Five Ways AI and Live Chat Can Transform Your Small Business in Five Days

Thriving in a digital environment takes time, and of course, your hard-earned cash.

It’s never easy setting foot in the startup or SME space — especially when you’re working overtime to fork out a budget that will keep your business afloat and servicing a niche market. With so many marketing tools to help you stay ahead of your competitors, your approach needs to align with the latest trends and technology, strategically.

Small business marketing is often limited by a shoestring budget. This intimidating experience can be costly. But, it can also be an opportunity to grow your business and retain customers. So, before you feed your ideas to the wild, or spend all of your money on the wrong tools, ensure that you’re up to speed on artificial intelligence (AI) and your business’s needs.

Here’s why AI matters to small business owners

It’s no surprise that competition is rife in the small business marketing space. And if you’re not harnessing AI to provide immediate, measurable results for your business, you need to be prepared to lose the rat race.

AI is no longer a buzzword you hear on the internet — it’s a system you need to invest in.

Put simply, AI refers to intelligence demonstrated by machines. These systems, which can be categorized into machine learning, big data, and natural language processing, are deployed in various industries to help generate real-time data. This data can be used as a research tool to improve your existing operations and better align your business with your digital goals.

How to reap the rewards

AI might sound complex and, in some cases, terrifying. But the return on investment (ROI) is certainly worth exploring. While the initial startup cost might be expensive, you will essentially save on under-performing social ads, customer service hiccups, unexpected downtime, time-consuming tasks, and much more. Let’s face it. You’ll be able to gift your employees with highly efficient automation assistance. Forget about having to spend hours dealing with inefficient systems that take time away from your responsibilities. If used correctly, you’ll be able to support your employees and provide long-term value to your bottom line. Here are a few ways in which AI can be applied in your business today:

SMS

With bulk SMS and Google Rich Communications Services (RSC), you’ll be able to engage with your customers using branded, interactive media messages. These small business marketing tools are ideal for businesses targeting an audience or a community that does not have smartphones. It’s cost-effective, and it ensures that you can send bulk one- or two-way messages to notify your customers about appointments and specials.

Instant messaging

Stay on-trend and keep your tech-savvy customers engaged with live chat. The more technology evolves, the more customers expect businesses to text them, as opposed to troubling them via phone call. This allows customers the opportunity to respond on their terms, without feeling disrupted in their personal time. So, whether you choose to send your customers an instant message via WhatsApp for Business or Facebook Messenger, you’ll be able to analyze the engagement of your messages, and, based on the results, adjust your small business marketing accordingly.

The reverse of using such a simple communication tool is the ability to generate meaningful insights about your customers. For example, you’ll be able to draw insights into the demographics of your customers, their interests, and their response rate. From this information, you can filter new, relatable content throughout your social channels.

Chatbots and live chat

Embrace the new-age robot and let it do the talking — literally. Making use of a chatbot on your website for live chat is a great way to deal with customer queries. While you don’t want to miss a beat when it comes to customer interaction, you don’t want your skilled employees to spend time on tasks that do not improve your bottom line. According to this stat, “Gartner predicts that by 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be with AI.” This is a telling sign that your business needs to jump onto the bandwagon and start using live chat where applicable.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

A CRM tool can improve internal operations and help you manage tasks more efficiently.

In essence, you will use this as a management tool to put the customer first. It will act as one, integrated platform used to monitor your omnichannel customer service solution and automate your applications.

For example, Clickatell Touch will enable you to instantly resolve customer queries through your website, social media channels, and live chat app — all from one easy-to-use web interface.

This tool can integrate with existing technology to draw data and feedback that will help you restructure your business for the better. Now, you’ll be able to respond to customer queries instantly, saving you time on manual tasks.

Competitive intelligence

There is no time to wait around and see how AI and live chat tools could benefit your business.

By using AI to improve your business, you’ll be able to monitor your employees’ actions, analyze your competitors, and track changes that may have a positive or a negative impact on your business.

AI will increase your chances of success, and it will certainly not “take” your job. It will only offer advice on how to improve your strengths and weaknesses for your benefit.

Start small and manage the impact

As you can see, all five of these tools are ideal for any small business marketing strategy. By starting small, you’ll be able to actively see the change and adjust your approach step by step. When budgets are tight, it’s always better to make minor changes before facing further challenges. Experience the possibility and connectivity benefits that Clickatell Touch can offer your business. Test drive the future today and build your conversation platform your way.

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