How Chatbots Can Help Your SME

By: INVID Group

Does your small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) have a limited budget for marketing and maintaining good customer service? A possible solution is technology that is within your reach: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its chatbots.

Customer service and marketing are two aspects in which you should focus to grow your small or medium business. When you offer exceptional service, you not only foster loyalty among your current customers but also generate that famous positive word-of-mouth that will attract new ones. Meanwhile, effective marketing is the key to attracting potential buyers.

But the truth is that SMEs, having limited budgets, often face challenges in these areas. And this is where AI comes into play to facilitate businesses’ processes via chatbots.

A chatbot is software capable of maintaining a real-time text conversation with your customer. It is programmed to interpret the context of the conversation and answer questions thanks to certain artificial intelligence tools.

Let’s take a common situation: you want to contact the dentist’s office to make an appointment, but the line is busy. Instead of waiting on hold or leaving a voicemail, you can automatically receive a text message to help schedule your appointment. That’s an example of what a chatbot could do for your business: simplify the process and offer customers the flexibility to contact you at a more convenient time.

Implementing this  AI-enabled software in your SME can provide several significant benefits that will improve both customer service and marketing operations.

These are the main benefits you get:

1. Makes you available 24/7 – Chatbots are designed to reply 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This makes it easier for sales to materialize at any time, in addition to improving customer satisfaction.
2. Efficiency at a low cost – This tool can handle queries and perform repetitive tasks. When you automate them, you increase efficiency because you’ll save time and operating costs.
3. No hesitation – Quick and consistent responses increase and preserve customer confidence in your business or service.

Take advantage of these platforms’ chatbots

• WhatsApp Business – In addition to sending automatic text messages to set up appointments, you can use this messaging tool to answer your customers’ questions. This establishes direct and effective communication, improving your consumers’ experience and saving them time as well as your own. These are some capabilities of the service that do not require an investment:
  • Instantly replies to incoming messages, assists in sales, and manages communication with clientele.
  • Makes transactions easier with special features that help you display your products and services, set prices, and share items.
  • Boosts your business’s chances of being discovered; encourages interaction with new customers to help increase sales.
• ChatFuel for Facebook and Instagram – This is an essential tool for businesses looking to improve their presence on the Facebook platform. ChatFuel allows you to create highly customizable automated chatbots that interact directly with your customers on Facebook and Instagram. Its benefits include:
  • Easy creation of automated conversation scenarios so the program can answer frequently asked questions, generate leads, share discounts, and more.
  • If you’re wondering how to get started, ChatFuel has over 30 templates covering the most popular chatbot types. Using the built-in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) function, you easily segment, qualify, and export all the potential customers your software “captures”.
  • It is easy to use and designed to integrate with Facebook and Instagram, ensuring hassle-free implementation.

Investing in these technological tools is essential for your SME’s growth and continued success in the digital age. It’s a win-win situation because by adopting automation, you will be able to compete effectively with larger companies.

INVID Group is a leading software development services company in the Caribbean, with over two decades of experience. We specialize in providing customized software solutions to address business challenges, optimizing corporate operations, reducing costs and ensuring regulatory compliance. For more information about our services, we invite you to follow us on our social networks on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also visit our website at invidgroup.com or contact us at info@invidgroup.com.

Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (“Popular”) has no affiliation or relationship with the people or entities mentioned in this article. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of the same. Neither Popular nor any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or related companies, are, nor will they be liable for any special, direct, indirect, or incidental damages, including, but not limited to, loss of profits that may arise from, or are related to, the information provided in this article, which was not prepared by Popular. Popular is engaged in providing financial services and is not engaged (directly or indirectly) in providing services related to the content of this article. If you require any service related to this article, you must request advice from a competent professional of your choice. Popular expressly rejects all liability for said advice.