Artificial intelligence seemed super futuristic only a decade ago, but it is our present now. We witness it in our lives every day in some form. From smartphones to facial recognition and voice assistants, artificial intelligence is making our lives simpler, easier, engaging, and fun. Now, AI has made its way into our daily chats. It is called conversation AI. So, what is this new term?
Conversation AI allows machines or computers to converse like humans and have the same conversational experience as other humans. It enables intelligent conversation and dialogue between computers and people. Artificial intelligence empowers a machine to function like a human, answer queries, and address other people. This technology is capable of understanding, recognizing, and interpreting human voices and textual messages. It is also capable of understanding the intent, emotion, and sentiment of the sounds and messages. Moreover, it then replies as accurately as possible. Conversational AI is possible because of the configurations and related technologies, including:
- Natural language processing (NLP)
- Natural language understanding
- Machine learning
- Speech recognition
- Dialogue management
In this article, we will focus on prominent reasons why conversational artificial intelligence, also known as chatbots and virtual assistants, is essential for businesses.
24/7 Availability
The AI assistants are available 27/7 for customers, employees, and website visitors. More than 50% of chatbots are present on business websites. They do not require human involvement and can automate routine conversations. No matter when you ask a question, they will reply instantly throughout the day. Lack of information due to the unavailability of customer representatives can cost businesses to lose business opportunities. Customers may move to other companies searching for answers. The continuous availability helps retain customers on the website and capture their focus through on-demand service. Chatbots make sure that customers are served all the time without any delay.
Automated FAQs
Virtual chat assistants can automate frequently asked questions by different industries and companies for routine questions and tasks. They automate important and recurring questions such as,
- What are the products and services of this business?
- Are the products available for cash on delivery?
- What is the mode of payment?
- What is the price of a particular product or service?
- What is the exact delivery time?
- What is the return or exchange policy?
The automated answers to frequently asked queries save time and effort. Automation saves 6-12 minutes on average per user for any conversation while answering routine questions. This translates into effective and smooth communication between the business and the customer. It subsequently reduces the company’s cost of customer interaction by 30% by eliminating waste and repeated queries.
Informed Decision-Making with Intelligent Analytics
Compared to sales representatives or customer services personnel, AI chatbots keep the customers engaged for longer on the website. While they instantly answer their queries, they collect customer data in the background. They gather information regarding their previous searches, questions, buying behavior, and purchases. The possibility of purchase will increase with the abundance of information they receive from the chatbots. Moreover, chatbots will redirect visitors to their desired page or specific information without the hassle and ultimately improve the customer experience. In this manner, the business acquires knowledge about customer behavior. They know why the customer wants something, what they want, at what time, what is in the sales funnel, and the customer profiling. The data analysis helps refine the customer experience and improve the website’s content. It also assists with informed decision-making.
Omni-Channel Experience
Chatbots are capable of enabling seamless, uninterrupted, and efficient customer support services across multiple channels and platforms. This allows the company to offer hyper-personalized and contextual service to the end-users. The omnichannel approach works great with recurring and new customers. It then improves interaction based on the information from multiple sources.
Scalability
Human involvements tend to weaken functions. Demand and supply are critical to any business. Human-operated businesses are usually at the mercy of demand patterns and fluctuations. Whereas chatbots can manage demand fluctuations when it increases or decreases. They can do that without creating further bottlenecks or service disruptions.
Conclusion
There are multiple reasons a business chooses chatbots to take care of customer queries and concerns. They are cost-effective compared to a customer sales representative who requires fixed payments. So chatbots are important for businesses.
