

We’re seeing more and more chatbots entering the worlds of customer service, marketing, lead nurturing, and sales. They’re on websites, in Facebook Messenger, and in mobile apps, not to mention they’re text messaging. Why is this important to marketers? Chatbots can help resolve issues, engage customers, and move prospects down the conversion funnel. They can provide super-efficient customer service and satisfying CX, and they are outperforming other methods of brand-consumer communication.

Currently, there are “over 100,000 chatbots” on Facebook alone, with monthly users totaling 1.2 billion and counting. Different use cases for Facebook Messenger continue to grow, with some research touting a “98% average open rate and a 44% click-through rate” (Oylo). Overall, chatbots are becoming prevalent, and not just with millennials or Gen Z. Some of the benefits of chatbots, like getting an instant response (61%) and answering complex questions (38%), resonate more with Baby Boomers than millennials (Baer).

Chatbots are proliferating across multiple industries, even traditional sectors such as financial services. 43% of customers prefer to use chatbots, compared to visiting the bank (35%), combing through the bank’s website (35%), or contacting the bank via social media (6%) (Humley).

As we continue to see different industries turn to chatbots, it’s imperative each brand take the time to evaluate chatbots before investing.

Questions Before Taking the Big Leap

Why do you want to use chatbots and where will they be located?

The answer can vary based on your brand’s goals. Are you trying to give your audience more channels to resolve their concerns, offer them resources, or establish a community? Would you like to increase MQLs or heighten awareness of your lesser-known or new products and services? Understanding the WHY behind whether or not you need chatbots will also require a more extensive conversation with your marketing, sales, and support teams. You currently have four options for where your chatbots can live: Twitter, your website, Facebook, and text messages. Before diving in, evaluate traffic on each platform (excluding text messages) and how your organization currently handles customer correspondence for each platform. Having chatbots for the sake of having additional technology can cause strain on your internal resources and be time-consuming to implement from start to finish.

What are the gaps in your current CRM/customer service strategy?

Does it take a while to respond to current clients? Is your customer service process siloed or scattered? Has your brand received negative feedback about your customer service from customers? Asking yourself these questions or inquiring about the pain points your support and sales teams often experience with clients is an excellent way to understand how you can program your chatbots to meet your audience’s needs. Another critical aspect to evaluate is the internal resources you currently have fully dedicated to your customers. Do you have a customer service staff that’s available through multiple channels, are you starting from scratch, or somewhere in between?

What internal resources do you have allocated toward messaging tech?

You may be asking the question, “If I have chatbots, why would I need to continue to devote internal resources to my CRM?” The short answer is your customers like options. Implementing chatbots will take internal buy-in from your creative, tech, marketing, and sales teams. You’ll have to make sure you understand your brand voice and that it’s consistent with your chatbots’ messaging. Also, based on the platform your customers are on, they may be at different stages of the sales funnel and have varying levels of expertise. Insights into your target audience will be critical to the development of chatbots and conversations they have with your audience once completed.