Chatbot technology is still in its infancy, but the potential for businesses is huge. Chatbots can be used to automate customer service, increase sales and reduce costs. The most common use of chatbots is for customer engagement purposes — that’s why it’s important to understand the different chatbot types so you can choose the right one for your business needs. Here we’ll explore several different types of chatbot capabilities to understand everything that is possible with chatbots.
Greetings
A greeting is the first interaction with a customer and should be personalized and contextual. For example, if you’re an online retailer, greetings can be customized according to the customer’s gender, location, and previous purchases.
During the onboarding process, chatbots can send out onboarding with tutorials or other content so users can get familiar with your product or service as quickly as possible. For example, if you have a travel bot that allows users to book hotel rooms via chat, you could use the conversation history from their initial booking experience as part of an onboarding tutorial for both returning visitors (if they’ve already booked) or new customers who are trying out your chatbot for the first time.
How-tos
How-tos are a great way to help users get the information they need. If you have an FAQ, you can use a how-to series to answer the questions in your FAQ. This can save your customers time and help them find exactly what they need.
How-tos are also a great tool for providing instructions about how to do something on your site, such as signing up for an account or downloading an app. They’re also helpful for providing general information about your company and products, like what types of payment methods you accept or where people should go if they have questions about product features.
Help
The help chatbot is used for three different purposes. The first is to provide help to customers, which can range from answering questions about products or services to helping people resolve issues with their accounts and subscriptions. The second purpose of the help chatbot is to provide help to employees, such as those who work in call centers or tech support teams. Lastly, this type of chatbot can also be used by other bots as a way of interfacing with users on behalf of another service such as on Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Data collection
Data collection is the process of gathering information from users. Data collection can be used to improve the chatbot experience for the user, improve the chatbot experience for other users, and even improve the company’s ability to understand its customers better.
The goal of data collection is to allow you as a developer or business owner to better understand your audience. It allows you to tailor your offerings based on what people want or need. This is important because if people don’t use your bot, then there’s no point in making one in the first place.
Self-service
Self-service chatbots are meant to be used as customer service tools. They’re great for answering FAQs, providing product information, and helping customers complete transactions.
It’s important to note that self-service chatbots can also be used to help customers find the right product or service by asking them questions to narrow down their search queries. This is very useful when you have a large inventory of products or services available and want your visitors to find what they’re looking for quickly.
Task completion
The task completion capability is the most common type of chatbot and is used to help users complete a task or find information. This may include ordering food, scheduling appointments, or making purchases. In addition to helping users complete tasks, this function can also be used for transactional purposes like delivering money transfers or retail payments.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, the world of chatbots is still in its infancy, but it will surely grow as platforms continue to evolve. In the meantime, think about what kinds of capabilities might be helpful for your business or organization.
