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Starting a small business can be challenging. With endless tasks and time constraints, owners must make smart business choices to optimize their resources and achieve a positive outcome. Conversational AI can help reduce this burden by handling menial tasks such as planning and customer queries. It can also increase the number of issues resolved within an hour by 14%. Including this tool in your strategy can help you achieve your goals and grow your business. Let’s explore how.
What is Conversational AI and its Types
Conversational AI combines natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to generate human-like responses. Machine learning refers to algorithms that use data analysis to recognize patterns and form predictions. This software, combined with NLP, a subfield of artificial intelligence specializing in human speech patterns and language, allows a conversational AI system to comprehend and formulate responses to human language. These can be in the form of;
- Chatbots: can analyze text and generate answers by identifying the conversation’s goal and the user’s intent.
- Voice bot: This feature allows machine-recognisable voice commands to be converted into text.
- Interactive voice assistants (IVA): Automated technologies that let callers interact with a computer-operated system that can answer FAQs or route calls to specific departments.
Benefits of Conversational AI for Small Business Owners
To keep up with the competition, small business owners must be aware of new and emerging technological advancements like conversational AI that can boost their productivity. Advantages include:
Enhanced Customer Engagement
Machine learning analyzes data and allows chatbots or IVAs to personalize their responses according to customers’ requirements; this can increase customer satisfaction and ensure loyalty by providing support and assistance curated to their needs.
Additionally, it can generate quizzes and polls to keep customers informed about new deals and products and maintain their interest. This would give small business owners valuable insight into their customers’ preferences and what products would be well-received.
2. Automation of Routine Tasks
Automating repetitive tasks like answering FAQs, responding to emails, and scheduling reduces the workload. This allows the staff to focus on more complex tasks, increasing productivity. It also eliminates the need for extra workers, reducing overall costs and increasing ROI.
3. Multilingual Support
Conversational AI systems can broaden the customer pool by offering multilingual support. They can ask customers for their preferred language and break communication barriers, making your business accessible worldwide.
4. Scalability
It can handle increased workload without compromising performance and manage a high volume of customers at a time. This ability ensures consistent and efficient customer support even during busy times such as a seasonal peak, a product launch, or a marketing campaign.
Risks and Limitations
While conversational AI platforms can be beneficial, it still has some limitations;
Incorrect Results and Employee Training
Since it relies on data collected from all over the internet, which might be inaccurate or outdated, it risks spreading false information. This can reflect poorly on the business and can cost customers loyalty. In addition, employees with conversational AI will require proper training to properly use conversational AI, which might be time-consuming and costly.
Risk to data security
A significant amount of personal and financial data is used for this purpose, which risks customers’ privacy and can lead to loss of trust and legal repercussions. Proper data encryption that protects all data from unauthorized access and access control strategies that implement strict limitations on who can access sensitive data within the company is integral to preventing such mishaps from ruining your business’s reputation.
Integrating Conversational AI with Android Apps
Providing services offered by conversational AI through apps is a seamless means of delivering personalized and timely user experience on mobile devices. All tasks, such as appointment scheduling, product recommendations, and customer inquiries, can be completed within the app. Features like location services, e-mails, and browser history can create more context-aware recommendations as an AI feature that uses this data as context for future interaction. Push notifications and real-time updates regarding shipments and available offers increase responsive customer interactions.
54% of all web traffic came through mobile phones, proving how crucial it is for business owners to invest in an app platform for conversational AI systems. Choosing Android as the operating system for your app has numerous benefits, as it covers around 70% of the market. This large share makes the app more accessible. In addition to that, android is compatible with various devices such as tablets, phones, and PCs, allowing you to reach a larger pool of customers.
Endnote
Navigating the competitive landscape can be tough for small business owners. Still, by leveraging tools like conversational AI, they can keep up by boosting efficiency and focusing on high-yield tasks while letting AI handle the time-consuming, repetitive ones.