Asking if chatbots are right for your business is like asking if social media marketing is right for you. If they haven’t reached your industry yet, bots are on their way.

Messaging apps are becoming the next big thing in marketing. Social media is still king, but messaging apps are slowly taking over. The way to profit from this is through bots.

However, tread carefully.

When a new channel starts to look promising, we tend to get overexcited and overwhelm our audience.

A little moderation will go a long way, especially with chatbots. As efficient as they are, research shows that people really don’t like them. They may be the key to overwhelming success, but your own application is crucial.

What exactly is a chatbot?

There is a simple answer and a complicated answer to that question. Forget the complicated answer, as it does not belong to you as a marketer.

All you need to know is that a “bot” is a piece of software that automates a task or a group of tasks.

There are a variety of bots available. Some can handle a variety of tasks, while others are more limited. Bots are designed and built to do very specific things.

In practical terms, this means that the chatbot program will have a series of pre-written responses to interact with humans.

For example, imagine your company that makes harmonicas. People often find themselves on your website trying to find the best harmonica for them. Instead of directing them to support staff, implement a chatbot. When the person visits your site, the chatbot initiates the interaction. Then read the visitor’s questions and use preprogrammed responses to answer them.

Instead of communicating with someone else, your customer receives a response from an automated system. It’s more agile, faster, and best of all, it’s instantly available.

The benefits of bots

The superficial benefit of using chatbots is pretty obvious. You don’t have to pay a staff member to participate in customer service. But that is not all. Bots are useful in many other ways as well.

• Bots are easy to build and implement. You can design a bot for Facebook Messenger in less than half an hour. Of course, this won’t be the most sophisticated bot ever made, but it will get the job done. Even a simple chatbot can be very useful and profitable.
• Bots give simple answers to simple questions. Many people just want a quick and easy answer to a short question. So instead of having to browse the database or talk to a person, people can get their answers instantly and go on their way.
• Bots always do their best. An interaction with a bot will always be predictable. Your brand image will be presented in the best possible light at all times. A chatbot will not lose its temper or insult anyone.
• The potential of bots is yet to be explored. Bots are being adopted en masse and the sky is the limit for them. At present, it is difficult to predict how bot usage will evolve. However, the above statistic about messaging apps is worth considering. When messaging apps finally take over, companies with the best bots will lead the pack.

Chatbots are here

To answer the original question: bots aren’t just effective, they’re a necessary tool for entrepreneurs of the XXI century.

Almost all businesses can benefit from using chatbots. Not to mention the very real ROI potential of bots compared to humans.

But not everything is sun and rainbow here. Poor bot implementation can indicate that a brand is losing touch with its customer base. Even a small series of negative experiences is enough to drive customers away from a brand.

In short, bots are definitely a great tool, but they can do more harm than good if not implemented correctly.