The first chatbot (Eliza) was created in 1966 making it older than the Internet. But it took time for the chatbot technology to take off on a large scale. Even big companies like Facebook didn’t allow brands to put chatbots in apps like Messenger until 2016. Few brands started developing their chatbots and related technologies. Customers were eagerly waiting to test this new chatbot technology. They wanted to see what a chatbot can do and was capable of. Nowadays chatbots are a recent trend in e-commerce. Everyone is talking about them and every company wants to know how to use one. As rightly said by Christie Pitts - Chatbots represent a new trend in how people access information make decisions and communicate.

Many traditional stores that sell their goods and services offline just like conventional stores converted to online retailers to survive after the pandemic. They have now integrated Chatbot technology into their way of doing business. This helps them to handle customer care issues. It also enhances the customer experience on the other hand. Not only does this help them in the process of doing their business efficiently but it also helps them generate more profits. According to chatbot trends online buyers are more inclined to interact with chatbots now than they have been accustomed to them over the past few years.

What exactly is a chatbot?

Chatbots are small programs that automatically simulate interactions with customers based on a set of predefined conditions triggers and/or events.

Using chatbots has several advantages:

- They can be proactive or reactive.

- Their responses are always consistent.

- They can respond to customers right away.

- They can assist you in gathering important data as well as learning from that data.

- They can be used in a variety of ways including SMS live chat and even social media.

To demonstrate how chatbot usage has changed the interaction of businesses with their customers over the past few years we have compiled a few facts. Let's deep dive into it!

Customer Preferences

According to research customers have already developed preferences for chatbots. Customers eagerly turn to them when they have minor issues or are in a hurry. They don't mind being served by a chatbot as long as the bot responds to their questions in real-time and assists them in resolving their problem quickly. Customers on the other hand expect brands to connect them with a real person when the complexity of a problem exceeds the scope of the chatbot.

Here are a few well-researched facts that show that chatbots are more preferred than humans during an interaction with the business.

- 62% of customers would rather use a customer service bot than wait for human agents to respond to their inquiries. (Tidio)

- When looking for answers to simple questions 74% of internet users prefer to use chatbots. (PSFK)

- Chatbots are preferred by 69% of consumers because they provide instant responses. (Salesforce)

One such easy-to-use no-code conversational app is Landbot. It combines the advantages of a conversational interface with rich UI elements. It is a no-code solution for creating conversational apps which are the natural evolution of chatbots.

Landbot is a cloud-based platform that enables small and medium-sized businesses to create conversational websites to improve customer experience and lead generation. Landbot allows users to build chatbots with a conversational user interface and improve engagement on landing pages.

Chatbot market statistics

Chatbots are gaining popularity as a result of the growing popularity of messaging apps and the increased demands of customers in the banking health and wellness industries. And because they've been shown to reduce operating costs business owners all over the world are eager to implement them on websites messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp and mobile apps.

Below are the facts that show the growing demand for chatbots in markets all over the world.

- North America is a hotspot for chatbot startups. The chatbot market has the largest share accounting for 40.4% of the market size. (AllTheReserach)

- By 2027 the chatbot market is expected to generate $454.8 million in revenue up from $40.9 million in 2018. (Statista)

- Chatbots are used by 25% of travel and hospitality companies worldwide to allow users to make general inquiries or complete bookings. (Statista)

Social media and messaging

Social media is changing the way how people interact with one another by affecting the frequency timing and duration of interactions. Continuous messaging occurs between friends and family members. Their altered communication patterns result in fresh approaches to new ways how brands nowadays interact with their customers. Brands now face a serious challenge as a result of this shift but chatbots can help.

Some well-established facts given below show how the integration of chatbots in social media and messaging help in getting better in their business.

- To get a solution to their problem 55% of customers are willing to communicate with a company via messaging apps. (HubSpot)

- Facebook Messenger conversations between businesses and customers have a 30% higher ROI than retargeting ads. (Enterprise Insider)

- According to 74% of millennials when a brand responds to their social media queries it improves their perception of the brand. (Microsoft)

Restream is one such chatbot. It offers a high-quality live streaming service. You can create and broadcast live streams directly from your browser to more than 30 social platforms including Facebook YouTube LinkedIn and others. Restream is the most widely used platform for businesses entrepreneurs content creators social community managers influencers and gamers to simultaneously stream live to multiple platforms.

Bots for customer service

Globally more than 2 billion people purchase digital goods. Given the current trends which grew more pronounced during the pandemic there will only be more clients in the future who need assistance.

As a result customer service bots appear to be a viable option for businesses looking to scale or improve customer service without raising prices and staffing levels.

Chatbot marketing

The improvements in machine learning and chatbot technology allow chatbots to provide a more personalized customer experience. However chatbots help companies provide personalized support. Increasingly brands are also using them to advertise their goods and services generate leads and increase website engagement.

Here comes the ZoomInfo Chat. It strikes the perfect balance between highly targeted human-first experiences for your most important visitors. ZoomInfo Chat can create highly scalable personalized AI-driven experiences for everyone else via chatbot.

Voice Support

It would be impossible to discuss chatbot benefits without mentioning voice technology. Voice technology is advancing despite not being as common in customer support and marketing operations as chatbots.

By developing more individualized and approachable interfaces companies like Google and Amazon help to fuel the voice trend and many others are following in their footsteps.

Forecast for the chatbot market and AI technology

Even though chatbots are well-established in customer communication businesses are still figuring out how to use them to their full potential. To benefit from AI and virtual assistants in the future more and more businesses are going to invest.

Additionally a Facebook survey found that more than 50% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that offers live chat support with the help of a chatbot.

Reduced Operation Costs

Chatbots can easily perform basic frontline support tasks because they can help with the two most common frustrations such as getting simple questions answered quickly or obtaining basic information about a business.

A chatbot for example can easily understand the context and provide a FAQ article explaining your shipping policies when a customer asks a common shipping question. A chatbot is uniquely suited to provide a quick answer to a customer's question about how to place an international order.

Conclusion

As technology advances chatbots become more and more integrated into our lives. To make your company’s website interface even better among then possessing chatbot software is a must. It will help you meet customer needs and stay ahead of the competition.