To bot, or not to bot.

There’s no denying that chatbots are the talk of tech town. Between April and September last year, 30 000 chatbots were created for Facebook Messenger alone. That’s a lot of human-bot chitter chatter.

But while we read about the millions of Dollars that the movers and shakers of the tech industry are pumping into the future of messaging, AI and natural language technology, many business owners question whether there is real benefit in implementing chatbots just yet, while they are still in the early stages of development.

While there’s no denying that we’ve only scratched the surface of their capabilities, their already-impressive ‘skillset’ offers several valuable ways to help businesses improve their operations, connections with customers and boost sales.

Customer service that never sleeps.

Instead of customers waiting in the queue to speak to an agent, while being subjected to the Titanic soundtrack, they could chat to an eagerly awaiting bot right away.

Chatbots are excellent at completing simple tasks, making them the perfect candidates to handle first line customer service queries or hand issues over to the right person when necessary. This means better allocation of resources and saved time and money — music (not the Titanic soundtrack) to any business owner’s ears. And, with the mobile, always-on nature of consumers today, companies are constantly faced with the challenge of providing efficient, round-the-clock support channels. With customer service being a great opportunity for businesses to differentiate themselves, bots can be a big advantage.

Improved customers experience.

No matter how well designed an app or website, the most efficient interface is still the very first one we were introduced to — natural language. Chatbots allow users to engage with a brand in a way that they already understand and in turn, give brands a more human voice.

This also offers the power to widen audience reach. Someone who may find interacting with an app or website a bit tricky, would probably be familiar with typing an SMS and therefore, comfortable with engaging with a chatbot.

Digestion of data.

Bots eat Data Crunch for breakfast. When it comes to crunching numbers quickly and accurately, chatbots trump humans. They provide a fast, reliable, automated way to track and compare all business analytics, from sales figures to inventories and customer data. Enter the music in your ears again.

Conversational commerce.

Ex-Google, ex-Uber, hashtag-creator, Chris Messina, coined the term ‘conversational commerce’ in 2015. Basically, it means that all engagement and transactions with a company can be done through a bot.

From completing customer information forms and qualifying leads to placing orders and making payment, chatbots can dramatically streamline the sales process.

Their speedy response time can also have a great impact on converting leads. According to InsideSales.com:

“The odds of contacting a lead if they are called within 5 minutes are 100 times higher versus one called in 30 minutes. The odds of qualifying a lead if called in 5 minutes are 21 times higher versus 30 minutes.”

Speed matters. And while tied-up sales teams may not be able to get to potential customers quickly enough, bots can step in and help seal the deal on-demand.

Efficient internal operations.

Scheduling meetings, managing calendars and to-do lists may sound like mundane tasks but are vital for the overall efficiency of a business. The number of companies turning to chatbots to handle their administrative tasks and act as ‘virtual assistants’ is growing fast. Over 2000 companies already use Talla, a bot aimed at answering employee questions and helping them be more organised. From HR to IT, chatbots are providing information to employees when they need it, helping them to be more efficient and freeing up the humans who would usually provide this information.

Bots are getting better, smarter and more widely-used by the keystroke. And while their capabilities are set to enhance dramatically, the valuable benefits that they offer at their young age, paired with the fact that they are fast and relatively inexpensive to implement, make them worthy of serious consideration by businesses.