Omnichannel and chatbots are made for each other. Combined, they provide clients with what they expect from communicating with the brand: comfort and efficiency. Let's find out why business needs it and how to make your chatbot work.
Why do you need a unified system
According to Walker consulting company, by 2020, client's experience at the company will become more important than the product quality. So it's about time to become more customer-centric.
Omnichannel provides the client with the most comfortable, seamless communication with the company. This strategy is not just about being presented on different platforms, but also about having a unified approach and the ability to switch between channels while keeping the quality of service. That means that it doesn't matter whether a person contacted you on Facebook* or via the phone: in both cases, the reply will be quick and professional.
Furthermore, clients hate to switch between communication methods and repeat their requests several times. So it's a good idea to meet their needs and organize the simplest way to communicate with you.
But if omnichannel itself makes the client happy and satisfied, why add chatbots?
One chatbot, many messengers
It is important for clients not only to be in touch via their favorite messenger: they want the problem to be solved here and now. 51% of clients expect businesses to be online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So the human factor can become an issue: not every company is willing to pay for night shifts.
Chatbots, working non-stop, come to the rescue. They help to save money - 89% of clients prefer to chat with businesses via messengers.
The response speed is also important: in a number of industries, even a 10-minute delay will be crucial. Chatbots provide an instant reaction and thus retain customers. It will never let you completely replace humans, but bots will free up operators and automate the huge part of the replies.
Who would need such a tool:
- transport companies;
- car dealerships;
- online stores;
- delivery services;
- beauty salons;
- banks and financial institutions.
By combining chatbots and omnichannel, you will shoot several birds at once. Customers will be able to contact you on any convenient channel, the solution will be fast and efficient, plus you will save on personnel. This is especially useful if you decide to scale your business with no extra expenses.
How to use chatbots
Answering machine
Even if the rest of work is done by the operators, the chatbot can take on simple answering machine duties. It will tell the client when the operator is free – and, therefore, the client will not get frustrated after not having received a reply in the first two minutes. An instant reaction will show that the company is interested in helping the client.
Consulting
Chatbot can not only reply to clients when operators are not available, but also handle simple questions. If you receive the same queries frequently (which is often the case for technical support), make a program do the work for you. There's no need to have operators spend precious seconds on “copy-paste” actions. And for emergency situations, make sure to tell a client how to contact the operator.
Surveying
Chatbot can perfectly handle the data gathering, such as the delivery address, client contacts, polling results, etc. – and operators will not waste time waiting for client's responses.
Booking
Make the chatbot pick up an accommodation, book airline tickets and schedule meetings with the manager. Configuration will take more time, but this “employee” will then replace a dozen of the usual. For getting the most out of automation, integrate chatbots with artificial intelligence so that they could learn from their own experience and communicate with clients in a more intelligent way.
Sales
Another useful integration is messenger funnels. These are automatic series of messages that clients receive from your company. The majority of the messages contain useful information copy, while at the end of a funnel you invite a warmed-up client to make a purchase. Chatbots individualize such mailings: for example, if a client responds while being in the middle of a funnel, the bot will give a suitable advice, transfer the dialogue to an operator or switch the client to another funnel.
How to get a chatbot
The easiest way is to turn to the omnichannel chat center, which allows setting up a chatbot yourself – Chat2Desk has all the necessary features. The platform has four types of chatbots: auto-replies, self-service menu, answer bot, and complex chatbots constructed in our chatbot builder.
Auto-replies are pre-written messages that customers receive after they send their first message, close the chat, and perform other actions.
Self-service menu allows customers to select a subject from a list. Customers will get immediate, automatic answers to frequently asked questions.
Answer bot is a tool that automatically answers clients, assigns tags, runs scripts, assigns chats to operators, and performs other actions. The bot consists of sets of keywords and answers for each of these sets.
Сhatbot builder allows you to create scenarios for automatic communication with customers in messengers and social networks. It allows you to send message chains and warm up customers, invite them to events, bill them in chat, and conduct surveys.
Chat2Desk also provides the whole set of tools required for effective work, including messenger funnels and integration with CRM-systems and artificial intelligence. To test the service, text us in any messenger.
