A live chatbot is used to communicate with a customer about issues that they may be experiencing. These issues can be website-related, product-related, or complications with service. An AI live chat allows you to have an always-on employee of sorts.

This chatbot is typically programmed to match the responses that you would write out for your customer service employees. If you find there is a problem that comes up often when chatting with your customer service team, that would be the starting point.

This chatbot exists in a variety of different ways. It is typically implemented straight into the website itself. You have the option to either have it always available through a chat window when they first enter the site or through a specific contact page.

A live chatbot can present itself in a multitude of different ways. Certain companies like to disguise their chatbot as more of a person, as people tend to favor human responses over robotic ones.

Other companies will capitalize on the fact that they are using a chatbot. For instance, if you run a roofing company, you can name your chatbot roofer bot. This gives them a more personalized feel but still lets the customer know what they are dealing with.

What Options Do You Have for a Chatbot?

When learning how to start an AI live chat, you’ll typically have the option to create one from scratch from a company. The other option is to take a model and adjust it to your needs.

When you create a chatbot from scratch, this typically takes longer as it needs to learn from the ground up. AIs work through a process called machine learning. This means they continuously run through scenarios until they get to the right answer every time.

By purchasing an AI from scratch, they have no preprogrammed responses or mannerisms. This has its ups and downs.

The positive is that you can make it exactly how you want and not worry about a customer having any potential cookie-cutter responses sent their way. Cookie-cutter responses often create frustration and lead to a loss in customers.

On the other hand, preprogrammed AI can be significantly cheaper and still provide a pleasant experience. AI is still relatively new, so people are not completely accustomed to talking to them. This means that the potential of running into people that see the same responses is often still low.

How Do You Go About Implementing a Chatbot?

The first part of implementing a chatbot is understanding the problems that arise in your business. A good place to start is talking to your customer service team and checking what questions that they are often asked. If they’ve been there long enough, they should be able to think of a quick few.

The second source to find questions is the FAQ page. This should show you what people are often asking and finding solutions to on this page. The more time people spend looking at a specific area, the more you should emphasize this for the chatbot.

Once the questions are figured out and solutions presented, it is time to train the AI. The live chatbot will run through scenarios thousands of times while learning the correct way to phrase sayings, answer questions, and raise concerns and apologize when necessary.

If you have a backend developer, be sure that they are aware of these changes going on to the website. This change can affect other codes and even possibly slow down the website if you are not careful.

If you’re looking for a top of the line conversational AI, be sure to check out the link.

What Types of Trends Are There for Chatbots?

Digital sales and website usage is going to continue to rise over the coming years. With more people working from home and choosing the cheaper option of shopping online, this makes online retailers and those that operate digitally more appealing.

This makes a perfect time to start implementing chatbots, as it will be cheaper for your pocket compared to constantly hiring more and more employees. This means that there will be no hourly pay, benefits, or worry of callouts and other expenses that arise from keeping someone on staff.

Chatting with an AI can also help the staff you do have, as the bot can handle the simpler questions. When more difficult human-based questions arise, the customer service rep will already know what is going on and not have to worry about retracing steps.

More mobile usage on websites has also begun to rise. This can make it convenient for those on mobile devices, as it will be just like texting or messaging someone, but with an AI rather than a person.

Who Is a Chatbot For?

A chatbot is perfect for those that have a heavy traffic website that typically requires heavy employee interaction. For instance, say you own a painting company, and you use a simple formula to calculate how much money it will cost to paint a wall. A customer could ask for an estimate from the chatbot, as long as they know their dimensions, and go from there.

This can help increase sales, as people often like to know ahead of time how much money they are about to spend. This makes a chatbot perfect for companies that offer services that do not have the staff on hand to always answer simple questions or make appointments.

Those that run digital services like software or online retailers are also a great fit for chatbots. An AI live chatbot can easily talk about selling points for software online and even help diagnose any type of problems that arise from installing or running the software.

For those running digital retailers, it can help with tracking information, customer questions about dimensions, and even help place orders. Certain customers like the ease of access that is someone else doing the shopping for them, and a chatbot is a great way to have this happen.

Who Is a Chatbot Not For?

A chatbot is not meant for those that enjoy customer interaction and don’t mind the simple questions and answers. If your company is based around your employees bringing in the numbers, then turning them away can actually decrease sales.

A chatbot should also not be used when it comes to diagnosing an issue in terms of disease, maintenance, or other essential services. You don’t want a chatbot diagnosing a patient with cancer when all they have is the flu. You also don’t want a chatbot telling you to turn off the water valves incorrectly, leading to a burst pipe.

A chatbot is also not meant for anyone that is running a poorly optimized website. This means if you are already running into speed and processing issues, adding more strain to the website will only make it worse. It is recommended to take care of these issues first before jumping straight in.

Google will be implementing a UX based algorithm update in 2021. So be sure to stay on top of this to help with search engine optimization results.

How Does It Benefit You?

In the long run, a chatbot can help increase conversion rates. You are not relying on an employee to not have an attitude that day or forget the answer to a simple question. The chatbot always knows the answer and will typically reply in the friendliest manner that an AI can.

It also decreases operating costs and even overhead, as you don’t have to pay for an employee or where the employee works. This leads to a higher gross profit margin. Pair this with the increase in sales that can arise from a chatbot, and it will make you wonder why not everyone is using these.

Chatbots also take away from employees having to do tasks that are considered unproductive. This means answering simple questions for customers, working overnight to book appointments, and even processing returns for a product that may have been defective.

Get a Live Chatbot Today to Increase Business

By picking up a live chatbot, you are ensuring that your business is always ready to go with answers to customers’ questions. You decrease wait times, as one chatbot can tackle 100 customers at one time, while a human can only tackle one. Just be sure that they get the right programming, and you’ll be on the path to higher conversion rates.

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