eTail 101: How to Implement Chatbots Onto Your Site

eTail 101: How to Implement Chatbots Onto Your Site

Implementing Chatbots Reaps Major Benefits

One trend that has become increasingly popular in the business of online selling is the implementation of chatbots. These computer programs can communicate with other people via a chat interface, similar to texting on a smartphone. Chatbots are programmed in a way that allows them to find a natural and suitable response to anything you ask them. These programs have existed for decades, but in recent years companies have learned to use them to enhance the online shopping experience.

If you are interested in learning about how these programs benefit online businesses, please continue reading.

How Chatbots Benefit Online Companies

Using a Mobile Phone
Chatbots are extremely useful tools in the online space, especially if you run a company that focuses on selling products online. Chatbots are designed to simulate regular conversations with real people, so customers can communicate with a chatbot in a way that feels natural. As a result, chatbots can be assigned different tasks that can make the shopping experience much easier for online shoppers.

To give an example, if customers are having trouble figuring out what they want to buy, they can ask the chatbot for help. After answering a few questions, the chatbot will pull up some recommendations based on the customers’ interests. Since chatbots are able to respond to specific questions, they are also quite effective at handling customer service tasks. These programs are proving to be quite useful for online sellers, so you should consider implementing one if you want to improve your business.

Types of Chatbots

Before you try to implement a chatbot into your website plan it is important that you know about the different kinds that exist. There are two main types of chatbots, the rule-based chatbot that responds to specific commands based on predetermined rules, and the AI chatbot that learns how to respond to a specific customer’s language. The kind of chatbot you should use for your business depends on the specific things you are looking to do.

If you are only trying to have very specific questions answered on your website you would be wise to use a rule-based chatbot. If you need a chatbot that can field more complex questions you should consider using an AI chatbot. In the business of online selling AI chatbots tend to be more effective, since they are able to deal with more complex situations.

Selecting a Good Chatbot

Women Working on Computers
There are lot of platforms that you can use to create an effective chatbots for your business, so it can be a bit difficult to find one that complements your business. First, you want to make sure that you find a chatbot platform that is able to effectively learn on its own. Typically, the best chatbots are the ones that can learn from your customers on their own, since they will eventually be able to handle more complex tasks as they continue learning.

Another key factor to be aware of when selecting a chatbot is price. A good number of chatbot platforms require a monthly payment to operate, so make sure to keep money in mind when you are searching online. Finally, you have to make sure that you find a chatbot platform that can be quickly and easily deployed, because chatbots are ineffective if they cannot be implemented in a short amount of time.

If you are having trouble finding a good platform, some of the most notable ones currently available include Facebook Messenger and Kayako.

Implementing the Chatbot

Computer HTML Code
Once you have selected a chatbot platform to work with, all that remains is properly implementing a chatbot into your business plan. Implementing some chatbots requires coding knowledge, so it would be a good idea to hire a programmer if you think you will need one. The first thing you need to do is review your goals. From there, you can customize your bot profile and triggers, create an intent sample, define a fallback scenario, and train your chatbot to respond to FAQs with pertinent information.