Chatbots: The Future of Business Marketing

A Chatbot is a kind of conversation software that can communicate with humans using its artificial intelligence. It could be a typed, non-verbal, or spoken conversation embedded within a mobile app or website.  In most of the cases, it cannot work without a proper Internet connection. Nowadays, it is quite popular among smartphone users, thus, Chatbots are undoubtedly the future of business marketing.

These bots are not a new advancement in the area of AI. Many companies like Twitter, Skype, Kik, etc., have tried their hands in this direction, but they did not get the expected results due to glitches and a lack of user-friendlessness. But, the technological world is not affected by impediments, and more bots are being launched with new functionalities and attractions.

All the well-known companies, from Facebook to Google are looking forward to Chatbots. It is one of the most interesting ways for these companies to engage their users. Many big brands are actively developing Chatbots for their company as they increase the chances of various messaging app users to contact them directly via that app.

What Chatbots are Capable of?

There are numerous Chatterbots ranging from personal bots, like Siri to business-based bots, like FB’s Chatbot; each having their own advantages and uses.

These are designed in order to automate the tasks that would otherwise require a lot of human effort. They are capable of handling a wide range of requests like scheduling a meeting, placing orders, making a video call, etc.

Reach and Scope

It is generally observed that in spite of spending a lot of bucks in developing service-specific apps, customers are not as engaged as it is anticipated. The reason from a user’s perspective could be that it is a hectic and time-consuming to switch from one app to another to avail the services at a particular moment.

Users are generally involved in messaging apps and spend a maximum amount of time there. Therefore, it is the most preferred and convenient way to communicate with them. Chatbots use this very channel for interaction. As these Chatbots offer their services within these messaging apps, customers find it handy to use.

1. Brand Engagement

With these bots, your business can reach millions of people all around the world with less expenditure and efforts. People can easily avail the services offered by the advertisers and can exchange the desired information with ease. These bots will enhance and personalize the communication and will also increase the time spent on them, unlike traditional apps.

2. Complementing and Replacing the Apps

The Chatbots may replace some simple apps which handle everyday requests like booking a cab, or requesting a laundry pickup. In other cases, where the tasks are more complex, like applying for a car loan or home loan, these bots can’t replace the actual banking app but can surely complement them.

3. Personal Ease

Chatbots based on personal assistance like Siri can disguise itself as a human-like interaction. These are intelligent software, a virtual personal assistant, designed to interact in a back-and-forth manner. This type of Chatbots can answer the queries and can handle complex requests made by you in a friendly manner.

4. Future Scope

Chatbots are rapidly gaining momentum and are expected to grow at a much faster pace in the near future. These can be developed for career & education, home & living, leisure, Government, news, sports, travel, and for everything under the sun.

Develop Your Own Bot

Though there are tons of bots that you can use for your business, you can also create your own customized Chatbot. Developing your own bot renders your business a lot of opportunities, as artificial intelligence is improving dramatically which can help you connect with your customers in a new way. The bots may soon replace the traditional apps or alter the complex process of customer engagement.  For developing these, first of all, you have to choose between a stand-alone Chatbot applications or web based bot. Once done, you have to choose the AIML interpreter and Chatbot hosting company for designing and developing the bots. At the end, to determine whether it is able to think like a human or not, Turing test is performed. Once done, your bot is ready to converse with the users.

According to Ajay Seth, C.E.O of Skylark, “I am sure when you hear about Artificial Intelligence, there are flashbacks from ‘The Iron Man series’, wherein, Tony Stark talks with J.A.R.V.I.S about pretty much everything. Hopefully, those kinds of artificially intelligent computers are not too far away to be developed in the future. On this particular occasion, I would like to emphasize on the Chatbots as they are helping us set bigger boundaries than ever. We can promote, serve, suggest, and do many other marketing tricks that take a lot of time & effort in a matter of seconds, all thanks to these incredible chatter-bots. There is a huge scope for such ingenious developments in the future that would serve the mankind like a host of a reality show.”