How To Really Use Chatbots For Business (Examples)

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I had a quarrel with a coffee maker today. What a time to be alive, eh?

To make a long story short I am an absolute coffee addict and a few friends gave me a fancy new smart coffee machine for my last birthday.

The coffee devil – that’s how I lovingly call the machine – has all kinds of bells and whistles, is connected to my phone, can make all kinds of drinks on its own and whatnot. Neat, right?

But here’s the thing – I do not need a machine to tell me if I’ve had enough coffee for today or not. My health is none of her concern for crying out loud! If she really wanted to be caring, she would never bother me (and my mental condition) with her “warning” messages.  

Ok, that’s totally not the point I was trying to make. Sorry, but the rant carried me away. What I meant to say is that people today communicate with technology more and more.

And by “communicate” I don’t mean pressing buttons. We actually talk to tech with real words. Alexa and Siri play our music, watch our calendar and order our food. Chatbots assist us with shopping, booking, and submission of documents. Coffee machines piss us off every day. Bots today have real power.  The kind of power you do not want to miss out on in your business!

Don’t believe me? 1 out of 4 consumers is using a chatbot daily. How about now?

Our team at SimplyBook.Me has already realized the importance of chatbots and we provide our users with a free Facebook booking assistant and have just finished work on a voice-controlled bot called iBOB right now.

Wholefoods

Have you ever struggled with discovering what you’d like to eat right now? Because I have. I’d have to admit that menus in restaurants tend to freak me out a lot. There’s simply too much to choose from.

And, while having an extra minute or so to think while sitting in a restaurant is OK, it’s not as pleasant as an experience when grocery shopping. Do I need rice? Do I feel like cooking chicken fillet?

More often than not I will end up with buying one too many chocolate bars and that will be the end of my grocery trip….and my diet.

Wholefoods came up with a solution for people like me. They have a chatbot talking to people and allowing them to decide on the best recipe in a manner of conversation.

A chatbot like that implemented in your business will help users find the content they need. It will make their journey towards a purchase shorter, hence the chances of them getting lost along the way are minimized.

1-800-Flowers

Much like our own chatbot at SimplyBook.Me, this little bad boy helps people purchase flowers and replaces a sales assistant or the client manager.

The bot will ask for all required information like phone number, an address and the gift card text and then it will confirm an order.

People love such bots for their simplicity and speed. Implementing a solution like that in your business will show that you treat your client’s time with respect and your shoppers will be grateful for the gesture.

Domino’s Pizza

Service comes first. Yes, one might say that people make service more personalized, but chatbots make it more efficient. You don’t have to go any further than Domino’s for examples.

You don’t need me to tell you how minimal a person’s patience is while waiting for a steaming-hot pepperoni. Domino’s have found a solution. Not only do people make orders from an app but they may also track their orders in real time.

Knowing where your pizza is right now and calculating the moment when you will sink your teeth into it – priceless.

Do note that service bots come with a series of limitations. First of all – they are not people. Make sure your clients are 100% aware that they are talking to a machine and give them the option to connect to a consultant directly. Just in case… 😉