Narayan AmmachchiChatbots are finally living up to their hype, with business leaders confirming that the AI-based machines are helping them save money as well as increase sales. What’s more, they are also performing well as virtual customer service agents.
“Business leaders saved an average of US$300,000 in 2019 from their chatbots,” says the Chatbot Trends Report prepared by Intercom, a Silicon Valley-based messaging platform maker.
However, in a survey conducted by Yougov in the United Kingdom, 87% of consumers stated that they prefer humans for quick interactions, with 25% saying that they don’t mind who they talk with as long as they get the desired outcome.
Chatbots are no longer limited to customer support organizations. Businesses of all types are growingly using them to increase sales. Thanks to chatbots, many firms saw their sales increase by an average of 67% this year.
More exciting still, “26% of all sales start through a chatbot interaction,” says the report. In the survey, 35% of business leaders said that chatbots had helped them close sales deals.
The industries most satisfied with bots are tech (73%), retail (67%), manufacturing (57%), and healthcare (56%).
“Gone are the days of cold calling, telemarketing, and, to some extent, mass advertising. Modern consumers expect fast, personalized responses through live chat, and doing so at scale is exactly where chatbots shine,” says Intercom.
Bots cannot beat humans, they are indeed machines, but companies can employ them to carry out the kind of jobs they are best at, the report concluded.
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