Let’s Chat: What You Need To Know About Chatbots

It’s become fairly common to see a chat bubble pop up in the lower right or left hand corner of your screen when you go to any website today. These small boxes often ask if you need help with anything or if you have any questions. These helpful assistants are called chatbots, and more companies are integrating them into their web development to connect with customers. As the new face of digital marketing, find out everything you need to know about chatbots.

What Is A Chatbot?

A chatbot is a program that is designed to automatically engage when it receives a message. The programming varies so that a chatbot can respond the same way each time, respond differently to messages depending on certain keywords or adapt responses to each situation by using machine learning. The chat medium often looks like those found on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, or even SMS text. Businesses have been utilizing chatbots in their web development for years now. According to data from Google Trends, search volume about chatbots has grown 19 times over the last five years.

What Are The Benefits For My Company?

In the 2017/18 Global Digital Outlook Study, 43% of marketers around the world are increasing the investment in digital marketing, with almost 50% spending at least half of their company’s marketing budget on digital. With this large investment in web development techniques, the payout has to be worth it. Once a company has a chatbot up and running, it can save them time and money. With chatbots, companies are automating conversations with consumers that would usually require an employee to answer. Chatbots can help make money as well by using direct messages to gather sales leads and directing them to the team.

Can Chatbots Actually Help Customers?

When you think about chatbots, you may be imagining the many Hollywood movies in which robots mess up or get so intelligent that they take over the world. In reality, our technology is not quite ready for world domination, but it is advanced enough to be truly helpful for customers. When you program a chatbot, you’ll build in a series of questions to try and answer any questions your customers have, guiding them to excellent outcomes. Chatbots are also able to offer 24-hour support, giving your customers effective assistance even when the business is closed. They can be programmed in interesting ways to give customers a unique and memorable experience with your business.

To keep up with digital marketing trends, you have to utilize as many modern technologies as possible. As chatbots are at the forefront of what automated responses can do, look into programming your own today.