Traveling to chatbot land. How will it improve your business?
Chatbot is a newest trend business is adopting to make them stand out of the crowd and increase business efficiency. But different industries have different needs and opportunities for this technology.
In this article you will find out:
- whether people like chatbots?
- How can a chatbot increase business productivity
- How it can lower service costs
- Improve efficiency of your travel agents
- And make your clients more satisfied
|
20 points |
Improve Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores |
|
40% |
Saved service costs |
|
Up to 10% |
More leads |
|
30% |
Increased agents productivity |
Traveling is no more luxury or a painful necessity. Nowadays people can afford a holiday in other countries like never before. Last-minute deals let them disappear for a few days and come back almost unnoticed. Every family goes on vacation at least once a year. While some like to plan it themselves, others prefer to leave everything to the travel companies. But with expanding demand, standards rise too. In the digital age, people can compare prices, check for reviews, and easily find another company whenever they want. So how to stand out from the crowd and be that perfect company customers want to plan their journey with?
Simply. Offer a better digital experience. People are used to checking several travel apps and collecting a little piece of information from everywhere. Research by Expedia Media Solutions indicates that people check around 38 websites planning their trip. Only finding a suitable, safe accommodation site can be a long job. It’s a nice niche for travel agencies that can offer a much simpler and easier way.
All you have to do is unify everything in one place familiar to the customers. The best example is using a chatbot in Facebook Messenger. The chatbot is a technological implementation that has already changed the face of many businesses. A virtual agent, that communicates conversationally, answers FAQ, gives recommendations based on the client’s preference, and many more.
But do people like chatbots?
Here only statistics can help. If you don’t like percentages a lot, you can easily jump to the last sentence. And for those interested, it has to be said that there are mixed findings out there. While inconsistent numbers state that around 70% or sometimes 90% of customers prefer live chat, it is balanced with another 70% of ones who prefer chatbot for fast interactions with a brand. Looking deeper we can see that over 55% of Millennials positively view brands that use chatbots. So we can expect that with time, a chatbot will become a necessity for all businesses. In fact, there is a 136% growth rate for chatbots since the majority of companies expect to adopt a chatbot within 18 months.
Conclusion – chatbots are new, but customers already recognize their usefulness and many businesses are planning to get one soon. It is better not to wait since the wind of innovation can boost your sales.
If these 70% percent of people that prefer live agents still worry you, this problem can be easily solved in several ways:
Choose the right bot. The one that can understand different ways the same information is asked. Don’t make your customers frustrated having to formulate their thoughts differently. There are bots with intents that easily understands your customers and deletes the line between robot-human understanding. Some bots can ignore spelling mistakes, this way letting your customers relax even more.
Don’t leave your customers with the bot alone. Although many situations can be solved with the chatbot alone, it is very important to let your customers get in touch with a client service specialist when the slightest inconvenience appears. Many people are afraid that they will be stuck with a machine more stupid than them and will not get the right help. Make sure they can lose that fear and your business can experience incredible benefits.
Why are chatbots so effective?
By “so” we mean an opportunity to save up to 30% of the service cost and manage around 70% of situations themselves.
As mentioned earlier, chatbots answer all kinds of simple questions. They can talk about prices, last-minute deals, make reservations, bookings, or give personalized offers. Travel agencies can take advantage of this tool by offering trip packages after asking several questions. The chatbot will talk in a human manner and find out customers’ desired destinations just like a travel agent would. If, after this point, the customer wants to know more, a human agent can appear and elaborate. He will know the answers that the client gave to the bot. The bot will save information about trips for future communication, this way ensuring that the customer can get more personalized service later.
Bots for airlines or hotels are extremely useful because they can compare prices, take payments, and make all the reservation process more simple. The customer does not have to open a separate account in an app to make payment. The bot can do it for him simply and fast. One of the biggest fish in this business, Booking.com, is using the bot to help customers choose hotels.
It works all the time
With the chatbot, the 24/7 service dream becomes true. It’s immensely relevant for travel agencies since the client can be in a different time zone that intersects with working hours. Proving instant support all the time, you can show your customers that your company understands their needs and is always ready to help. While traveling, customers will rely mostly on you, and proving them with excellent service will result in more loyalty.
How will the chatbot change your travel company? Many ways
It can be your customers’ assistant
Boring travel forms can be given a more attractive form. Your chatbot can travel with clients and give answers about many useful things during the trip. The travelers can enter the most popular object request and the bot will provide the list. Your customers search for the best local food places, weather info or car rental, all in Facebook Messenger or your website. The customer can feel that the travel company organized every detail and thought about ways to make his holiday more relaxing.
It will help in trouble. It is not convenient to search for a support number when you are on a trip. Maybe the problem arises at the time when the office is closed. For example, the bot can help to find another flight if the first one is canceled or change booking reservation. It is really important to be with our customers when they are anytime in need. Amazing customer experience is the measure companies use to stand out.
It will provide more consistent support, cheaper
Travel agencies have their peak times in which the required time and attention is not always possible for every traveler. It is completely normal since one travel agent cannot talk with more than one customer at the time. But one virtual agent can. The chatbot will give enough attention to every customer, and if the problem is too sophisticated for him to solve the human agent will be notified. In the beginning, the level of automation can be as high as 30 %, which means that chatbot will handle around one-third of the questions alone. Later this number can rise as high as 80%! Imagine it turned into cost savings. You don’t have to imagine anything, because the cost-per-chat for a chatbot can be as low as one-twentieth of the cost-per-chat for a human agent (link to here https://chatbotslife.com/https-chatbotslife-com-4-ways-chatbots-are-transforming-the-travel-industry-42f95d1de84d). Plus your team efficiency rises when humans focus their capacities on more added-value tasks. This way everyone is more content, consistent support, saved costs, workforce distributed in a more effective manner.
It will help you to be a better company
Chatbots can ask customers for feedback and remind them to write one. This way your company will always be sure that it has an accurate idea of how customers see their business. The chatbot can also help to answer complaints this way reducing negative reviews. It can generate new leads and categorize existing ones. This way your brand will be sure that it is effectively addressing customers. You can send promotions to form your chatbot and it has a much bigger open rate than regular emails.
Chatbots are a real revolution in customer support. While more companies are adopting them and enjoying multi-faceted benefits, be sure not to wait for the time when they will become a simple necessity. Chatbot makes travel company’s work easier by creating a client’s history, saving up on service costs, providing support 24/7 and freeing your agents from repetitive tasks. It gives a wonderful experience for your customers following them everywhere they go, giving support anytime and letting them find all the necessary information in one, easy to use space. Chatbots create a rich conversational experience, so the customers can feel like having an all-knowing agent who never sleeps and is always free to help. A seamless and worry-free experience is what they are created for.
If you are wondering how much work it takes to create a bot like that, we can answer that…nothing. No special coding skills are needed and we can do it for you. On the other hand, it’s not as simple as it may look. To create a functional, useful bot that frees customers for a fear of misunderstanding and gives specialists a valuable tool takes a lot of consideration and planning. Our company understands that not every chatbot is actually a real chatbot. And we strive for perfection. We already have experience with travel agencies and if you are curious about how it went, you can check the results here (link to the Novaturas). For the ones that are interested, but not super sure, a demo version can show what to expect.
And if you are excited to adopt one bot now, please don’t hesitate and contact us! (link to the contacts)After all, chatbots are the future of the travel industry, so why not grab one now?
