Chatbots and Their Influence On Marketing

Jun 8

Contributor Writer: Josh Wardini

Technology has come a long way and with it the birth of artificial intelligence. When Alan Turing came up with the Turing Test back in 1950, you could not have believed that the world will soon come to rely on artificial intelligence. Today, artificial intelligence has led to the development of chatbots. Chatbots have become a core part of the major brands that you love and cherish. Especially, when it comes to marketing.

Marketing is a phenomenon as old as time itself. Proper marketing will always give you top figures in your sales department. Of course, in the digital world, we live in today, customer service is a huge part of marketing. Convenience is a huge part of marketing. You do not want to use the services of a brand that has difficulty addressing your queries. You want to get total and maximum value for your money.

Chatbots have become a huge part of marketing a brand via reliable customer services. From 2015 till 2016, the global chatbot market increased by 622%. In dollar terms, the industry is projected to reach an estimated $1.225 billion by 2025. You might not like it but chatbots are here to stay, and many brands like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus are not at all shy about following the movement. https://www.16best.net/blog/chatbots-gone-wild/

Amazon was the first brand to hop on the chatbot movement. Its virtual assistant Alexa was developed in 2014. Alexa can chat with you, play music for you, set alarms for you and provide you with weather and traffic updates, among other things. Today, that success has paved the way for other brands. Alexa boosted sales for Amazon massively after its implementation. A proof that chatbots are the future of brand marketing.

Google is another brand that makes use of chatbots, and this is one of its major selling points. Google maps already have chatbots that give you direction while driving and it plans to implement better technology in self-driving cars. You can also have conversations with Google's voice assistant.

Microsoft and Apple have not been left behind. Microsoft has Cortana while Apple has perhaps the most popular chatbot in history - Siri. You cannot deny the fact that Siri has been the reason many people decide to purchase Apple phones. A perfect marriage of marketing and chatbots.

Even brands that are not software geared make use of chatbots. Sephora uses less intrusive chatbots to make suggestions about products and deals. Starbucks allows you to place orders with Alexa. It also has 'My Starbucks Barista' which allows you to place orders and set pick up locations.

Numbers That Back Up the Advantage of Chatbots in Other Sectors

Chatbots save up to 44 minutes per customer inquiry when compared to traditional call centers
$0.7 will be saved per interaction with a chatbot by 2022
Chatbots meet 20% of banking needs without any form of human contact
$0.019 million has been saved so far by chatbots in banking and healthcare sectors
This figure is estimated to reach $8 billion by 2020

Chatbot Opinions Among the General Populace