As of 2022, the global chatbot market is valued at 641.1 million, and it’s only expected to keep growing. In fact, from 2022 to 2030, the market is estimated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.7% so that by 2030, it will be worth $3.99 billion!
So what’s all the hype about? Why is so much money being invested into chatbots?
The answer is return on investment. Chatbots offer a host of benefits that you simply don’t get through regular customer support agents.
Here are all the benefits of investing in building better chatbots for your business:
- Increase customer engagement
Customer engagement is the ongoing relationship you build with your customers. Chatbots help you stay constantly connected in a way you couldn’t otherwise so you can gain loyal customers who come back for more business.
- Save money
Though developing a chatbot will cost you some money upfront, it’ll pay for itself many times over in the long run.
How? When you build a chatbot, it’s a one-time expense (other than occasional updates and fixes). Whereas if you hire customer support agents, you must pay them a regular paycheck (not to mention benefits and supplying office space).
By creating a chatbot, you can afford fewer customer support agents and reinvest that money in other parts of your business.
- Gain customer behavior insights
Chatbots can collect a host of data on your customers. Every customer interaction with the chatbot is an opportunity to track customer behavior and get immediate customer feedback.
You can then leverage this customer data to create tailored offers to customers and lead them down your sales funnel.
- Respond to customers faster
Unlike customer service agents, a single chatbot has limitless scalability. It can respond to multiple customers at once with zero lag time. So your clients and leads will get their questions answered fast no matter what time it is.
- Free up more resources to invest in your staff
When you replace customer support agents with chatbots, you’ll have more time and money to invest in your staff. Instead of having them respond to inquiries, you can put them to work on other tasks like quality assurance, product development, sales, marketing, and so on. That way, you can grow your business faster.
- Create a personalized customer experience
As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology advances, interactions between chatbots and customers will become more human-like, and it will become harder and harder to distinguish chatbots from live agents.
This is great news for businesses because it allows them to offer their customers a better contact center solution and a more personalized experience with their brand.
- Offer 24/7 customer support
No matter what time of day it is, chatbots are available to answer questions. It’s literal 24/7 support. This means you can be there for your customers at all hours of the day— a huge plus for them and you.
- Generate automatic leads
Site visitors who start a conversation with your chatbot can easily be turned into leads. For example, your chatbot can offer visitors additional information about a product in exchange for their contact information. You can then put their email address in a lead nurturing campaign.
- Give your company a face
Chatbots are often the first touchpoint for customers. They give the first impression. This helps give your company more personality and put a face to the brand, which can have a huge positive impact on your customers’ experience.
- Increase sales
Lastly, chatbots can help you boost your sales. They’ll help you react to customer inquiries faster, which increases customer satisfaction and leads to repeat business. So don’t underestimate the power of a good user experience.
Invest in chatbots now
If you want to take advantage of chatbots for your business, now’s the time. Put your software development team to work on it or outsource the project to an agency or a freelance development team. You won’t regret it. A good chatbot will take your business to the next level.
