After our recent Meetup with Guest Speaker: Brendan Bilko, Co-Founder of Dexter, I learned that Chatbots are more sensitive than I originally thought. A simple mistake in code could reject a conversion with a consumer. Typing ‘hey’, instead of ‘hi’ could create an error message. It’s a tiny error than could kill an engagement.
Marketers love to embrace the latest trend almost to the point of overkill. Content marketing is now the new black in marketing campaigns. It’s purpose is to build relationships with consumers while educating them on topics that are relevant to products or services. While content marketing does inform the consumer without pressuring them into a sale, not every marketing trend should be embraced as the ONLY way to market.
Another reason that marketers are able to focus on content marketing is advancements in automation. Marketers don’t need to craft individual emails or social media posts one at a time. Instead, a campaign can be built to drive consumers into a customer journey that will funnel consumers to the point of sale. Automation is making our lives easier. However, marketers tend to kill trends quickly because of how much we embrace them.
Chatbot are becoming the new marketing fad, but will consumers embrace them? Chatbots can assist customer support interactions and 71% of consumers are willing to use messaging apps to get customer assistance. A list of common questions or scenarios integrated into a chatbot can limit the amount of request that require a customer support human representative. Should we automate every customer interaction just because we can?
Dexter’s chatbot offers a simple interface to create responses to common customer support needs. For example, if a customer has a return, the chatbot can provide options for that customer to return the item. But what if a customer needs a replacement due to a broken piece? Can companies code every replacement possibility into a chatbot?
Marketers should embrace opportunities to automate. The less time a marketer spends on an everyday task is more time they can spend crafting genuine pieces that will engage the consumer, such as content marketing. The issue is when marketers try to automate everything. A chatbot can be counterproductive if it cannot meet the consumers need. Many consumers can get easily frustrated if their needs aren’t being meet immediately, costing a company future sales.
However chatbots aren’t always evil. For example in 2017, National Geographic used chatbots to promote a television special on professional and personal life of Albert Einstein. Consumers could ‘chat’ with ‘Einstein’ on his theories and find special Easter eggs depending on the question. It was a successful campaign that create excitement for the television special.
While a poorly coded chatbot can frustrate a potential or existing customer, there’s plenty of opportunities to drive excitement if the integration and technology are executed well.
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