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7 Ways Chatbot Tools Are Important For Marketing

This article is more than 7 years old.

Chatbots are gaining popularity and are becoming a popular tool for marketing. Given the versatility of chatbot tools, their tasks can be programmed to retain data, respond to specific keywords and know when to offer an additional product to a consumer. It is also a method of increasing consumer interaction ratings and improving overall consumer experiences for increased sales. The ability for a chatbot to assist a customer right away markets the company’s sense of urgency in consumer relations.

Available Anytime

Consumers are often annoyed when businesses only seem to keep banker’s hours. Consumers don’t all work banker’s hours and need to be able to contact a company any time of the day or night for assistance. A chatbot can be that point of contact that can assist with general questions or direct parties to the appropriate method of handling a more serious issue. Anytime availability markets the company as being easily accessible for consumers.

Now, programming the chatbot with artificial intelligence response systems is also necessary. The bot must be able to respond as if it is a real person on the other end, even if its only job is to buy a human customer service representative a few minutes of time to finish assisting another customer.

Monitor Consumer Purchasing Patterns

Chatbots can be programmed to track purchasing patterns and monitor data from consumers. This tells a company which products to market differently, which to market more and which to redevelop for relaunch. Tracking responses to common questions asked by an AI generated chatbot, including predicting responses based upon consumer language, to direct the bot to offer a better product or service to the consumer. This type of monitoring fits into marketing as the chatbot is directed to use rebuttals and upselling procedures to increase sales and entice consumers to try different products.

Natural Language Communication

A chatbot needs to speak and type like a real person. Consumers need to believe they are speaking to a real person. That means that a chatbot needs to be programmed to react specifically to direct responses from consumers, and offer the right products for their needs. If a consumer is contacting the company with a complaint, a chatbot should be able to identify the issue and offer a suitable resolution, such as product replacement. Artificial intelligence can be used to reorder the product and ship it off to the consumer while archiving the conversation and tracking the inventory properly. This markets the company as efficient, responsible and has the consumer’s best interest and satisfaction in mind.

Converting Data to Personalized Advertisements

A chatbot should be able to distinguish a customer’s first name just through the introduction phase. The customer should be addressed by his or her first name for the duration of the session. It is a good idea for the bot to ask the consumer to hold a moment to research an appropriate solution. During that holding period, a personalized advertisement should play that introduces a new product or service and including the consumer’s name in the text a couple of times. Personalized advertisements often convert to sales.

These approaches work well when artificial intelligence is used to scan prior consumer interactions or purchase histories with a brand to ensure that the product or service being pitched is something the customer really needs.

All-Inclusive Shopping Potential

A voice or keyword activated chatbot system can help create an all-inclusive shopping option for your consumers. By all-inclusive, that means one-stop shopping. Chatbot technology has existed since the 1960s and has evolved to react in real-time and act just like a human, rather than providing simple scripted text. Users can ask a specific question and receive an immediate answer. If the product being questioned is not sufficient for the user’s needs (based upon previous data collected), the chatbot would suggest the proper item or items that are better for the consumer. This markets additional products and can increase sales totals.

Simple Self-Marketing

It may seem odd to use a chatbot for marketing purposes, but by simply making a chatbot available on a company website – it's marketing. The more available your brand is the better consumer experience and satisfaction ratings will be. More word-of-mouth suggestions and social media sharing of content will occur – creating higher conversion rates.

Final Word

Chatbots should be used sparingly and in a way that will benefit both the customer and the business. While these utilities are great for consumer relations purposes, real humans should be at the helm at least some of the time. Companies using chatbots as back-ups to real online representatives have a better ability to market new products, sneak in promotional materials and upsell customers.