Pros and Cons of AI Chatbots: All You Need to Know

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Introduction to AI chatbots

Implementation of AI in marketing has helped improve campaign performances by leaps. An integral part of such campaigns are AI chatbots. The market for which is expected to grow from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $9.4 billion by 2024*. Some of the key factors fuelling the growth in the market are:

1. Increasing demand for self-service
2. 24/7 customer assistance at low operational costs
3. Advancement in technology

But why are chatbots becoming so popular? Why are businesses around the world rushing to adopt them? Let’s take a look at this infographic below, before we speak about their advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of using AI Chatbots

• Availability

Chatbots are available 24×7 and can respond to your customers instantly. This means that whenever they message you for any reason, they’ll be able to get a response immediately. As a result, they’ll be satisfied with your brand and you, on the other hand, will be able to move them along your sales funnel.

• More Engagement

Chatbots communicate with your website visitors and social media followers in real-time. This is in stark contrast to other content of your brand that’s usually consumed passively. Such engagement can keep people on your website for longer and help in driving sales and improving your SEO.

• Data Collection

Chatbots can be a great way to collect your audience data. They can communicate with your audience and gather information such as their names, email addresses, and more. You can easily access these details by integrating the chatbot with your CRM.

Additionally, you can ask customers about their preferences using the chatbots and accordingly customize your offerings to better suit their needs.

Disadvantages of using AI Chatbots

• Data Security

When you collect your audience data, it’s your responsibility to keep it secure. The data needs to be transmitted from the chatbot to your CRM in a secure manner. It must also be stored securely and only relevant data should be collected from your audience.

• Inability to Understand Emotions

Chatbots are codes and hence, they find it difficult to ascertain the emotions of the user. As a result, they may not be able to understand if the user they are chatting with is happy, agitated, or sad. This might lead to the chatbot coming across as emotionally insensitive and it can harm your brand’s reputation.

To reduce the chances of such a situation, you should consider using chatbots that allow customer support agents to take over the conversation.

Do you want to incorporate chatbots into your marketing strategy? Check out how conversational AI-powered chatbots can help you.

*Source: Chatbot Market: Global Forecast to 2024