Businesses constantly seek new and different ways to enhance and streamline operations. This is where AI chatbots enter—they're intelligent and virtual assist using Artificial Intelligence to interact with users. These chatbots can be integrated into apps, websites, and social media platforms, and they're revolutionizing how companies interact with their prospects and customers.
In this blog, we'll explore how chatbots work, the different types of chatbots, their key benefits, and how to create one. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or a business owner, this blog will help you unlock the power of AI chatbots and use them to their complete potential.
What is an AI chatbot?
AI chatbots are software applications that simulate human-like conversations normally based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) in tandem with Deep Learning (DL) capabilities and other AI concepts. They interact with customers or website visitors, providing assistance, responding to inquiries, and completing tasks.
What are the benefits of an AI chatbot and why should you use an AI chatbot for your business?
AI chatbots bring a lot of benefits to businesses, helping improve customer service, boosting efficiency, and increasing overall performance and growth of the entire business. Let's look at their benefits and why businesses should think about using them.
24/7 availability
Unlike humans, AI chatbots can operate around the clock without the need to recharge. This allows for businesses to be available to respond to customer queries 24/7.
Cost savings
Businesses can save money by automating repetitive tasks using AI chatbots. This allows companies to streamline their operations and allocate resources more efficiently. Additionally, chatbots can handle multiple conversations simultaneously, reducing the need for additional staff.
Qualifying leads
Chatbots can qualify leads on their own without any manual intervention by asking targeted questions based on the prospect's budget, needs, and timeline. This makes the sales process a lot more efficient by allowing sales teams to focus their efforts on the most promising prospects.
For instance, a company's chatbot might engage a visitor with, "Thanks for your interest in our asset management software! To help find the right solution for you, could you share how many team members would be using it?" Then follow up with targeted questions like, "What's your approximate monthly budget for asset management solutions?" and "When are you looking to implement a new solution?" Based on these responses, the chatbot can automatically score the lead, route high-potential prospects to sales representatives, provide customized resource recommendations to nurture warm prospects, or identify visitors who don't meet minimum qualification thresholds.
Multilingual support
Since AI chatbots are software-based, they can be easily programmed to communicate in multiple languages, allowing businesses to tailor their approach in communicating with users from diverse regions who speak different languages. This capability enables companies to effectively reach a broader global audience, overcome language barriers, and expand their operations to new markets.
Scalability
Unlike human agents who are capable of handling a very limited number of chats at a time, chatbots are capable of interacting with hundreds or even thousands of users concurrently. This helps maximize engagement at peak times, ensuring no customer or prospect is left unattended.
Composure and consistency
All customers are human, and humans tend to let their emotions get the best of them at times, especially in tense situations. AI chatbots are designed to maintain consistency in their composure and responses. They're programmed to follow a set of rules and guidelines, ensuring the same level of service is provided, keeping the brand's interactions with users consistent and accurate.
How do AI chatbots work?
AI chatbots analyze and respond to queries, constantly learning and refining their responses to deliver more efficient and personalized interactions.
The typical interaction flow for AI chatbots is as follows:
1) Processing inputs: The chatbot analyzes the message, breaking it down into key words, topics, and intents to identify the requirement.
2) Understanding the requirement: The requirement is identified based on the determined words, topics, intents, and the bot's linked skills and capabilities.
3) Integrating datasets: Many chatbots are trained on large datasets, such as knowledge bases and previous conversations, and can pull real-time information from external sources using APIs or databases. In addition to knowledge bases, bots also have access to various apps that provide customer data, which plays a key role in delivering personalized responses.
4) Generating a response: Once the query is understood, the chatbot generates a response.
5) Repeating the process: The process repeats with each new query until the customer exits the conversation.
6) Learning and improving: Over time, chatbots can learn from past conversations and improve their responses either automatically or with human oversight.
Let's look at these steps in an example. Let's say a travel agency wants to increase the number of bookings and improve customer engagement.
1) Processing inputs: A customer types, "I’m looking for a solo trip to the country of Georgia." The chatbot identifies key phrases like "solo trip" and "Georgia."
2) Understanding the requirement: The chatbot interprets the sentence using NLP, identifying it as a request for solo trip options in Georgia.
3) Integrating datasets: It goes through a knowledge base of hostels and hotels suitable for solo travelers in Georgia and pulls the available options along with their pricing from its booking system.
4) Generating a response: The chatbot replies with options: “Would you like to see our stay options in Tbilisi, Batumi, or Kutaisi?”
5) Repeating the process: It continues to ask questions to process further responses until the customer completes their request or exits the chat.
6) Learning and improving: Once the chat ends, the chatbot identifies trends and patterns in the chat by analyzing it to improve future responses.
Types of AI chatbots
Now that we know why AI chatbots are needed for businesses and how they work, we can look into the different types of chatbots to help you decide which one works best for your business.
Button-based chatbots
These are also known as menu-based chatbots. They're a type of conversational interface that uses a pre-defined set of options to guide users through a conversation. They're one of the most commonly used chatbots for businesses, and since users don’t need to type responses, the interaction is quick and user-friendly.
Voice chatbots
Voice chatbots, also known as voice assistants or virtual assistants, are software programs that use voice recognition technology to interact with users. They're designed to simulate human conversation and can understand and respond to natural language commands.
For example, when we call a business for support, an automated voice prompts us to select options on our keypad, directing us to the appropriate department or providing assistance directly during the call.
Rule-based chatbots
Rule-based chatbots operate using predefined rules and responses, making them ideal for businesses that already understand their customers' common queries and concerns. They follow a simple if-then logic, offering quick, efficient answers for repetitive tasks or frequently asked questions.
An example of a rule-based chatbot is a restaurant that uses a chatbot to assist customers with pre-set options for inquiries. Typing "reservation" prompts choices like "Make a Reservation" or "Cancel a Reservation."
Keyword recognition-based chatbots
These chatbots provide quick, predefined responses by analyzing user input, searching for matching keywords, and providing responses based on the detected terms. They're best at handling specific, straightforward queries effectively and are more flexible when compared to normal rule-based chatbots because they provide responses based on keywords in a user's query instead of the entire question.
For example, if a customer types "I want to cancel my reservation," the chatbot will cancel the reservation based on the keywords "cancel" and "reservation."
AI-powered chatbots
Unlike the chatbot types mentioned above, AI-powered chatbots use ML, DL, and NLP to understand and respond in a more natural manner. They improve over time by learning from customer interactions, offering more personalized, context-aware conversations that enhance customer relationships and provide a human-like experience.
Hybrid chatbots
These chatbots combine the strength of AI-powered chatbots and rule-based chatbots to drastically reduce the drawbacks of each individual type. They can utilize AI for complex questions that don't have a direct answer, and they can also follow a predefined set of rules to answer more direct questions. This expands their capabilities when compared to just AI or rule-based chatbots.
For example, a rule-based ecommerce chatbot can manage straightforward requests, such as returns, by providing customers with selectable options. If users have more complex inquiries that don't fit the established rules, the chatbot employs NLP to try to address their questions. If it's unable to assist the customer, the conversation is then handed over to a human agent.
How to build AI chatbots using Zoho SalesIQ
With Zobot, Zoho SalesIQ's chatbot building platform, businesses are able to create AI chatbots tailored to their specific needs. SalesIQ also offers the flexibility of integrating bots created on other platforms such as Watson Assistant, GPT, Dialogflow, and more.
Menu-based and rule-based chatbots can be built using Zobot, whether with the no-code chatbot builder or the scripted chatbot builder.
No-code chatbot builder
The no-code chatbot builder gives users an interface with prebuilt chatbot elements that can be dragged and dropped onto a canvas to create a flow that defines how a bot would handle conversations and what responses to provide.
Scripted chatbot builder
Developers or users with coding experience can create more sophisticated bots that are more purpose-built to meet very specific requirements.
To learn more, check out our "How to create a chatbot using Zobot" help article.
Answer Bot
Zoho SalesIQ includes Answer Bot, an NLP-based chatbot designed to answer questions using your resources module (articles and FAQs). When a visitor asks a question in the SalesIQ widget on your website, Answer Bot will search for an appropriate answer from your resources and send it.
Pro Tip: By combining it with a rule-based bot built using Zobot, you can create a hybrid chatbot.
Why Zoho SalesIQ is the best AI chatbot builder
Zoho SalesIQ is a chatbot platform with powerful AI features, a user-friendly interface, and versatility that allows users to build and deploy multiple chatbots from a single platform. Let's look at the key reasons why it stands out.
Wide range of integrations
The AI chatbots created with Zobot can be easily integrated with a wide range of native and third-party apps, thanks to SalesIQ's extensive integrations with business software. Additionally, as a powerful customer engagement tool, SalesIQ makes collecting lead information through bots much easier.
For example, a company can integrate Zoho SalesIQ's chatbots with their CRM softwareto improve lead management. When a website visitor expresses interest, the chatbot sends the lead details to the CRM, automatically creating a new entry and enabling the sales team to follow up promptly, improving conversion rates.
AI chatbots with a human element
With our ready-to-deploy, AI-driven knowledge base chatbot, Answer Bot, we can provide instant responses to common customer questions. Answer Bot understands these queries and provides responses with the information from your knowledge base. Its responses can be further configured to be more direct and human-like by utilizing the built-in OpenAI integration.
So when customers are your priority, avoiding delays is essential. On that account, with Answer Bot, you won't need to worry about dedicating an agent solely to answering common questions during busy periods since Answer Bot will take on that role, ensuring no customer is left unattended.
Customization capabilities
SalesIQ chatbots offer comprehensive customization options, allowing businesses to create a bot that truly matches their brand's messaging and tone. These bots can be customized specifically for sales, marketing, and support functions.
For sales, the bots can be customized to qualify leads, recommend products, and schedule meetings, while the chatbots created for marketing can deliver content and facilitate event registrations. The support bots can be integrated with ticketing systems, search knowledge bases, and provide assistance to human agents with addressing queries and resolving issues.
AI integrations
In addition to the built-in AI capabilities of SalesIQ's bots, the application also provides users with the option to integrate SalesIQ with top AI intelligence platforms such as IBM Watson, Dialogflow, Microsoft Azure, Haptik, and Zia Skills to create powerful AI chatbots and deploy them directly to your support, sales, and marketing operations through the power of integration.
Omni-channel deployment
SalesIQ's bots can be integrated not only with mobile apps and websites but also with social media and instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, LINE, WeChat, and more. This allows for a single bot to be created and managed from SalesIQ that can be deployed to the instant messaging channels instead of individually setting up a bot on each one, saving a lot of time during deployment.
Multilingual support
Zoho SalesIQ also supports more than 30 languages and automatic language detection for multilingual support, allowing the bots to converse with users from different regions, addressing their queries instead of spending time selecting a language to communicate in.
In conclusion, AI chatbots are transforming how businesses interact with customers by increasing their speed, efficiency, and personalization. Whether you're looking to improve customer service, automate lead generation and business growth, or provide multilingual support, AI chatbots offer incredible potential. By choosing the right platform like Zoho SalesIQ, businesses can easily integrate, scale, and optimize their chatbot solutions to enhance overall customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
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