Industries that are Winning with Chatbots
Chatbots are here to change the game. They are driving organisational success, improving the customer-company connection, and helping businesses achieve new levels of growth.
This is because bots are capable of quickly adapting to user needs. They provide enhanced and personalised communication, facilitating the engagement between customers and companies.
From an organisational perspective, chatbots are increasing conversion rates, customer satisfaction and loyalty, accelerating sales growth and reducing operational costs by up to 30% across various industries. Other stats show that 58% of businesses agree that chatbots are tools driving disruption in their respective industry.
But how can the same tool have such a significant impact in a number of different industries?
In general, the availability and accuracy in problem-solving are one of the features that are most appreciated in bots by customers. However, this article will give a more detailed view of how some of the main industries are enjoying and applying chatbots to their day-to-day operations.
E-Commerce Chatbots
We witnessed a boom in online retail during Covid-19 and massive changes in customers’ shopping habits. E-commerce grew exponentially, customers developed new needs, and the industry is now projected to reach over $7 trillion dollars in the next three years. And the way that many online retailers found to keep up with market trends whilst scaling was using chatbots!
With chatbots, web-based businesses can use chatbots to interact with customers and address inquiries 24/7 on their websites or even in their preferred social media channels, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and so on.
In ecommerce, chatbots are able to support retailers and navigate customers in all the stages of the customer journey whilst keeping an engaging and effective communication. As a result, ecommerce chatbots can make the online shopping experience run smoothly and add value to your business.
Here is how chatbots are accelerating the ecommerce industry:
- Providing 24/7 availability to customers and prospects;
- Personalising conversations and customer service based on data;
- Delivering effective communications and high-level customer experience to all and minimising errors;
- Reducing operational costs;
- Acting proactively and helping customers to find what they are looking for;
- Offering a platform that allows sending and receiving payments;
- Optimising processes by integrating with other platforms and apps, such as CRM and email marketing.
Hospitality Chatbots
Whilst the hospitality industry struggled for the last two years, businesses across the globe are now back on track and opening up doors again. However, Deloitte’s report The future of hospitality says that hospitality businesses need to adapt to new habits and expectations and respond appropriately to customers’ behaviours and the sector’s uncertainty if they wish to recover and thrive.
Hospitality chatbots, more than simply conversational tools, work as online concierges for hotel businesses. Chatbots can be critical to improving accuracy and speed in businesses’ customer service. In the hospitality space, they can assist customers with their bookers, respond to pre and post-stay inquiries, and even provide recommendations.
If you are wondering where chatbots can fit into the hospitality industry, here are some great examples:
- Staying available and automatically responding to thousands of questions and customer requests at once;
- Offering personalised vouchers and discounts to nurture relationships;
- Sending reminders before check-in and check-out;
- Cross-selling to customers by promoting services like massages, meals and room service;
- Being able to communicate with customers of a wide range of languages and cultures;
- Managing guests’ stay by proactively sending updates and helpful information;
- Helping with recommendations in the local area;
- Reducing the workload of staff;
- Capturing leads and increasing booking conversions;
- Encouraging feedback and reviews and keeping in touch with customers.
Tourism Chatbots
Similar to hospitality, tourism has also been facing the transformations post-Covid-19. According to industry experts, there is a “new sense of urgency” to travel post two long years of lockdown.
The same source revealed that 65% of travellers plan to make bigger travels in the coming months. Travelling, especially big travelling, requires time and effort. Many people find it overwhelming to make so many decisions at once, representing a massive opportunity for the tourism industry to introduce a solution. Still, companies must be prepared to excel in expectations and take advantage of a promising future ahead.
For this reason, the tourism industry is one of the industries that most use chatbots, as they can ease the complexity of the travelling process. The survey also revealed that 37% would prefer to use chatbots to plan their travel, and 87% of users would interact with a travel chatbot if it was a cost-effective option.
Moreover, successful chatbot decision making guarantees customer satisfaction and builds a relationship of trust between customers and companies. Here is how:
- Personalising customer experience;
- Searching for booking and flights opportunities;
- Assisting in making decisions and completing reservations;
- Managing bookings, cancellations and inquiries on a 24/7 basis;
- Offering the best options according to customer preferences;
- Collecting and encouraging customer feedback;
- Finding and pushing cross-sell and up-sell opportunities;
- Managing thousands of customers with an equal level of quality.
Banking Chatbots
Digital Banking Report found that 75% of financial institutions considered using conversation AI, data, and analytics to determine the next best action. Data is one of the pillars of conversational chatbots, and one of the critical reasons baking chatbots drives digital transformation in the financial industry.
Banking chatbots dramatically improve the interaction between the bank and its customers. Still, they provide these organisations with an opportunity to understand their audience and make more accurate decisions based on the insightful data provided by the bots. Banking chatbots improve communication and performance and provide a more dynamic, modern and stress-free customer interaction.
Let’s list some of the benefits of the use of bots in banking:
- Capacity to respond to urgent queries at any time and quickly act to any request;
- Providing a compliant and secure space to manage customer data;
- Using customer data and analytics to deliver a personalised customer experience;
- Taking the load off bankers and increasing the productivity of banking agents;
- Ability to seamlessly transfer customers to live agents to resolve more complex queries;
- Automating a series of processes and reducing operational costs;
- Collecting customer feedback;
- Assisting customers with financial advice and other banking products, such as credit cards.
It is important to remember that security and compliance are also crucial factors for the functioning of the banking industry. Your bot must protect customers’ information and meet industry regulations. That is why financial companies must be mindful of choosing a chatbot builder with a firm privacy policy.
Events & Entertainment Chatbots
With the return of live events, events and entertainment companies are accelerated and experiencing a boom in demand. The industry has changed, and so have the attendees’ needs. Companies must be able to simultaneously manage virtual, hybrid and in-person events whilst ensuring a high-level service.
Companies can drastically improve their performance by benefiting from the automation provided by chatbots. Bots can engage audiences with their preferred events, centralise helpful information and offer more convenient and quicker communication. They can also offer personalised interactions at scale, which is linked to higher rates of consumer acquisition, retention and engagement.
Chatbots can offer value to event and entertainment companies by supporting tasks such as:
- Facilitating sales dynamic by accepting and requesting payments;
- Offering prompt responses almost immediately;
- Notifying customers of event information, cancellations and updates;
- Personalising event recommendations based on data;
- Helping customers in pre, during and post-event;
- Offering quick access to event information;
- Improving communication with customers;
- Facilitating up-selling;
- Minimising operational costs;
- Integrating with social media platforms to drive engagement;
Looking to Build Your First Bot?
Standing out from the competition and optimising your opportunities have never been so important. Finding quick and accurate solutions to customer needs and scaling with excellence will push organisations to the top.
Regardless of your industry, chatbots have become one of the must-have tools for a thriving business. So far, 67% of business leaders said that chatbots helped increase their sales, and 57% of companies agreed that bots deliver a considerable ROI with minimal investment.
Customers are also reaping the benefits of chatbots. More than 1.4 billion people use bots regularly because they provide a dynamic platform to quickly and efficiently solve problems. As mentioned, if a bot can’t solve a more complex query, it can transfer to a live agent that can solve it.
More than problem-solving, chatbots offer an opportunity to encourage interaction with the audience and build a mutually trusting relationship with existing and prospective customers.
The truth is that the power of chatbots can be felt in any industry. Chatbots have the potential to improve performance, reduce operational costs and increase efficiency which will lead any business to thrive. The possibilities are endless!
However, business owners must invest in a chatbot builder that understands market trends and are capable of offering the solutions needed for their industry. Flow XO is a chatbot builder that delivers an omnichannel experience and innovative chatbot solutions to get ahead of the game.
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