AI Chatbots Can Help You Convert Traffic Into Customers
Today we’ll go over what AI chatbots are, how they work, common ways to use them, as well as the best AI chatbot software.
Running a business online is a great way to make a good living. An online eCommerce site can be used as your main income or a nicely lucrative side hustle. If you run an eCommerce business in the modern world, you'll want to take advantage of every tool at your disposal.
This is where an AI chatbot can help. AI chatbots are a modern development that has swept the world of eCommerce and made life easier for many business owners.
Whether you own a SaaS or an eCommerce business, AI chatbots can help you convert more website traffic into customers.
What Is an AI Chatbot?
AI chatbots are programs that are designed to simulate human-like conversations and response to client's concerns. They do this by making use of what is known as natural language processing or NLP. NLP is a breakthrough with many useful applications to real world situations.
An AI chatbot was once a simple program. These were initially designed to act like a phone tree and answer basic questions a customer might have about a given product. Today's AI chatbots do this very well.
They are also designed to do a lot more for your business. Many are surprisingly sophisticated. You can program them to meet the specific needs of your business as well as handling many business essential business functions.
Why Are AI Chatbots Important?
AI chatbots are important because they provided advanced assistance for your business. An AI chatbot can understand actual human language beyond a series of pre-programmed commands.
The program can provide your clients with a detailed response that is based on their existing existing data and any new data they provide during the chat. These are highly advanced tools that can take over some vitally important business functions and do them very well.
Your clients can take the lead in a conversation about your business online. They can have what feels and seems like a person to help them any aspects of your eCommerce site. This is why so many site owners like them. For a small fee, they do so much.
Read More: Best Ecommerce Chatbots
Common Use Cases For AI Chatbots
AI chatbots can be used for a great many tasks including:
- FAQs
- Customer Engagement
- Marketing
An AI chatbot can be used to help with basic questions related to your site. Users may have questions that apply to both your eCommerce site and a brick and mortar location.
For example, you can set it up to provide information about the hours you're open at the latter as well as how they can get to that location. This means you don't have to deal with lots of queries like this when you could be doing other things to promote your business.
The AI chatbot can also be used to provide a superior customer engagement experience. For example, the chatbot can greet your clients with a message asking if they want something when they logon to your site.
This is one way to make your clients feel welcomed when they land on your site.
Many people like knowing there's someone there to help them with any questions they might have from the first time they log in.
AI chatbots can be particularly useful when marketing your products to the public. A chatbot can provide promotions and discounted products to your shoppers when answering their questions that are related to these products.
They might offer personalized recommendations based on the customer's stated preferences now or in the past, discounts for all first time site users, and complementary items that go well with the items the client would like to purchase.
This can increase your sales and increase your customer's satisfaction with your products and services. It can also show off the full range of products and services that you offer.
Examples Of AI Chatbots
One of the best things about AI chatbots is there are so many on the market today. That makes it easy to find the one you like best.
Tidio is a good option for smaller businesses. This AI chatbot has very high overall ratings indicating high customer satisfaction. There's even a free trial so you can figure out if this one is the right option.
Another possibility is Drift. This also has a free trial. This is a good possibility if you do a lot of work with other businesses. They allow their clients to pick from varied types plan options. That way, they can find the one they like best.
Who Invented AI Chatbots?
AI is older that you might think. In fact, the world's first chatbot began way back in 1966 before the invention and development of the net. Known as Eliza, it was designed to stimulate human conversations.
Other types of AI chatbots rapidly followed this initial first. Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity or Alice used pattern matching to carry on conversations in 1995.
Modern chatbots can be said to have started with Siri. Siri is the Apple integrated personal assistant. This sophisticated program illustrates the power of AI and how it can help with many varied types of tasks.
Today's AI chatbots have taken the basics to a whole new level. No longer confined to simple conversations that are mechanical, they can give your users the feeling they are talking to a real person.
Benefits Of AI Chatbots
There are many proven benefits to using AI chatbots for your business. AI chatbots provide assistance for your business 24/7. They're there even when you're doing something else. That's essential for all modern business owners. People from all over the globe can use your site and have a responsive customer service experience even when you're fast asleep.
Another advantage of using AI chatbots is their ability to help customers immediately. They are there the second someone logs on to your site. This means customers aren't stuck waiting for someone to respond to their concerns. You have a method that can cope with varied types of queries and sort them out quickly and efficiently.
AI chatbots can even anticipate your customer's needs. They know that customers are likely on the site in search of something specific.
They're on hand to help with issues you know clients have such as how to arrange shipping for a given product and provide basic information about your business such as your address and what kinds of products you offer.
This allows to show you're on top of their needs and ready with a response to their issues. Customers who feel respected and treated well are likely to come to your business again and again. Such clients are also more likely to lave a rave review on your site. That's the kind of visible word of mouth that can be invaluable to a new business owner trying to make a splash.
Using an AI chatbot can also save you money. Hiring human help is useful but it can be expensive. An AI chatbot can take many of the most tedious tasks and do them for you.
This frees up your team to tend to more important functions like looking for new business clients. You and your team have more free time to do things they can do best rather than the tedious, mind numbing tasks that can sap your time and energy.
Best AI Chatbot Software For Your Website
Companies that are looking for the best AI chatbot software for their websites are in luck. There are many types of AI software on the market. When looking for this kind of software, it is important to keep certain factors in mind.
Good AI software is responsive to your exact needs. It is also software that can be programmed the way you like. A good chatbot should also be within your budget. Setting up a budget can help you narrow down your choices. A free trial or one that only asks for a limited initial outlay initially can also be quite helpful.
DialogFlow
DialogFlow is ideal for those who work with the Google Cloud. That's because it is an open source chatbot that was developed by Google for Google users.
The good thing about this chatbot is that it also works with many other types of platforms. It's good for desktop users as well as people who access your site on their mobile phones.
This one has a lot of community support as well as varied languages for your international clients. Bear in mind there's no live agent to help you set it up. It can also be customize to your specific business needs.
Paradox
Paradox is a good AI chatbot if you routinely get a lot of applicants that you need to screen. Paradox is set up as a recruitment app. You get AI-powered chatbots that are designed to support a global business that hires candidates from all over the world.
It makes the workflow easier. You can screening resumes with ease. You can also schedule interviews at your earliest convenience to meet with applicants.
This one is also useful because it can answer candidates questions and help them determine if this is the right place to work. Many users find it highly efficient and easy to work with. It has multiple languages so tat makes communications with your applicants even easier.
If you want to try this one out you'll want to remember that many people find the user interface a bit confusing until they get the hang of it. If someone submits more than one application, the chatbot won't detect it.
Flow XO
Flow XO is an AI software program that lets you create your own chatbots. People like this one because it has a wide variety of integrations that are available across many types of platforms. It collects customer information and asks lots of questions relevant to their inquiries.
This is a good option if you have a lot of time to devote to this process of creating a chatbot. It can handle many complex issues as long as you can work with it. Use it only if you are thinking about the long haul and have the time to work on it.
Imperson
Imperson is a California based AI chatbot software program. This one is all about automating your entire customer experience as much as possible. The goal is authentic communications that feel exactly like real life interactions with clients of diverse backgrounds. Many users find this one to be engaging and real. Business owners also like the fact that it is relatively easy to install and keep onsite.
Some users feel this one is not quite up to snuff when compared with other options on the market. Tailored pricing can help you figure out what right for you.
Medwhat
Medwhat is a chatbot that focuses on the needs of those who run a business in the healthcare field. Many people who work in this sector of the economy find it is useful to help with non-emergency cases.
Medwhat can offer many types of medical consulting for new and existing patients. It has been shown to reduce the errors and help improve the patient experience.
The AI was developed by a team of medical specialists including doctors and medical researchers. Many medical providers find it helps them be available to their patients 24/7.
The AI also learns more about any given patient over time and respond better to their concerns. It's crucial to remind patients not to treat the AI as if it were actual medical advice. If patients have an emergency, they need to call a doctor right away. This one is free so you can use it easily and find out it works for your healthcare business instantly.
Mobile Monkey
Mobile Monkey is very highly rated by many users. That's because it is very easy to use and even more easy to understand as you continue to work with it.
This is a Facebook AI chatbot that works for clients on more than just Messenger. It's good for all kinds of social media use. You can use it on Facebook and other social media outlets like Instagram and WhatsApp. This way, you can make your customer service available across many types of platforms.
You can use this one to keep all of your client's communications in a single place. That way, you have a complete record of what happened and when it happened. You can see what a client wanted and if there was a problem giving it to them.
This one is very easy to automate and customize to your specific business venture. Easy templates make it easy to set this one up exactly as you like.
This one is very basic. That means you don't get mor=e data. You don't get the kind of advanced analytics and detailed data that can help your business move forward.
That makes this one a good option to try out if you've never tried any AI chatbots for your business before. You can see what works for you and then decide if you want to use other types of business AI chat software.
Kasisto
Kasisto is all about delivering authentic, real time customer service. It does this for you to creating deep conversational AI. This one also makes use of financial expertise that is built into the chatbot when you use it. The great thing about this one is that can analyze all of your account activity.
Once it has done that, the chatbot can create lots of valuable insights. Financial service companies can rely on it to answer basic questions and assist with some higher level tasks.
This one is good because it can be trained to respond to changing conditions. It can also learn about your business as it goes. Many users like it. Others find it buggy and hard to fix. A trial is a good way to test it out and see if it works for your objectives.
Wati
Wati is a Whatsapp focused AI chatbot. This one is all about customer communication through this platform. This is a great way to focus on superior customer service if you use this social media platform a lot in your marketing efforts.
You can send and record videos to explain things to your clients such as how to order a given item or what a product can do for them. It's well integrated with Google and Shopify.
At the same time there is limited assistance in setting it up and it's not always clear how to accomplish this task. You'll need to take your time and get a feel for it.
Infeedo
Infeedo is ideal for companies that have lots of remote workers rather than one with more people onsite. In fact, it's been specifically designed for this task.
This is one you can use to help with your human resources needs. You can find out which employees are happy with the work and what concerns those who are not have.
In doing so, you'll get all sorts of data that can help with the hiring process as well as make it easier to figure out where you might better respond to employee dissatisfaction.