Thought for Thursday: Chatbots, Good vs Evil

Have they helped or hurt your business

I was doing some work with ChatGPT about small businesses and the recommendation was to add a chatbot to your business. However, working a customer product business I think that is a bad idea. Which gave me the good idea (at least I hope it is) of sharpening a Thought for Thursday (TFT). These will be shorter posts and not every Thursday, but they will have some thought/discussion that could help your business. In the chat below let me know what you think.

Have you tried to implement a chatbot?

Chatbots the Good: Enhancing Customer Service

Chatbots represent another powerful tool in your tech arsenal. By 2022, chatbots are expected to help businesses save over $8 billion per year in customer support costs. These AI-powered assistants can handle routine inquiries, leaving your sales team free to build meaningful connections and focus on complex interactions.

A well-designed chatbot can provide immediate assistance, answer frequently asked questions, and help customers troubleshoot common issues. This not only speeds up response times but also ensures consistency in information delivery, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. Also consider that a chatbot and help your customer define the outline of their project. You likely do an intake call with all your clients. Can a chat bot ask those initial questions and help your customer understand their project better? That would allow you to get more customer through the intake call faster and establish a better baseline for the first discussion.

Chatbots the Evil: Balancing Tech with Touch

Chatbots may struggle to understand complex, nuanced, or highly specific queries related to custom fabrication projects. They often rely on pre-defined scripts and algorithms, which can lead to frustration if the bot cannot fully grasp or accurately respond to unique customer needs. Unlike human representatives, chatbots may not offer the same level of personalized service or adaptability, which can be critical in a business where each project might have distinct requirements and specifications. Some customers may prefer speaking with a human representative, especially for high-stakes or detailed inquiries that are common in the fabrication industry. If a chatbot fails to provide satisfactory assistance, it can lead to decreased customer satisfaction and potential loss of business. Furthermore, trust issues may arise if customers feel their concerns are not adequately addressed by a machine, which can harm the company’s reputation and customer relationships. This means there is a good chance you will still need customer service representatives to finalize the plans.

Implementing and maintaining a chatbot requires continuous monitoring and updating to ensure it functions correctly and stays relevant to the business’s evolving needs. Technical issues such as bugs, integration problems with existing systems, or software updates can disrupt service and negatively impact customer experience. Additionally, the initial setup and ongoing maintenance can incur costs and require technical expertise, which could be a challenge for some businesses. You will need someone on the team that knows how to set-up and maintain a chatbot. Know that this will not be a full time position. You might even consider outsourcing it.

So what does this mean for your small business? Well first technology gets a lot of hype and there are benefits when you implement new tech. However, there are also down sides and that is something that you have to consider.

What are the benefits of a chatbot for your business?

Will is help fill your sales funnel by replacing your initial intake call?

Will your customers accept and use it?

I would proceed with causation at this point. Make sure you still maintain good regular personal touch with your clients. If you decide to implement a chatbot as your top clients what their experience was. They will help you improve it going forward.