If you’ve visited a website in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed a bot in the corner asking “How Can I Help?”
These programs are everywhere now as more businesses embrace the possibilities of AI, and they’re using it to streamline their business while also boosting their client experience.
Your business can do it, too.
I know the initial idea of using AI in your business seems scary, but AI is the future of technology. Embracing it can take your business to new heights- and I know just where to start.
ManyChat
I’m sure you’ve heard about ManyChat because it’s currently the biggest name in chatbot technology, and several business owners and creators trust it to elevate their customer experience without extra stress.
Option 1: Lead Generation
You can use ManyChat as a lead generation chatbot and offer free guides and opt-ins, convert followers, gather emails, and automate your social media sales funnels for maximum efficiency.
For example, pretend you have a freebie that you’d like to use to gather emails. You can use ManyChat to program an announcement or place a keyword that will automatically pop up if your audience DM’s you that word. They can then enter their email and receive the incentive, while you get a new lead. Win-Win!
Plus, if they fail to respond promptly, the chatbot can pop up with a reminder message that encourages them to sign up and take the deal before it’s gone.
Option 2: Customer Support
The second way you can use Chatbots is as a customer support bot. These bots come in two flavors; scripted and predictive.
The scripted bots do as described. They provide scripted responses to common questions and queries and operate like an interactive FAQ menu. That way, the client can take control of the direction while still getting a human-esque response. It’s the easiest and most common way to program a chatbot, and thousands of businesses use it to help boost their numbers.
The predictive bots are a little trickier but well worth the effort. They use a combination of AI, machine learning (ML), and natural language understanding and processing (NLU and NLP) to predict searches and generate real-time responses based on previous data. They’re highly adaptive and can work almost as well as a human operator.
Location Matters
There is more than just a chatbot for social media- it can also be used on your website.
Adding a chatbot to your website can streamline your customer experience by offering pre-programmed questions to help them find their pain points and work through their issues. Chatbots also help turn cold leads warm by getting them excited and ready to buy before you ever have to talk to them.
Plus, since the chatbot is interactive, your client will feel more in control of their situation- not to mention more connected to you and your business.
Feedback and Other Uses
Aside from lead generation and customer support, chatbots are awesome at gathering feedback. With a chatbot, you can ask your audience to rate their experience, your business, the product or service they purchased, and more. You can also ask for suggestions, take complaints, and see what your audience wants to see in the future.
Those are the main three ways a business would use a chatbot, but you can also use them to:
- Promote new products
- Announce sales
- Offer discounts or freebies
- Promote your newsletter
- Announce changes or other business news
- Thank your audience for believing in you
Honestly, with the versatility of AI, the uses for chatbots are almost endless.
Final Thoughts
AI is the future of technology, and chatbots are becoming a staple in the business world- for good reason. They can generate leads, offer customer support, gather feedback, and give your business the edge to succeed without spending a boatload of time or money.
However, dealing with AI for the first time can be intimidating. Thankfully, ManyChat and other chatbots are there to help you take your first steps into the AI world, and they can help you get a chatbot in place in no time.
Oh, and don’t worry about it being too robotic or impersonal. Generally, the client only cares about getting answers, not who is answering. And, if it becomes too complicated a question, you can always step in and help them yourself.
