It’s that time of the year. No, we’re not talking about New Year's resolutions but about the chatbot trends and conversational AI that would take the marketing world by storm in 2024.
Conversational AI have been the talk of the town for the whole of last year and it’ll only get more heated. A whopping 74% of customers now prefer to engage with chatbots rather than human corporate agents for prompt query resolution. Moreover, chatbots exhibit an impressive capability, successfully finishing 70% of conversations.
This shift in chatbot trends has resulted in a noteworthy estimate: integrating chatbot marketing into business operations can potentially save up to 2.5 billion hours. On the other hand, a customer support representative, on average, manages 17 interactions daily.
Now that you know that your website needs to have a chatbot, let’s look at the top 7 chatbot trends and chatbot marketing ideas that you should watch out for.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 1. Conversational AI chatbot
The chatbot world is buzzing with excitement, thanks to the surge in AI. Everyone is excited to explore new ways of chatbot marketing to get stuff done efficiently. The domino effect which was started by Chatgpt gained a huge momentum when Google launched its latest large language model Gemini.
This interest surge has added conversational AI to the chatbot trends. We predict that in 2024 and beyond, these conversational AI chatbots will be here to stay and make our lives easier.
AI-integrated chatbots, like Serviceform’s Chatbot, are the superheroes of chatbot trends. They handle simple tasks like changing passwords, checking balances, and setting up appointments, all without bothering any humans.
There are tons of chatbot marketing ideas you can play around with. In retail, after a customer purchases something, the chatbot can ask to rate how good its product recommendations were, helping it get even better. Furthermore, it can be used to collect information like in retail, it can collect data about which item variations are in stock when the customer inquires about it. In education, it can ask the student for course ID to give grade-specific info.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 2. Human-like behaviour
Until very recently, if a customer wanted assistance, the only choice was to find a customer care agent. But thanks to chatbots, they can get any assistance from the company website in just a few minutes.
Here's the catch though – some people think conversational AI chatbots sound robotic. So, businesses are scrambling their heads, trying to develop chatbot marketing ideas that make customer support smoother and give personalised recommendations without sounding machine-like.
One of the big chatbot trends in 2024 will be making your chatbot connect with people. Chatbots should feel like friendly helpers, not robots. To do that you need to first understand what your audience likes. Shape your chatbot's personality and language to match what your audience is into.
Imagine giving your chatbot a cool personality that fits your brand and the people you're talking to. Fortunately, you don’t have to struggle with how to work around these chatbot trends because we’ve already done that with our Serviceform’schatbot platform. You can train your chatbot to resonate with your audience. Plus, you can pick different chatbot marketing ideas and chatbot tones, like casual, academic, or playful, to make the chatbot experience just right.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 3. Voice and video chatbots
The biggest surge in chatbot trends is Voicebots – the ones you talk to, not type. People love Voicebots because they make conversations feel human-like.
In this hectic world when you need assistance, it's way easier to talk it out than type it all. This is extra helpful for the older generation or younger ones who might not be big fans of texting.
With the right conversational AI tech magic, voicebots ensure everyone gets the same awesome customer experience every time. Imagine calling to check on your order or delivery date, and your voicebot chatbot tells you everything – where your package is, and the delivery status, and even helps you change things like the delivery date or address. Need to book or change a movie reservation? Consider it done.
These chatbot trends are a game changer in the real estate and automotive industry. One great chatbot marketing idea is showing a 360-degree house tour to your customers. Customers can explore every nook and cranny, check out the kitchen, see the backyard – all from the couch and even book an appointment through the bot.
For car sellers, video bots are like digital showroom assistants. You can give potential buyers a personalised tour of the car, point out the awesome features, and build excitement.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 4. Simple to use, no coding required
This is one of the biggest chatbot trends that changed the paradigm and allowed even small-scale companies to implement chatbots, No-code solutions are drag-and-drop options, that enable people across different business sectors to easily fulfil their chatbot needs.
It levels the playing field, giving both big and small businesses the power to build chatbots without needing a fancy team. These chatbots are quick to build and deploy, and they are just as easy to tweak and maintain.
You can start from scratch or use ready-made templates. No-code solutions even have templates for different tasks – like lead generation, helping customers, suggesting products, surveys, and more. No-code is all about making chatbot technology easy and accessible to everyone.
You can build your own conversational AI chatbot in less than 5 minutes. Don’t believe us? Try our no-code chatbot builder for free.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 5. Great chat design and easy-to-use
Think about a chatbot that feels like a friend – easy to chat with and not confusing at all. That's the key to making conversational AI chatbots super interactive and enjoyable. Keep your chatbot simple and user-friendly so customers can get answers without any hassle.
The chatbot builder should allow you to customise your bot to match your audience's vibe. It should have a wide array of options to select the tone, style, and language that suits your customer persona. This makes your chatbot feel more real and relatable to users and allows you to be on par with the chatbot trends.
Your bot should be able to smoothly switch over to live agents to give customers the best help. If customers aren’t getting the best of both worlds they’d simply close your website. And hey, if customers want live support, they should be able to easily ask for it on your chatbot.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 6. Social media bots
With an increase in messenger platforms for business, social media is one of the most important channels. With 2 Billion+ users and an open rate of 98%, WhatsApp it's the must-have channel for businesses to chat with customers.
And brands are unleashing the power of WhatsApp chatbot marketing to do all sorts of cool stuff. They're not just answering questions; they're generating leads, offering support, automating sales – you name it.
These chatbot trends are very popular among e-commerce stores. They can showcase and sell all their products online by leveraging WhatsApp commerce. You can easily generate a WhatsApp link for your WhatsApp Business App and customers can chat with your brand in a snap.
More importantly, it’s convenient for the customers. When you let chatbots handle sales on social media, it speeds up your company's growth because people want things to be easily available and on the platforms where they hang out.
Top 7 emerging chatbot trends: 7. Easy API integrations and secured payments
Using a chatbot API is crucial for tailoring each conversation effectively. This feature enables your conversational AI chatbot to access info from platforms like CRM or product databases, ensuring it provides relevant information to customers or helps connect the dots during the chat.
The API helps your chatbot smoothly gather and present data promptly in conversations. This is especially handy when tracking order status or availability for customers. By integrating your chatbot with 3rd-party apps like Pipedrive, Slack, Salesforce or Zendesk, you streamline support, reducing resolution time. This integration facilitates the extraction of crucial data for trend monitoring and informed decision-making.
On the other hand, integrating your chatbot with a help desk solution takes a different approach. If the chatbot can't answer a question, it seamlessly converts the conversation into a ticket and assigns it to the right department. This ensures customers that a solution is in the works, enhancing their experience.
Another chatbot trend is connecting chatbots to a payment gateway, which can guide users through transactions effortlessly. With a chatbot handling payments, users can make purchases without leaving the chat. Chatbot integrations with payment gateways are designed with top-notch security measures. This ensures that your customers' sensitive information remains confidential and transactions are safe from prying eyes.
Summary
Wrapping it up, we uncovered how conversational AI chatbots are making a mark in the business world. From WhatsApp Chatbots to Video bots which are stealing the show, handling everything from lead generation to customer support and sales automation. It's a friendly revolution that's not just a trend. It's changing the way businesses connect with customers - making it quick, easy, and oh-so-friendly.