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Messaging Is Getting More Intelligent: Are You Keeping Up?

 

Artificial intelligence and messaging are continually getting more intelligent. There are countless options for your business to choose from when it comes to messaging. How do you know which option is best for your multi-location business to empower you to get the most out of your efforts? Within this blog, we’ll get started by re-emphasizing the importance of chatbots, highlight the future of messaging, and share which features you should prioritize when choosing a chatbot solution.

 

How Can Chatbots Help My Business? 

 

Two out of three customers prefer messaging a business over calling them. Similarly, 60 percent of conversations are now happening outside of business hours. Not only do chatbots provide a messaging option, but they allow your multi-location business to communicate with consumers in real-time, at all times.

Chatbots allow consumers to ask questions about products or services, leave feedback about their experience, and receive answers – all in real-time, at any time, giving them the convenience they crave. Whether your marketing resources are stretched thin, or you’re looking for new ways to connect with your target audience, chatbots can help. If you’re still not convinced about the power of chatbots, our blog on the topic can help. 

 

The Key to Smarter Chatbots 

 

While chatbots have been around for years and your multi-location business may already have a chatbot solution as a key part of your marketing stack, there’s always room for improvement. Chatbots have been getting smarter over the years and adding new features that make deploying a conversational chatbot even easier – like empowering your business to set up your chatbot to have even deeper conversations and answer more FAQs than ever before. 

 

Chatbots Must Surface & Have Responses for FAQs

 

For instance, many chatbots can now be trained to identify and surface common questions that the bot receives automatically. This allows your marketing team to understand which questions are being asked most frequently, so you can ensure the chatbot is armed with the correct answers to those questions. You can also leverage this information to impact your localized marketing efforts. If every consumer is asking about your store’s hours of operation or whether or not you offer curbside pick-up, it’s probably a good indication that this information isn’t clear enough in your local search and social platforms. Proper implementation of your chatbot will lead to less work for your marketing team, freeing up time for other efforts. 

 

Chatbots Must Play a Key Role in Customer Experience

 

Chatbots can also play a role in the bigger picture of the customer experience. When deploying chatbot solutions, multi-location businesses must start thinking about the customer’s journey across stages and platforms, not just the chatbot itself. For example, if a customer requests a follow-up call with a human after using a chatbot, the chatbot should document this interaction. The documentation does not always happen but should be considered essential when choosing a chatbot solution. Chatbots should be connected to every channel and compile all of the different conversations and interactions into a shared pool of intelligence. By doing so, your multi-location business will be able to understand how many times a customer interacted with your chatbot and on which platforms. 

 

Chatbots Must Improve Efficiency and Profitability

 

Smarter chatbots also should provide more efficiency and profitability. Chatbots can provide you with the insight needed to cross-sell your customers and streamline the selling process. If your multi-location business is utilizing a chatbot that can collect user data and track conversions, your business will understand the effectiveness of your chatbots. How many consumers went to your website and purchased an item or booked an appointment after using your chatbot? Is there a particular pattern customers use when using your chatbot? Is there a certain point where a lot of customers drop off? These are questions that your chatbot should track and will help your business improve efficiency and ultimately win more sales. 

 

 

How to Choose the Right Messaging Solution for Your Multi-Location Business 

 

As you can see, chatbots are consistently evolving. In today’s ever-changing digital world, chatbots are continuing to get more intelligent. As a multi-location marketer, it’s your job to find the best messaging solution for your business. Now that you know the key features you need it’s time to determine the best chatbot solution for your business.. Enter SOCi SmartBot. 

 

SOCi SmartBot is the only localized chatbot explicitly built for multi-location marketers. This Facebook, Google, and SMS Messaging chatbot delivers localized, proactive responses to commonly asked questions and can drive call-to-actions, including calls, website clicks, appointment setting, purchases, and more! When it comes to intelligence, SOCi SmartBot has you covered as well. For instance, SOCi SmartBot can capture 100 percent of all leads interacting with it, ensuring your business never misses a lead. With SOCi SmartBot, your multi-location business can instantly deploy conversational chatbots across 1000s of local Facebook Messenger accounts, Google My Business accounts, or enable SMS text functionality. It can then be embedded on other channels, including local websites, email, and SMS, to capture traffic from all over the web.

 

If the choice didn’t seem easy before, it should now be crystal clear. Not only is SOCi SmartBot a great messaging option for multi-location marketers, but SOCi can help your business crush other areas of its localized marketing efforts. SOCi is the all-in-one platform for multi-location marketers and the central command for your localized marketing needs. For more information on how SOCi can help your business dominate the industry, request a demo today!