A chatbot is when a company sets up a series of automated chat messages through a social media platform like Facebook Messenger or a mobile app like WhatsApp. Chatbots can involve sophisticated AI but it’s not required.
Chatbots provide an automated way to have a 1:1 conversation with a person
The most common platform to build a chatbot on is Facebook Messenger but there are many others - Alexa, Kik, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Google Assistant.
Here’s the famous Cleo chatbot that helps people budget and save:
Chatbots can send messages that contain text, GIF, images, and even videos.
Chatbots can also send automated flows and bring your users through marketing funnels.
And perhaps the most powerful feature for eCommerce brands is that chatbots can also display your catalog and help a customer make a purchase.
Chatbots have a ton of benefits to them.
Convenience - customers are able to get serviced in under 24 hours, without having to wait for a human rep. They are also able to browse through a catalog and order the product using a chatbot.
It also saves the customer so much time. Data shows that average response times for live chat are 2 minutes versus 10 hours for social and 17 hours for email.
It’s interactive - chatbots provide a really fun way for customers to interact with a brand. And it’s a way for a brand to showcase its values, products, and services without
It’s more personal - 34% of retail customers say that they would rather speaking with a chatbot than a live rep (Statista)
It’s cost-saving - you can use a chatbot 24/7 without having to hire customer service reps to work during odd hours of the night. Businesses report up to 30% savings using chatbots (IBM).
Chatbots also help brands make more money.
Lego has built out a chatbot that they call “Ralph”. It created a simple and effective shopping experience for the user by providing personalized recommendations and even has the ability to process orders right on Facebook Messenger.
Ralph is so successful that it is driving over 25% of all social media sales and provides a conversion that’s 8.4 times higher than Facebook ads.
