Chat has evolved from online manual interactions to AI-driven solutions smart enough to think like a human but at a fraction of the cost
The way businesses communicate with customers has evolved over time – from mail to phone, to email, to text, to online chat and, now, using bots. Chatbots are not new but are increasingly gaining in popularity thanks to changing consumer expectations, preferences of younger generations, ubiquitousness of internet connected mobile devices and availability of AI technologies. Well-known consumer-friendly technologies Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, for example, are types of chatbots that operate using voice commands.
Multiple modes of communication between business and customer are common, although SMS and chat are emerging as preferred methods of communication in most situations. Chatbots offer convenience and accessibility as well as bridge the multiple modes of communication into seamless, multi-channel conversations.but
At Agentz, our goal is to help SMBs automate customer communication using multiple modes centered around a chatbot that works in conjunction with SMS, phone and other online platforms like Facebook and Google. We make sure that SMBs don’t have to do any heavy lifting by providing an out-of-the-box experience that is pre-customized to their industry. Agentz deftly allows SMBs to communicate based on the customer’s preferences – where they are, how they want and when they want – 24/7.
All Chatbots Are Not Created Equal
Their purpose, way they are created, deployed, style of communication, level of human involvement and training required, differs. So does cost. For a dentist, plumber or real estate agent, it could become overwhelming to implement an automated, all inclusive customer communication system designed for the budgets of larger enterprises.
Let us explain why.
There are now many types of chatbot available in the market
Live agent chatbots – with some basic automated responses, these are designed to capture lead information and transfer to live agents
Answer chatbots – these are designed to answer specific questions
Special action chatbot – These allow you to book a ticket, order food or guide a traveler
Platform specific chatbots – These are designed to facilitate communication on a particular channel, such as Facebook Messenger
Special purpose chatbot – These allow you to do things like take a medical quiz for a disease or talk to audiences about a specific subject
General purpose voice bots – These are the Alexas of the world that aid simple questions, tasks activities and entertainment
How to Build a Chatbot
Regardless of the purpose, building a chatbot, integrating it with other channels and using it effectively, can be challenging and expensive. It requires following these design steps:
- Decide what you need the chabot to accomplish and how it should respond to situations it can’t handle without compromising customer experience
- Build conversations to accomplish those goals along with considerations for events such as conversation notifications and transfer-to-human handover
- Build the bot using technical tools such as Google’s Dialogflow or using a simpler conversation builder like Bostify or Manychats
- Integrate with additional channels so that the customer experience is not compromised
- Generate new and collect data from past customer interactions to train the chatbot to handle similar interactions
- Deploy the chatbot
Agentz Makes it Easy for the SMB
Agentz combines the various functions that SMBs need, providing an all-inclusive, AI-powered customer engagement system that elegantly guides customers by showcasing and promoting products and services, answering routine questions, and driving to specific outcomes such as booking an appointment, taking a message or transfering to live help when needed. All while enabling cross-channel communication between website, SMS, phone and social media channels.
All of this can be setup through the following simple steps:
- Choose your industry
- Submit information about your business
- Indicate the specific products or services you provide
- Include the chatbot on your website, Facebook and Google My Business
- Automatically forward your calls to Agentz when you are unable to answer them yourself
In less than 15 minutes, a small business owner can be using a state-of-the-art customer engagement solution at a very low cost.
Now that’s what we call purpose-built for SMBs!
Try Out Agentz Today - For Free!
Learn more about how the no-code customer engagement Agentz Digital Receptionist compares to chatbot solutions and how it can help your small business capture more customers across multiple channels and provide a better overall experience.
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