Chatbots: Is it the technology your hardware business needs?

It is an automatic messaging service that more and more companies resort to have good communication with their customers. Are chatbots the technology your hardware business needs? Perhaps knowing its advantages and characteristics you can get out of doubts.

What is the automatic messaging service of chatbots?

Through the software of this technology the user can maintain a conversation with the company. Integrated into a messaging system: Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Telegram… the client can communicate with the virtual assistant. And not only that, but it can also serve as a guide in the use of websites or applications.

This tool automatically interacts with users to answer their questions or guide them in the necessary actions.

How does it work?

Chatbot software is based on a series of algorithms that have been developed using Artificial Intelligence such as Natural Language Processing (NLP).

They can learn, give real-time answers to the questions they ask in the chat located on the company’s website and can even predict the habits and modes of behavior of Internet users.

We mainly distinguish two types of chatbots

Depending on its design and the algorithm with which it is programmed, we distinguish two types of chatbots:

  1. Simple chatbots. They work with several predefined keywords. When the Internet user asks a question in which one or more of the established keywords appear, the ‘robot’ will give an answer. If the keyword is not found, it will return the answer of ‘ask a new question’.
  2. Smart chatbots. They are programmed following the patterns of Artificial Intelligence, so their operation is more complex than the other chatbots. In the chat the user will be answered with some suggestions according to the question that has been asked. It is more like a dialogue and the answers are more concrete.

 

Virtual assistants for your company: How they can help you in your business

And what are the advantages of implementing a chatbot service in the company?

  • Provides a better customer experience. Thanks to the automatic messaging service, the doubts of the user or potential client are answered immediately, which can lead you to have a good opinion of the company. As well as to achieve a better user-brand interaction. The company’s image is enhanced by offering 24-hour customer service.
  • Communication is more personalized. The interaction is personal and without phone waiting. It provides personalized communication very close to the face-to-face dialogue.
  • Information about products and services. Chatbots also serve to publicize in detail the operation of a product or service.
  • Channel the purchasing processes. Also, the conversion ones because it provides the company with valuable information about the preferences of the users.

 

Is it profitable?

It is fashionable and seems to come to change conventional messaging systems. So much so that many companies call it the generation of assistants. The next question is whether this is a profitable system.

The chatbot tool is programmed to interact with the user, answer their questions and channel the purchase. And all this without the need for a natural person to take care of the process. Yes, it is a technology with an additional investment, which would have to be implemented. But, on the other hand, it reduces personnel costs that can be referred to another department in which they are more necessary.

But without a doubt, it seems that the most positive aspect of chatbots is that by improving the quality of customer support, they create a better experience and therefore a real possibility of increasing sales.

What do you think? Do you think chatbots can be a suitable tool for your hardware business?

What is certain is that, thanks to IBMH’s China Strategic Purchasing Management Service, you will be able to improve the profitability of your furniture and construction hardware imports from China. Contact us today and we’ll tell you everything we can do for your business!