Chatbots, the future of customer relations?

Chatbots, the future of customer relations?

After years of disruptive ads, spammy emails, and cold calls, marketing success has been built on a trust - marketing people could love. Facebook, WeChat, Kik or Slack are all actors who already have their own chatbots. But what are the interests for a company / brand / network to invest in this technology?

Chatbots: new form of application?

Chatobot: virtual assistant able to discuss, respond to requests, render services ... Integrated with the interface of an instant messenger they allow to use this application to contact a customer service, book a trip, pay his bills of electricity, socializing, etc.

With chatbots, instant messengers become integrated services that focus the services of a multitude of apps. They are a unique destination, a one-stop-shop for many uses and services. In this, they only accompany a use.

Clear benefits for brands:

•     A presence on the very popular messaging platforms

•     A fluid and unified customer journey without app downloads.

•     A direct, personalized, one-to-one conversation with his clients.

•     24 hours availability.

•     The whole customer purchasing process is impacted, even integrated into a single app.

And the first studies (Mindshare UK and IBM) show that there is an appetite for this technology from smartphone users: 63% of 18-65 year olds would consider using a chatbot to interact with a company or a brand .

Chatbots help marketing professionals keep up with changing trends.

It is important to keep a close eye on the performance indicators of the campaigns to identify the different changes. Chatbots can make this easier and automatic. This makes it possible to detect the evolution of the trends with respect to the targets and gives the brands a real glimpse of the reaction of their consumers to certain messages and advertising campaigns. Being attentive to trends can help optimize the brand's strategy.

What impact for the brand?

As we can see, chatbots will become a privileged point of contact between the brand and its users. They will finally allow this dialogue with brands that were announced at the beginning of social networks and which never happened. But whoever says dialogue says personality. Bots will have a personality, like Siri, the conversational agent of Apple. They must therefore embody the brand, be consistent with its positioning, convey its values ​​and its personality. They will have to be treated not as simple software solutions but as ambassadors of the brand.