Are Chatbots Right for Your Brand?

Picture yourself needing to switch a flight, upgrade your cable package, or order a new smartphone. Perhaps you’d handle this online through your airline or service provider, maybe you’d call a customer service center, or even, gasp, go to the store! What if all of these could be accomplished almost instantaneously from a messaging app? Well, many of them can – thanks to the rise of chatbots.

Chatbots

Loosely defined, chatbots are computer programs that are designed to have a conversation with humans, hopefully with less awkwardness and more effectively than many automated phone systems that exist today. These bots typically reside within other messaging apps like Facebook Messenger or Kik. While some are used as described above, other chatbots are more informational, like Yahoo’s Weather, News, and Finance bots. With so many types of bots and different types of brands, the time is fast approaching (if not already here) for your brand to decide if a chatbot is right for you.

To Chatbot or Not to Chatbot?

If your brand is deeply tied to customer care like a service provider or travel company, chatbots could be a great way to quickly provide service to thousands of customers who may not need to speak with a live person. Requests to switch a flight or upgrade an existing service are rather common, and a well-designed chatbot should be able to handle those types of requests without error. An additional layer could also be added that if the chatbot gets confused, it could connect the customer with a service representative directly.

Beyond speed and efficiency for your brand, these bots, despite everyone knowing they’re not humans, feel more personalized because of the one-to-one interactions with each exchange. Additionally, many consumers are oversaturated with apps, and since bots live within messaging apps, they can help reduce that strain.

However, if your brand has less consistent consumer interactions either in content or frequency, chatbots may not be right for you. There is also the risk in having a program that acts like a human that can have less than desirable results.

Want to know more about how chatbots are being used, may be used, and the risk/reward balance when it comes to employing a chatbot for your brand? Of course you do! Sign up for our free Battle of the Chatbots webinar on Wednesday, July 20th.



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