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There is a lot of hype surrounding chatbots, and they are quickly becoming a standard part of any digital marketing strategy. Chatbots bots are very versatile services, and when setup correctly, can help customers answer questions and fulfill an array of tasks. Chatbots may sound like an intimidating obstacle, but with the right preparation and guidance, they can become tools that help you monetize your social media pages. I’ve put together a guide to help you understand the benefits of chatbots, how they work, and how to build your own chatbot online for your brand.
Chatbots and how they affect your company.
Chatbots are services that mimic conversations with people in order to interact with your customers. Chatbots can be integrated with e-commerce platforms, allowing you to monetize your social media accounts and instant messaging profiles. All competitive companies must maintain a strong online presence, and chatbots are changing the way your audience interacts with you. They help you build an emotional bond with your customer, and because they are still new, building a chatbot now means a strategic advantage over the competition.
Related: Top 10 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business
How chatbots work
There are two types of chatbots available: those that function based on rules and those that use artificial intelligence (A.I.). Chatbots that function based on rules are much more limited than those that work with A.I. because they only respond to specific commands. Hence, they require a great deal of programming in order to be an effective tool. Chatbots tools that are powered by artificial intelligence are more dynamic because they respond to language, and don’t require specific commands. They learn continuously from the conversations they have with people and can help fulfill an array of tasks without a monumental amount of programming.
Related: 10 Facebook Messenger Chatbot Marketing Expert Tips
The challenges of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more popular, but it still poses a challenge for marketers. Although you don’t need to be an expert programmer to build a bot with A.I., you have to make sure it offers working features and remains professional at all times.
Benefits of building a chatbot
Messaging application usage has surpassed that of social media, so chatbots offer a more practical way to reach your audience. They were created to provide a seamless experience, allowing customers to get answers through the applications they already use the most. In addition to the above, chatbots will help you:
- Generate leads
- Make your buyer’s journey simpler
- Increase customer satisfaction through better customer experience
- Distribute your content via messaging apps
- Deliver targeted content based on user feedback and interests
- Integrate A.I. in order to prove to be a more dynamic self-serving channel
Preparing to build your chatbot
Before building your chatbot, you will need to set the right expectations and goals. Instead of trying to create an “all around” bot, try to focus on building a chatbot with a few features that work properly.
Related: Pretty Soon, Chatbots Will Be Able to Understand How You’re Feeling
How to build your chatbot
There are lots of free chatbot building tools such as the one I run Chattypeople.com that offer the ability to setup a bot and connect it to facebook. You won’t require any coding knowledge, and you can sign up using your Facebook account. Once you’ve set up a free account you can start creating your chatbot. Make sure you keep these tips in mind when building your bot:
- Give it a unique name: Your chatbot should have a distinct name that helps it stand out. That way, consumers will only need to run a quick search in order to connect with your bot.
- Give consumers hints on how to get started: The one thing about chatbots that is alien to consumers is the initial interface. Instead of having a website loaded with calls-to-action, users are now faced with a blank screen. Help them out by setting up automatic prompts, so your chatbot can proactively provide options to get your clients started.
- Try to mimic a natural conversation flow: Your bot should try to mimic a natural conversation flow to streamline the process for consumers, making it easy for them to ask questions and get answers at any point during the interaction.
- Make your bot sound smart with simple terminology: Your bot will be the new face of the company, so try to make it sound smart and eloquent by using short, concise sentences. Complicated grammar can hinder your reader and confuse your bot, so keep it simple.
- Don’t reveal all features at the same time: Chatbots can have an array of functions, however, revealing all of them at once can overwhelm consumers. Instead, create a conversation flow that helps your chatbot offer the right options at the right time.
- Optimizing and maintaining your chatbot: Like most digital marketing channels, chatbots need to be monitored and optimized in order to increase performance.
Properly building a chatbot will help you change the way consumers interact with your brand, increasing customer satisfaction and monetizing your social media platforms at the same time. By following the tips outlined above you will be able to create a chatbot that is line with your brand and that best portrays your company as a whole and you don’t have to be a chatbot expert to get started.
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