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Chatbots are quick to respond to customer queries and can help solve their problems swiftly. With regular live chat, in which users speak to a customer service professional, questions may not get answered for hours on end. By then, your business may have lost loyal customers who grew frustrated waiting for assistance.
According to Drift's 2018 State of Chatbots Report, 77% of consumers expect instant responses when reaching out via chat. So, if your brand isn't delivering the customer service experience they expect, you can bet they'll be quick to find that assistance elsewhere.
In additon, chatbots can be personalized to your target audience so they match your brand image and relate to customers on a deeper level.
Here are a few ways you can improve your chatbot strategy in 2019 in order to improve relationships with your website visitors.
1. Track KPIs.
If you have chatbots on your website but aren't keeping track of how they're affecting your business, you have no way of knowing how you can optimize them for better results. It's essential that you track important metrics, such as lead generation and engagement, so you know what steps to take next.
These are a few KPIs (key performance indicators) you should track:
- Engagement/user interactions: The number of interactions users have with the chatbot once the conversation begins
- Retention rate: The proportion of users who have interacted with your chatbot on repeated occasions over a period of time
- Session length: The average length of time users interact with your chatbot
- Bounce rate: The number of visitors who leave your website after visiting one webpage
- Goal completion rate: The success rate of a given action performed through your chatbot
- User feedback: What users think about your chatbot and their experience with it
2. Pay attention to repeat visitors.
Too often, businesses are more focused on acquiring new customers than catering to existing ones. While it's important to generate leads, paying attention to returning customers has its own benefits. Harvard Business Review reports that acquiring a new customer costs anywhere from five to 25 times more than retaining one, so emphasizing this part of your conversion strategy will boost your ROI and improve your relationship with customers you already have.
Use your chatbot to pay extra attention to repeat visitors who are clearly interested and invested in your brand. If your bot has had previous conversations with them, send them a greeting asking if they need any help or welcome them back to your site. Remain genuine in trying to help them with whatever they need and they'll remain loyal to your business.
3. Refine your chat copy.
When users engage with your bot, you not only want them to have a positive UX, but you also want to make sure the conversation is on par with your brand image and overall mission. If it doesn't do its job of helping users navigate your website and answer their questions, the entire thing is futile. On top of that, your chatbot's copy should be written in a way that accurately represents your brand.
Open the chat with a welcoming greeting. If they haven't already asked you something, you can start the conversation by asking them an engaging question about their experience on the website or if they need help navigating products or webpages.
These are a few rules to keep in mind when creating conversations for your chatbot:
- Sound natural.
- Be concise.
- Use contextual awareness.
- Vary responses.
- Keep it simple.
All of these things will help to humanize your chatbot so users don't feel like they're speaking to a product of AI and instead feel like they're talking to a real person behind the screen.
Chatbots have the ability to boost conversions and engagement tremendously, so it's important to take full advantage of all they can do for businesses. If you use them correctly, your business is likely to see positive results after implementing chatbots. With a few tweaks, you can optimize your chatbot to its fullest potential so you're getting the conversions your business deserves.
* This article was originally published here