Waikato Business News January 2018

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS January 2018
Chatbots a smart fix for your small business
9
THE DIGITAL WORLD
> BY POOJA GUPTA
Pooja Gupta is digital marketing manager at Duoplus.
pooja@duoplus.nz | www.duoplus.nz
In this age of instant access, it is important
to remember that customers are no longer
willing to wait or go out of their way to obtain
information, products, or services.
They expect fast responses.
Do your customers message
you with queries or complaints
on Facebook?
What do your customers
want? Assistance!
When do they want it?
Now!
Small businesses have limited
resources, and Chatbots
can offer a great way for them
to engage with their customers,
employees, and partners. Chatbots
can help deliver the right
answer the moment a customer
asks.
What is a chatbot?
A Chatbot is a computer software
programme designed to
interact with people. It has the
capability of simulating seamless
conversations with customers
and typically exists on channels
like Facebook Messenger,
Siri, WeChat, Telegram, Slack,
Skype and many others.
There are basically two
types of Chatbots: One that
functions based on a set of
rules, and a more advanced version
that uses machine learning
or artificial intelligence.
A chatbot that functions
based on rules can only respond
to specific commands
while the latter functions using
artificial intelligence and can
get smarter as it learns from
different conversations it has.
While this may sound overwhelming
for small businesses,
there are some simple ways to
get started.
According to a recent study,
67 percent of people expect to
use messaging apps to talk to
businesses, which makes Chatbots
very relevant to adopt.
As reported by Facebook,
more than 330 million people
connected with a small business
on Messenger for the first
time in 2017. Facebook says
that is a good start.
Chatbots for small businesses?
All businesses are different in
nature of operation and services
they offer. It is ideal to
have a Chatbot if your business
falls into any of the following
categories:
1. A business that receives
many similar requests
A chatbot can be created to
answer those typical questions
that your employees have to
answer repeatedly. These can
be providing details on return
policies, warranties, and related
information.
2. Business that sells products
that need low involvement
Some goods and services don’t
require much time and effort
on the part of the consumer to
decide, such as cosmetics, food
items, and common household
items. Customers typically
don’t spend a lot of time comparing
the features of these
goods. So, you can have a bot
that immediately understands
what the customer wants and
offers suggestions without human
interaction.
Why use chatbots?
For small businesses, 2018 can
be just the right time to adopt
chatbots and have benefits.
Following are some ways chatbots
can be a profitable step for
small and mid-sized businesses.
Better Customer Experience:
Small businesses can take advantage
of chatbots in serving
their customers better by
providing instant replies and
solving their queries quickly.
Chatbots offer easy access to
information about products
and services, and can give the
ability to purchase them. Chatbots
can provide rich content
like images and videos helping
customers better. The chatbot
can automate low-value tasks
focusing on those that really
add value to the business.
The convenience of conversational
commerce:
Some of the industry excitement
around chatbots is the approach
of customers purchasing
an item within the context
of a conversation – without
needing human assistance. By
having a dialogue with a program
that learns and stores information,
we’re likely to see
customers placing orders with
fewer steps than before, and
in a much more user-friendly
experience than having to
manually use a shopping cart.
Consumers can jump from
awareness to action with only
a few messages with a chatbot.
As this technology develops,
the convenience of a bot will
be immense.
How to get started
There are many free chatbots
available that you can start
with. The most popular and
highly recommended is Many-
Chat. It lets you create Facebook
Messenger chatbots to
market your brand and gives
you the ability to set up some
logic steps where the chatbot
can send automatic replies
to help serve your customers
quickly.
This tool requires no programming
and all you need to
do is connect your business
Facebook page to ManyChat.
It provides a complete set
of growth tools that enables
you to effortlessly grow your
messenger audience and help
convert anyone into a customer/subscriber.
It also notifies
whenever your attention
is needed, making it easy to
have a personal conversation
from there. There are various
other free chatbots also available
like Chatfuel, ChatterBot,
ChattyPeople and many more.
Chatbots are going to
evolve with time and create
more opportunities. Small
businesses should include them
in their wider business strategy.
Development of chatbots is
getting increasingly affordable,
with some non-AI (artificial intelligence)
bots being very low
cost to implement.
It can be a smart fix for your
business in 2018.
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Waikato Branch – Upcoming events/courses
At the Institute of Directors
we’re on the pulse of governance.
Connecting, equipping and
inspiring directors through thought
leadership and our extensive
network, professional governance
courses, events and resources.
718 November
October CPD: 2 points
14 February 2018
CPD: 2 points
CEO/Board The Digital Director relationship with David panel Bell discussion with Margaret Devlin,
AGM Carlos Lunch da Silva function and Kirsten with guest (KP) speaker Patterson Brett Maber
“Building 12.00pm 7.00am - 9.00am, - an 2.00pm, International FMG The Stadium Grandstand, Agriculture Waikato Claudelands
Business”
12.00pm -2.00pm, FMG Stadium Waikato
7 November CPD: 2 points
24 November
14 CEO/Board March 2018 relationship panel discussion with Margaret Devlin, Carlos da Silva and Kirsten
Waikato Branch Christmas Cocktail Function
CPD: 2 points
From
5.30pm (KP) Patterson an uncertain childhood, through some of the greatest adventures,
– 7.30pm, FMG Stadium Waikato
to an ambitious vision for New Zealand.
12.00pm - 2.00pm, The Grandstand, Claudelands
Lunch function in partnership with the Waikato Chamber of Commerce
Guest speaker: Sir Graeme Dingle
12.00pm – 2.00pm, FMG Stadium Waikato
To register, please contact:
Megan Beveridge,
Branch Manager
Waikato.branch@iod.org.nz,
021 358772 or www.iod.org.nz
Waikato branch is kindly sponsored by: