Whether you run your own eCommerce platform or manage a site dedicated to cloud-based service outsourcing, presenting your stakeholders with conversational AI can be highly beneficial. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in the form of chatbots have become a global mainstay, becoming an integral part of industries such as FinTech, real estate management, health, and banking to name a few.
According to Forbes, 83% of customers stated that they would be very happy with message-based customer servicing if they could be guaranteed an immediate response (via chatbots), while 74% of companies stated that conversational AI assistants are the key business enablers in 2019.
There is a clear want and need for chatbots both in the B2C and B2B areas of customer and client engagement – so how do you do it right? How do you integrate conversational AI for chatbots into an existing website and content strategy for the betterment of your business’ engagement and conversion rates down the line?
What Are Conversational Chatbots All About?
In order to get a better understanding of how to implement conversational AI into your business, let’s discuss what the technology is all about in brief points. Chatbots have, as we’ve mentioned, become a norm in numerous online markets. Their 24/7 client servicing features are invaluable, especially when it comes to handling an international customer base with varying needs and expectations.
Integrating conversational dialogue into chatbot algorithms is all about perspective, as well as how you approach writing dialogue for the AI you feature on the website. According to Finances Online, 57% of customers prefer dealing with chatbots as opposed to real-world agents due to their straightforward and around-the-clock nature, while 40% of millennials state that they interact with chatbots on a daily basis.
Finding the right set of words and a tone of voice that suits your target audience will enable you to engage more visitors and convert them into recurring customers more easily via conversational AI. To that effect, writing platforms such as Trust My Paper (dedicated outsourcing platform), Evernote (cloud-based content editing app), Grab My Essay (professional writing service), as well as Hemingway (known for its emphasis on legibility), will help you in reaching those goals. With that said, let’s dive into several guidelines which can help you craft a better conversational approach for your AI algorithms going forward.
Conversational AI Guidelines to Consider
-
Develop a Brand Persona
Building a conversational AI for your brand is all about User Experience (UX) personalization. In that aspect, it’s always good practice to create a brand persona for your business regardless of the industry you operate in. For example, if your website operates as an eCommerce platform, your chatbot can adopt a personality of a positive sales representative named Cynthia.
Cynthia can then engage users by introducing herself as such and inquiring the visitors about whether or not they require assistance in their browsing and shopping activities. This approach to chatbot implementation is highly customer-oriented and conversational in nature since it involves an AI personality to represent your brand. Create a persona unique to your brand and the market you are trying to attract in order to make the most out of the conversational AI strategy you aim to embrace.
-
Adopt a Conversational Voice
The most important aspect of your chatbot strategy comes in the form of your tone of voice. Conversational AI translates to casual wording and phrases which you would use among friends and family. If your chatbot comes off as robotic and stiff, users will likely avoid using it since it will alienate them quickly.
Michael Brook, Head of Content at Studicus spoke on the matter recently: “Customers, while open-minded and ready to interact with AI, still want the chatbot to act “human”. In order to achieve that effect, its dialogue should be written as if you were texting an acquaintance via social media – not as if you were writing a dissertation. This will allow for a feeling of personalization and elevate your website’s UX to the next level.”
-
Initiate the First Contact
Just like in real life, one party has to initiate the conversation in order for meaningful communication to take place. In the same way, your chatbot should be set to initiate the first contact with new visitors after some time, be it immediately or after a minute or two.
This initiative should be put into place due to the fact that many potential customers won’t be aware of the chatbot functionality your website has available. Write an approachable greeting for your chatbot in the vein of “Hi there, I’m Cynthia, can I help you?” in order to spark further conversation. Most importantly, always end your chatbot’s dialogue options with question marks to drive the user into more engagement and to give your AI more material to work with in finding the solutions to individual customer issues.
-
Link-Centric Chatbot Dialogue
Depending on the nature of your website and the frequency at which you produce new content in the form of blog posts or products/services, your chatbots should use those links in their dialogue. Link-centric approach to chatbot conversations will allow you to redirect traffic on your website toward meaningful content which will help your customers make the final conversion or purchase decision.
For example, if a customer is looking for help using a product they’ve purchased from your website, the chatbot’s AI can redirect them to a blog post on how to use that specific product. This type of approach to conversational AI will also give your content creators enough material to work with in regards to publishing new posts and boosting your overall SEO in addition to allowing your chatbots to use those links in customer servicing.
-
Ask for Post-Communication Feedback
Finally, there is no better way to cap off your conversational AI’s engagement than by asking for post-communication feedback from the user. Your chatbot should provide assistance to individual users for as long as they need in a standard manner. Once the user stops interacting with the chatbot, they should be prompted to leave feedback about their chatbot experience.
You can formulate a couple of simple open-ended questions and ask the user to rate their experience with a 1-5 grade. This will allow you to average out the quality of your conversational AI and compare it to previous months and quarters for better assessment. Most importantly, each piece of feedback left by the users will allow you to improve your conversational AI for future engagements and in doing so, elevate your brand’s UX across the board.
In Conclusion
When all is said and done, customer satisfaction is an ongoing project with no clear end or goal other than continuous improvement. Interacting with your customers via conversational chatbots can help you achieve just that and allow your brand to stay competitive for years to come.
Build a chatbot persona suitable to your business culture and industry while constantly monitoring its appeal to the audience of your website. Before you know it, you will have found the perfect balance between conversational AI and meaningful customer servicing, satisfying both parties in the process.
Guest post by:
Nicole D.Garrison is a content strategist, writer, and contributor at BestEssayEducation and a number of platforms for marketing specialists. She is a dedicated and experienced author who pays particular attention to quality research. At her free time, Nicole is a passionate runner and a curious beekeeper. Moreover, she runs her own blog LiveInspiredMagazine.
Follow Us:
