Kevin Payne, Author at Botsify https://botsify.com/blog Read Our Blogs | All About Chatbots and Conversational AI Thu, 13 Jul 2023 18:06:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://botsify.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/cropped-Untitled-design-39-32x32.png Kevin Payne, Author at Botsify https://botsify.com/blog 32 32 The Role of Chatbots in Project Management Strategy https://botsify.com/blog/the-role-of-chatbots-in-project-management-strategy/ https://botsify.com/blog/the-role-of-chatbots-in-project-management-strategy/#respond Fri, 21 May 2021 06:16:20 +0000 https://botsify.com/blog/?p=2952 Over the years, we’ve slowly started to witness how artificial intelligence is changing the way we conduct business. From making positive waves in social media …

The Role of Chatbots in Project Management Strategy Read More »

The post The Role of Chatbots in Project Management Strategy appeared first on Botsify.

]]>
Over the years, we’ve slowly started to witness how artificial intelligence is changing the way we conduct business. From making positive waves in social media and marketing, down to even changing how banking and financial institutions operate and serve customers, we’re seeing AI as one of the most powerful allies we’ll have with us as we face a digital future.

One ubiquitous use of AI in business? Chatbots.

Chatbots have become part of almost every SaaS website, but the software industry isn’t the only industry that stands to benefit from these amazing tools. You probably come across a website or company profile page with a chatbot at least once a day. 

But did you know there are other ways a chatbot can help your business, and not just in answering customer queries? Yes, we’re here to show you that chatbots have their own role to play in other aspects of business, particularly in project management.

Want to see how to use chatbots across more places in your company? We name 7 ways you might see a chatbot’s role in your project management strategy.

What are the Roles Chatbots Play in a Project Management Strategy?

Project Collaboration with Clients

Let’s start with how chatbots can be a key part of your collaboration efforts with your clients. Many businesses keep their project collaborations with clients as a manual effort or use a project management tool with a client portal when many parts of it can easily be automated.

Let’s zoom in on a specific use case of integrating chatbots as part of your project collaborations.

With a chatbot, it can be possible to take different tasks across different departments in your company and assign each task to team managers and their members. This is made possible because of a chatbot’s ability to add context to different messages and commands that anyone might give, and even base it off existing data it carries about your team or clients, such as workload.

Because you can finetune a chatbot to do a lot of heavy lifting for you, you’ll be able to automate repetitive tasks, including scheduling meetings between your client and your team. Imagine allowing your client to type in a command like “Set meeting with marketing team,” then immediately get a list of recommended dates and times when both parties are available.

Is someone unavailable for a meeting all of a sudden? Chatbots can easily reschedule and alert all participants about any changes. The best part is you eliminate any unnecessary back and forth. 

Another amazing way chatbots can fit into your project collaboration with clients is in assigning and checking the status of different tasks. 

You can type out commands like “Assign Alex M. slide designs for Client X,” and your chatbot carries out the command like a virtual assistant. The task can populate in your team member’s to-dos, and you can check the status of tasks using the same contextual, conversational way you interact with a chatbot.

The best part is you can do all this right from your chosen work management platform, especially through seamless integrations.

Data Collection and Consistency

Managing and collecting data is an everyday task for all businesses, but a very important one. Data collection and consistency trickles into teams’ everyday deliverables and deadlines, the way they handle client or customer inquiries and, later on, follow ups, and even in handling submissions (such as feedback) from clients or customers.

The pro of putting your chatbot to use for this task is being able to ensure you’re getting accurate data each time. Human error can lead to mistakes in the quality or accuracy of the data you collect from team members, clients, and customers, but AI and chatbots have the ability to make sure you’re getting the most accurate data possible.

One powerful way you can use a chatbot in data collection is through gathering customer information. Say a customer has a complaint or feedback they want to send to your business. Without ever interacting with a live human behind the screen, they can immediately interact with your chatbot with their desired goal or requests.

The chatbot then takes them through their request, including asking them what their message, feedback, or complaint is. It then proceeds to seamlessly gather any customer data like their name and email to accompany the request, which is later on forwarded to your team for processing.

Another interesting use case for data collection is sending a notification or message to your company members to fill out either timesheets, progress reports, and task updates. A prompt can gently remind your employees to answer a few questions that are later uploaded or reflected in your project-specific applications.

All this can happen seamlessly every day without skipping a beat. And you can keep improving your chatbot’s metadata and AI engine to make sure the data being collected is accurate and meaningful. Over time, you’ll be able to prompt employees to include more details if the AI thinks more information is needed.

Later, these entries can be published in a single dashboard that reports which tasks have been checked off and which team members may be experiencing roadblocks.

Task Management and Automation

Imagine if chatbots were an excellent source of managing and checking not just the quantity of your tasks but even the quality of them. Now you don’t have to imagine because advancements in AI make it possible to improve the project management techniques.

Here’s an example of what we mean. You can configure certain chatbots to act like the equivalent of a collaborative Google document, and even spell checker or grammar checker. In the case of a team of programmers, for example, a bot is able to track each change to a source code and attribute it to the developer who made the change.

Chatbots can report bugs and errors that arise, much like how a spell check tool notifies you right away when you’ve misspelled a word or used the wrong one. This helps your team work faster, eliminate mistakes quicker, and focus on the most important parts of their jobs instead of worrying about trivial tasks.

Certain chatbots can even go the extra mile by immediately showing team members any materials like knowledge base topics, reference videos, and training content that supports its findings. This way, teams are more efficient at not only eliminating errors right away but even preventing them — but more on that in the next section.

Predict Potential Roadblocks and Risks

We briefly mentioned how chatbots and AI can help teams stay ahead of errors and roadblocks by calculating ahead. The benefits of this can’t be overstated: less time spent fixing problems, less chances of stalling projects, and generally less things to worry about overall.

This works with a combination of machine learning and tweaking AI to aggregate the right data in order to make these accurate predictions. Of course, the best case scenario is being able to foresee huge roadblocks that might arise because of certain decisions, tasks, or events, but there are simpler, day to day applications of this.

Has your team ever fallen behind on a project because tasks were often underestimated? A task you assumed that would have taken only two weeks actually required double that time, let’s say.

AI can help. You can monitor how much time is being spent on a particular task in your project, and based on your rate of working, the chatbot can tell you whether or not you’ll be able to hit the deadline or if you require some adjustment.

We even see this AI applied in places like calculating a company’s DEI, or diversity, equality, and inclusion rating, or in predicting team behaviors that may be affected by personal issues, low morale, and more.

Seamless Integration with Other Tools

Chatbots can easily fit into your project management strategy because of their ability to integrate and work with other productivity tools you might already have in your work suite. 

For example, you’ll be able to send data gathered by chatbots into customer relationship management tools, spreadsheets, and the like.

You can integrate bots into your bookkeeping software like Freshbooks, which can then help you create budget forecasts and reports without doing this manually yourself, all based on data it’s collected over the past fiscal year.

We’ve already mentioned a few use cases of this integration happening, such as when team members can report their daily finished tasks via a chatbot that is collated into apps like project management tools

But there are countless ways you’ll be able to integrate your chatbots to standardize your project workflows and tasks in ways like never before — you just have to imagine it to find a way to make it happen.

And even if you aren’t sure if your tools can integrate with your chatbot software of choice, check if you can find a Zap that might bridge the gap for you.

Project Analysis

In any project management strategy, you often wish you could have data that shows you if your projects are actually hitting their desired goals and objectives, based on your deliverables and finished milestones. 

Luckily, the prevalence of predictive analysis and machine learning in AI means that this kind of data can be collected and turned into an indicator of how well your project is doing.

You can create estimates for your project completion rates, which can later on be used to make better, more informed decisions when setting future deadlines.

Project analysis might also include identifying bottlenecks and areas for improvement. You’ll be able to spot trends that are calculated based on patterns instead of relying on manual labor and calculations.

Support and Assistance

Finally, we can see some of the biggest benefits of having chatbots in a project management strategy in the form of support and assistance. As AI gets smarter and better to interact with for day to day support, these bots can one day become the best virtual assistants to your project.

You can interact with these systems via text or voice, such as instructing them to organize your schedule, send messages or follow ups to clients or employees, and even make reminders ahead of time.

Instead of consulting a large project management board, you might ask a chatbot to tell you what your whole team is working on for the day or week and get data instantly. This then allows your team members to focus on high level tasks and projects instead of having to conduct menial day to day activities that could take away productive hours in their day.

Key Takeaways/Conclusion

Chatbots have quickly evolved from being amazing tools for customer service and sales into essential, intelligent tools for assisting in your project management. Next time you’re looking for inspiration on how to make the most of this robust AI, refer back to this post. 

Looking to get started with your own chatbot to put on your website, Facebook Messenger, or even SMS or WhatsApp? Check out Botsify today and see how it’ll help you deliver excellent chatbot experiences across any platform.

The post The Role of Chatbots in Project Management Strategy appeared first on Botsify.

]]>
https://botsify.com/blog/the-role-of-chatbots-in-project-management-strategy/feed/ 0
7 Creative Ways Businesses are Using Chatbots to Boost Customer Engagement https://botsify.com/blog/7-creative-ways-businesses-are-using-chatbots-to-boost-customer-engagement/ https://botsify.com/blog/7-creative-ways-businesses-are-using-chatbots-to-boost-customer-engagement/#respond Tue, 10 Nov 2020 10:56:24 +0000 https://botsify.com/blog/?p=2124 As AI gets smarter and businesses require more help to scale, we’ve turned to chatbots to help us manage client inquiries, provide customer support, and …

7 Creative Ways Businesses are Using Chatbots to Boost Customer Engagement Read More »

The post 7 Creative Ways Businesses are Using Chatbots to Boost Customer Engagement appeared first on Botsify.

]]>
As AI gets smarter and businesses require more help to scale, we’ve turned to chatbots to help us manage client inquiries, provide customer support, and more.
Of course, some customers don’t always have the best experiences or impressions when they use live chat software, especially if they’re trying to get personalized service. More and more, people are looking for highly relevant content and personalized offers instead of one-size-fits-all messaging when engaging with brands.
So how can you make sure your chatbot is actually helping you give better customer experiences and boosting your customer engagement, instead of turning people away from your website or brand because of poor customer service and personalization?
Keep reading to learn about 7 creative ways a chatbot can boost your customer engagement and help you increase sales and customer loyalty in the long run.

7 Ways How Chatbots Can Boost Customer Engagement

Give Product Recommendations

50% of customers have said in a survey that they prefer shopping on online stores that let them connect over chat. So this shows us that one of the best ways to put your chatbots to use while boosting customer engagement is getting them to provide personalized product recommendations.
Because AI has come such a long way, it’s possible for chatbots to glean information about your customers browsing your site and store and then provide highly targeted recommendations based on their activity.
For instance, if a customer has been browsing an apparel store’s website, the chatbot might notice they’re looking under the category of women’s shoes. The chatbot can then offer personalized recommendations based on similar styles or colors of the item your customer might currently be checking.
Or if your customer is logged in to their shopping account, they can receive personalized recommendations based on their previous transactions with your brand. For customers that want easier navigation, they can also initiate a conversation with the chatbot and get an instant recommendation right away.
product recommendation

Image Source

Improve Your Website User Experience

User experience, as defined by Brainstation, “is the craft of making the user’s experience when interacting with a digital product as effective, efficient, and pleasant as possible. It is, in short, the process of building products with the user in mind.”
Knowing this, chatbots can actually do wonders for boosting said user experience, particularly on our websites. If your site has several pages, articles, and content, a chatbot can eliminate the overwhelm by providing quick navigation based on what visitors are looking for.
People can choose from a menu based on their goals for being on your page, and your chatbot can deliver the most relevant next steps for them. After all, 69% of consumers prefer chatbots because of their ability to provide fast answers to simple questions.
conversation ux in chatbot design

Image Source

Gamify Your Promotions

Gamification is a powerful marketing strategy that helps make customers into engaged, loyal fans. It involves turning certain customer interactions into games—be it giving them rewards, points, or exclusive content like discounts and vouchers.
One simple use case for this tactic is giving surprise discounts or promos behind your chatbot interactions. This helps encourage users to engage with your chatbot since they don’t know what to expect. But every option gives them a special and exclusive discount or voucher that they’ll be able to use on their next purchase with your brand.
messenger chatbot

Image Source: MobileMonkey

Helps Customers Track Their Orders

As eCommerce and online shopping habits seemingly changed overnight, some first-time online shoppers might not know what to expect or where to go to track their order status.
Not everyone might check their emails as well, and their first instinct is to check the brand’s website or social networks to get in touch with a customer service agent.
Make the process of checking their order status easier by making this an option in the main menu of your chatbot and maximize your automated touchpoints. Users can check their order status by putting in their order confirmation number.
Or if users are logged in on your site or have Messenger or WhatsApp accounts connected to their shopping account on your store, then your chatbot can easily pull up much-needed information about their most recent transactions without users having to input their order details.
Order bot

Image Source

Serve as Your Multilingual Virtual Concierge

These days, you might need to focus on expanding your reach to reach a global customer base. Chatbots can be a fantastic tool to include in your global service stack since they serve as your multilingual virtual concierge.
This has the power to transform your sales process online because you’re not only providing a personalized experience but you’re also speaking a user’s preferred language—helping you build trust between you and your customer.

multilingual chatbot

With Botsify, setting up a multilingual chatbot takes no time or effort at all—all you need to do is follow a simple setup process, and you can let your customers decide which languages they prefer to engage with your bot.

Onboard Your New Customers or Clients

If you run an online store, a digital service like a membership site, or an online course, then a chatbot might be just the tool to help you streamline your onboarding process with new and even existing clients and customers.
Consider that a new customer makes a transaction with your site and then creates an account. When they’re taken to their main dashboard, your chatbot can pop up and offer to assist them on their first steps.
Should they set up their profile? Check out a specific resource? Take a tour? Whatever you believe your new clients and customers should know immediately after signing up with you—even without you or your team to guide them through it in real-time—your chatbot can manage it while you focus on more important tasks.

Lead Nurturing

Finally, your chatbot might be a great source of engaging with leads before they’re customers. While email marketing is still a reliable way to nurture leads, there’s no denying the added personal touch that a chatbot can give.
For instance, chatbots are able to push new offers and helpful resources in real-time. Because messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger resemble SMS messaging, you’re also hitting customers in a more personal, engaging space.
Studies have found that the average click-through rate (CTR) of chatbots can range anywhere between 15%-60%, which makes it more desirable to engage with leads that have already been warmed up to your brand.
Chatbot marketing agency

Image Source

Key Takeaways

Chatbots can be a great boost for customer engagement in that they’re more personalizable and interactable. Setting up your chatbot the right way can have a great ROI for your brand, especially if you make the most of its benefits. Sign up for a free trial with Botsify and reel in more leads, sales, and engagement with the best customer-facing tool for your business.

The post 7 Creative Ways Businesses are Using Chatbots to Boost Customer Engagement appeared first on Botsify.

]]>
https://botsify.com/blog/7-creative-ways-businesses-are-using-chatbots-to-boost-customer-engagement/feed/ 0