A chatbot is a piece of software that can be programmed to converse with people via chat messages. When added to your website, it helps your customers get information, complete online purchases and have access to a self-service helpdesk. The chatbot is available 24/7 to reach out to your website’s visitors. You can use it to capture their attention, start a conversation, resolve queries, find new customers and get better conversions.
To put it simply, a website chatbot is like a digital front desk representative that welcomes customers to your store and offers them the help they need.
Modern internet users are already familiar with artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbots. They find these friendly chatbots easy to talk to, and efficient at getting them all kinds of help – from pulling out relevant product information, all the way to solving technical problems – without having to wait for human assistance.
Chatbots exist on different platforms such as websites, instant messaging apps, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more.
When a visitor arrives at a website, there is a small window of opportunity for him to make a decision (buy a product, use a service, place a request for a follow-up, etc.). But just because the website has a lot of information doesn’t mean that it is easy for the visitor to find what he needs.
Websites are designed for storing and presenting information. You will often find website menus that are packed with different categories, products and services. But when need to find something as quickly as possible, these menus can be hard to navigate. In fact, 90% of visitors leave websites without taking any action.
Enter chatbots!
A chatbot engages your website’s visitors 24/7 and gets their attention right from the start. All they have to do is talk to the chatbot to get their questions answered, find help navigating the website, and remove any obstacles preventing them from making a purchase. They can use their own words to ask a question and instantly get the answer they are looking for. In short, a website chatbot can increase the conversions of new customers.
There are many variations of chatbots. Each has its own specific process flow designed to achieve a specific business goal. But generally speaking, we can categorize most chatbots into one of the following three types:
A lead generation chatbot reaches out to every visitor on your website 24/7, answers questions and finds new customers without the need for a human operator. It gets the names, phone numbers and email addresses of leads and sends you these contact details so you can close the sale. It can respond to all presales questions, and even learns from visitor interactions to help you improve your answers.
This type of chatbot is highly popular for generating car dealership leads, school registration leads, medical services leads, professional services, B2B leads, and ecommerce sales leads. Businesses using a lead generation chatbot have seen their leads increase by up to 4 times.
Lead generation chatbot conversation example:
Here is an example of a conversation between a lead generation chatbot and a visitor on a car dealership website.
Ecommerce website owners use chatbots to engage with their website's visitors and keep them from leaving the website. By answering the visitors' questions, an ecommerce chatbot removes obstacles and drives new customers to complete purchases online.
This type of chatbot is popular among all types of ecommerce websites, SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies, travel agencies, cinemas, and more. An ecommerce chatbot can increase your online sales from existing traffic by as much as 300%!
Ecommerce chatbot conversation example:
Here is a sample conversation between an ecommerce chatbot and a potential customer on a footwear store’s website.
A customer service (support) chatbot acts as an automated 24/7 support representative on your website. It can answer hundreds of questions instantly without the need for a human operator. By learning to respond to all frequently asked questions, it reduces support enquiries reaching your phone or email. In case a customer has a complex or atypical issue that the chatbot can’t solve, it connects them with human support through a built-in form or LiveChat intervention.
This type of chatbot is a popular website feature for higher education, government agencies, healthcare platforms, and a variety of other online services. It is highly effective at providing technical support, troubleshooting and off-hour resolution with results that include up to 80% reduction in phone calls and emails.
Customer service chatbot conversation example:
Here is what a conversation between a customer service chatbot and a student on a university website looks like.
As an ultra-efficient, quick-learning, user-friendly conversation tool, there is a lot that a chatbot can do for your website. The key is to know what kind of chatbot you need and how best to leverage it for your business.
