Expected future trends for business chatbots

Here at Pumpkin Web Design we are Preston’s leading web design and web marketing professionals. We provide a wide range of website solutions and SEO services across Preston and the North West, from Southport to Wigan, and even Manchester, and we work with a wide range of companies and businesses, in a variety of sectors. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything businesses should know about chatbots and the potential for future development.

What are business chatbots?

Chatbots are a type of software that can be used very effectively as part of your website, or on social media, to provide responses instantly to potential customers and clients. This uses a popup entry box which allows a potential customer to enter their query or question, and receive a response. Every business in every sector can make good use of a chatbot, for a range of different purposes.

Chatbots have become increasingly popular and used on a wider range of platforms over the past 12 months and they have been widely well received by online shoppers and consumers.

What are the different ways that businesses can make use of chatbots?

There are a number of options for any business to seriously consider using chatbots online, and this can bring a number of benefits. The range of usage options include:

• Increasing sales- for some websites that sell products online, using a chatbot as a sales assistant can be very helpful. This will help answer questions and product queries, but more than that can help identify products that the user may like, and show additional product suggestions too. For example, when trainer shopping online, a chatbot can allow users to enter their shoe size, colour and style preferences and be shown shoes, or even design shoes, based on what they want, as well as seeing other suggestions for relevant products, based on the preferences already provided. This can be a great way to personalise the shopping experience online, increase customer satisfaction and boost sales and profits.
• Customer support- chatbots have been used for customer support since they began and this is where businesses are often more familiar with their use. The biggest benefit chatbots can bring here is that they function 24/7 so even when your business is closed, potential customers and clients can make contact and find out what they need to know, or be shown to the products or services they need. In addition, customers are now very familiar with chatbots and may even expect these to be part of your customer support services.

What are the expected future trends for business chatbots?

In terms of future development, now is definitely the time to invest in a chatbot for your website or social media, with these only expected to grow and develop further thanks to the deep machine learning they can make use of. In future, chatbots will be likely used for a range of purposes, including:

• Use in apps- it is expected that more and more people will be interacting with company chatbots when using the business apps. This includes businesses in sectors such as banking, and health and wellness, as well as retail.
• Data gathering- chatbots are already used widely to collect and gather information for businesses and its expected that while the different usage purposes of chatbots will expand, so too will their ability to collect information useful for retargeting and advertising.

For more information or advice about using chatbots on your website, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design.