Use Chatbots to Provide Great Customer Service

Customer service is at the heart of most businesses. Having responsive customer service is what sets one company apart from another. During standard business hours, providing live customer service can be standard operating procedure and rolled into the role of a receptionist or executive assistant. Sometimes customers just want to talk to a person — quickly, so that they can get their answer and move forward. What do you do after hours, though? Do you utilize an expensive live answering service? Or do you look to provide something more automated like a chatbot? Utilizing a chatbot is not only an efficient way to provide continuing customer service during off-hours, but it is also smart.

There are many options available for chatbots out there. The simplest of those is the type that provides an automated response when a person enters a simple message into the chat window. For example, if you enter a simple message into a chat window, the chatbot may answer back with, “Thank you for your inquiry. We will provide a response within 24 hours.” That message doesn’t just go into the ether of the Internet. It typically goes into an inbox that a live person reviews during regular business hours. At InGen, we have a chatbot that is powered by HubSpot. It provides an automated response to inquiries, but our messages are immediately routed through a special Slack channel that our specialists review around the clock. That is another way chatbots can be used.

One of the most advanced ways that chatbots can be used is by incorporating artificial intelligence into the technology. AI-powered chatbots are considered the next advancement in chatbot technology. Essentially, AI-powered chatbots are programs that simulate human conversations using natural language processing. These are usually pre-programmed to respond to frequently asked questions.

Before you build your chatbot, you want to make sure your objectives are clear. That way, you don’t find yourself creating a solution to a problem that doesn’t fulfill the solution completely. In addition to the objective of your chatbot, you also want to define what tone the chatbot should take. If you have a friendly business, you don’t want your chatbot to communicate with your customers in a tone that will turn them off from your business. Keep your target audience in mind. Finally, you want to make sure that you choose a chatbot that is compatible with you. Are you a coder? If not, you will want to select a chatbot that does not require coding knowledge. If you want something more advanced and you don’t have anyone in your organization to handle that type of setup, contact our specialists for an evaluation of your current platform. We can help assess your needs and improve your systems.

There are a lot of features to consider when you employ a chatbot to help manage your customer service. They can be a great service to your business — as long as they are planned out properly.

Originally published at https://www.ingentek.com on November 18, 2021.