How to Improve Customer Experience with a “Dumb” Chatbot

Your visitors arrive on your page. They've heard about you. They know you have a solution. And yet, getting them to pick up the phone or talk to a member of your team is still a challenge. Why? Because somewhere between "interested" and "ready to talk," they hesitate. In this post, we cover how chatbots can bridge that gap, making a prospect's decision to take the next step feel natural.

As a business, whatever market you serve, whatever your proposition, the customer is now firmly in the driving seat. They have all the information they need to make an informed choice. What's more, the internet has given them a marketplace to shop around in, switching between options at their leisure.

The moment a prospect needs a little human help or faces a hurdle in their buying decision is when you need your team most. But your team's time is finite, and resources are a consideration. Chatbots can take the weight off your team, ensuring prospects are nurtured, informed, and more "sales-ready" when they do get to speak to a human.

Imagine if you could hand off customers to your team only when they are in the right frame of mind to buy. That's the potential of chatbots when it comes to priming your customers to speak with your team.

Let's look at some of the ways they can help!

Shaping customer expectations

A customer that arrives expecting Amazon's customer service experience... and gets something very different... is not going to be easy for your team to close. In this case, the prospect's expectations are out of kilter with the experience you can deliver.

A large part of the challenge you face is shaped by the experiences customers have elsewhere. The Amazon, the Netflix, the Facebook effect. Customers now expect intuitive, useful products, flawlessly implemented and ready to serve them.

It's important, however, that you don't simply add technology to show you're progressive. This is something prospects will quickly see through. Rather, you should deploy your chatbot to address the specific problems or barriers in your sales funnel.

A customer that comes with the right expectations of an interaction with your team will respond more positively to your sales approach.

And this matters commercially. According to 81% of consumers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. And customers expect an omnichannel experience at every touchpoint. Understanding these expectations helps you develop a chatbot strategy that delivers on them.

Setting a conversation up for success

There is a great deal of research that shows customer service teams struggle to meet expectations. The burden of expectation is significant. Research by CapGemini shows that, according to a CapGemini study, around 75% of companies believe to be customer-centric but only 30% of clients agree.

Exactly.

Once again, for sales teams on the front-line, this disparity between expectation and delivery presents a significant challenge. The first step is understanding more about your customers and, critically, what they want from an interaction with your business.

Using chatbots, you can capture this data upfront and in real-time, informing your team before the conversation begins. By doing so, your team can tailor their conversation accordingly, with a much higher chance of success.

Getting the right conversation to the right person

A customer that arrives on your website is not necessarily ready to buy. They may just be browsing, starting their initial research. For sales, it doesn't make sense to engage with every visitor. There simply isn't the team available. And not every web visitor is the right prospect to be talking to. Poor lead qualification wastes time, which reduces the opportunity to close more sales.

Chatbots can automate this qualification process, helping you to identify the most relevant conversations to then funnel through to the right member of your team. By deploying bots across your website, you can:

• Identify where a customer is in their buying journey
• Capture details about their needs and requirements
• Pass them to the right human agent for the next step

A human conversation that begins on solid information and a warm qualification will be much more productive, and significantly more likely to result in a successful outcome.

Answering questions and handling objections

Few customers arrive with their mind made up. Before they speak to a sales agent or member of your team, they'll have questions. They may also have objections they want addressed. These can delay or derail the sales process. Getting ahead of them enables your team to focus on closing.

Chatbots can be configured to answer the questions you most frequently hear from customers. They can address common objections. And they can ensure that customers have the information they need before the conversation begins.

Used in this way, chatbots accelerate the buying cycle, shortening the time between a customer arriving and being ready to talk. When your sales team pick up the conversation, they are working with a better-informed prospect that has fewer barriers to purchase.

Building trust and adding value

The relationship between a customer and a business doesn't begin when they pick up the phone. It starts before, during the research and discovery phase. The businesses that build trust early, that start providing value before any formal interaction, will win more sales.

Chatbots, used well, can begin that trust-building process early. Whether it's surfacing a relevant piece of content at the right moment, answering a timely question, or simply providing a seamless experience, a chatbot can set the right tone for the conversation to follow.

What's more, your customer will feel more cared for throughout their entire buying journey. This impression will color their experience when they do get to speak to your team. A prospect that already has a positive impression of your business is more likely to listen, engage, and convert.

Enabling the right time conversations

Your prospects and customers don't restrict their research to your working day. They're browsing in the evening, at the weekend, early in the morning. In each case, if a customer has a question or need, you won't always have a team member available to help.

By deploying chatbots, you ensure there is always a 24/7 always-on capability. Customers get their questions answered promptly; you qualify leads before your team begins their day; conversations with your team start at the right point rather than at the beginning.

More importantly, perhaps, you never miss an opportunity. A prospect ready to talk is the last opportunity you want to miss. With a chatbot available at all hours, you can collect the key information needed, set up a call, and get them ready for a conversation at a time that suits you both.

How to get started

The journey to deploying a chatbot that genuinely helps prep your customers to speak with your team begins with an understanding of the process. Where do prospects typically hesitate or need most information? What common questions are being asked? Where in your funnel are the most important human conversations happening?

Understanding the right opportunity helps you deploy chatbots strategically, maximizing their impact. Ultimately, the most valuable chatbot is the one that improves the quality of the human conversation that follows.

Start there.