In layman terms, a chatbot is a computer program that can have text based conversations with a human. The notion that a program can have a conversation sounds futuristic, but the truth is most messaging platforms already host thousands of chatbots that are talking to humans everyday. Chatbots are available on platforms such as Slack, Messenger, Skype and Telegram.

1 Increased customer satisfaction

Chatbots offer companies the opportunity to reach and engage with their audiences on new emerging platforms such as messenger. Chatbots will be able to talk to customers in a fun and natural way, so that the customer is engaged with the brand without feeling like they are being advertised to. Given sufficient time and a sufficient number of interactions, chatbots will be able to learn personal details about the customer such as age, gender and interests and will therefore be able to deliver targeted content.

2 Automate customer support

Chatbots can also be used to automate customer support. Well trained Chatbots will be able to accurately answer and at times resolve customer queries 24/7 with very low operational costs. The cost of automating customer support segments in companies using Chatbots is unparalleled. The operational costs of running a Chatbot are considerably cheaper than outsourcing support agents in countries where salaries are a lot lower.

Not only are Chatbots available 24/7 and are significantly cheaper to train and run than humans, they can interact with millions of customers at any given time, which is something that will require massive capital costs and operational costs if humans were to perform the same task. It is important to acknowledge, however, that Chatbots do have their limitations in the actions they are able to perform beyond the messaging interface. They are also not perfect at interacting and understanding human language. As time goes on and as more training data becomes available these bots will be more and more human like and will give more and more accurate responses.

3 Alternative sales channel

Chatbots provide an alternative sales channel. Now customers are able to use platforms such as Messenger to order food and order groceries. For instance, Domino’s now allows it’s customers to order pizza through their messenger bot. Unlike humans, chatbots are able to sell products 24/7 at any time of the year.