The accelerating adoption of AI has boosted the popularity of virtual assistant (VA) chatbots among large enterprises to automate marketing efforts and improve customer experience. In simple terms, a chatbot is a software application designed to simulate and process conversations (either written or spoken) with human users. It can automate certain predefined tasks by interacting with a user through a chat interface on various digital channels including websites, mobile apps, and messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, LINE, etc.

Choosing the right chatbot could deliver a real impact on marketing return on investment (ROI) and drive revenue growth for the business. With a wide range of options available in the market, the following five key considerations will help business leaders make an informed decision to engage a chatbot solution that aligns with their objectives.

Choosing a platform that allows for customisation is absolutely critical to deploying a successful AI chatbot for your current and future enterprise needs. For example, a high level of customisability allows the chatbot to easily integrate with your existing tech stacks, like CRM and payment platform, making it easy to seamlessly track overall marketing performance across the customer journey.

In addition, chatbots should also be accessible by customers via omnichannel, such as social media, apps, websites and even WhatsApp. This would enable customers to engage with your brand wherever they are and get their issues sorted instantly.

Chatbots should also be easy to use for customers and require minimal or zero coding experience from your marketing team to operate and maintain. Although the more cost-effective option, rule-based chatbots rely on keyword detection and could misunderstand user intention when keywords overlap, resulting in giving customers inaccurate responses. AI chatbots, on the other hand, understand natural language text inputs and can reply to customers in a conversational manner, thus creating a natural and engaging chat experience.

While chatbots are able to provide quick and efficient customer support, they are limited in their capabilities in navigating issues that are beyond their scopes, or domain knowledge that they are trained on.

In such scenarios, the chatbots should be able to hand off to a real-live agent who can take over the conversation to solve complex situations and provide customers with personalised assistance. A hand-off should happen as part of a conversation flow, within the same chat window when the chatbot is unable to render help or when the user initiates the live chat request.

By implementing a well-designed and executed hand-off process, enterprises could improve customer satisfaction and build brand loyalty.

Another key consideration is the number of languages the chatbot supports. A multilingual chatbot leverages AI to answer questions and perform tasks in the user’s preferred language. The use of natural language processing (NLP) means that the AI chatbots will be able to understand users even when they use local slang and terms, which helps to provide a seamless experience. Multilingual support can greatly increase the usage of bots, especially within regions where multiple languages are spoken.

Leveraging a chatbot that supports multiple languages will open up conversations to a wider consumer base, driving better marketing ROI, especially for enterprises that operate in multiple markets and regions.

The ability to track chatbot performance will allow brands to measure and make data-driven decisions that increase leads and conversions. KPI metrics like engagement rate, chat sentiment, click-through rates, and most popular content or input phrases will help enterprises to gather first-party data and gain better insights into how to adjust their marketing message and optimise future campaigns accordingly.

For example, the chatbot engagement rate indicates the relevance and engaging quality of the chatbot messages whereas the click-through rate will give you insights into how impactful and effective your call-to-action messaging is.

A chatbot handles customer issues and customer data on a daily basis. This means that there is a high volume of data that could be exploited if leaked to the wrong parties. A chatbot should have high-security measures and ensure all customer data is treated at the highest confidentiality level.

Enterprises should prioritise chatbot providers that adhere to security standards and comply with data protection regulations. This will build trust and confidence between the customers and the brand, which are essential elements that pave the way for long-term business success.

Building a chatbot will not be a gruelling task if there is a strong and coherent chatbot strategy that applied the five key factors discussed in place. As AI chatbots are quickly becoming the new search bar and an incredibly powerful tool for all businesses, it is imperative, especially for larger corporations to start leveraging this automation tool to save cost, improve customer experience and gain a competitive advantage in the global market.

Curious about how to leverage conversational AI to automate your enterprise for better efficiency? Get in touch with us today.AiChat is a leading A.

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