An SMS chatbot is a program that streamlines text message chatting. It deploys preset replies to grasp what folks are asking and responds like a person would.
These chatbots are always on duty, ready to push notifications, handle subscriptions, send out links, tackle queries, and orchestrate marketing drives around the clock. Having the skill to communicate with loads of people all at once, they speed up and simplify the way we talk.
The Upside of Using an SMS Automation Chatbot
SMS chatbots toss businesses some big wins like slashing time spent, chopping down expenses, and stepping up the customer game. Peep these top perks:
- Always Working: You get replies from SMS chatbots any time, day or night even when the shop’s closed.
- Saves Money: When you use SMS chatbots, you don’t need a big team for customer support, which means fewer costs.
- Deals with Lots: SMS chatbots can juggle many chats all at once so it’s a breeze for companies to keep up with lots of customer chats.
- Feels Like It Knows You: These chatbots can spot who you are and make the chat seem just for you making folks happier and more hooked on talking.
- Gets More Replies: Since texting is quick and easy, people are more likely to text back to SMS bots than to chat through other less common ways.
Switch Up: Try SMS Bot campaigns instead of Just SMS Blasts
Plenty of companies already blast out texts to their customers. Yet, swapping to SMS chatbots starts up a two-way street for chats making the convo way more lively and fun. Your usual text-blitz from a business is just a one-sided affair doling out deals or news. But SMS chatbots? They let folks ping back messages to the biz.
To jump from plain old SMS blasts to the world of SMS chatbot automation, you gotta plan it out right:
Figure out what you’re after: You need to pin down the exact targets you’re shooting for before you make the switch. When you know what you’re aiming for, you’ll be able to shape your chatbot better, beefing up customer care or pumping up those sales numbers.
Break down your crowd: Like any good SMS campaign, you’re gonna want your SMS bot to talk to the right groups of folks. Making messages that hit home with certain slices of your customer pie will amp up the buzz and get more people hitting that buy button.
Get tight with your tech: To crank up the efficiency, your SMS chatbot needs to get cozy with your “customer relationship management” (CRM) and helpdesk setup. Snapping these pieces together means your bot can throw out the right kind of chitchat and keep the help flowing without a hitch. Before you go all out, give your SMS chatbot a trial run with just a few customers. Listen to what they say and dig into the stats to tweak how the chatbot works and make talking to folks better.
SMS chatbots run on AI and NLP figuring out and replying to what people say. Let’s break it down, step by step:
- You shoot a text.
- The chatbot gets your message and breaks it down to understand it better.
- Using what it knows about language, it figures out what you mean.
- The bot pulls up the best answer from what it’s got.
- It shoots a text back to you with that info.
- If the bot gets confused, it asks for more stuff to get it right.
- A customer kicks things off by shooting a text to a company maybe asking stuff, looking for help, or wanting to buy something.
- The chatbot gets this text and, with NLP, figures out what the user means. It checks out the message to decide what it should say back.
- Next based on what it figured, the chatbot shoots back a reply. This could be a straight-up answer, a bunch of questions to get stuff clear, or maybe it does something, like say “yup” to an order.
- The chatbot doesn’t just stop there; it keeps the convo going. It might ask the customer for more deets or keep on helping them out. Throughout its chats, the chatbot scoops up info like what customers prefer and how they feel about stuff. It uses this intel to make later chats even better.
Crafting an SMS Chatbot
To craft an SMS chatbot, blend planning technical configuration, and syncing with current business utilities. Dive in with these steps:
Step 1 – Pin Down the Goal
Spot what your chatbot will tackle. Is its main gig customer support, promotions, or handling orders?
Figuring out the bot’s aim will guide you in shaping its structure and abilities.
Step 2 – Pick an SMS Service
Snag an SMS service that’s cool with chatbot add-ons. Platforms like Twilio Nexmo, and Plivo have APIs to let you toss out and grab SMS texts through code.
Plenty of platforms are pretty good for chatbot features, so they’re solid choices when you wanna build an automated chatbot thing.
Step 3 – Slap Together the Chatbot’s Words
The whole convo flow thing is super important when you’re making a chatbot. You gotta huddle up with your crew and hammer out the chatbot’s lines.
You’ll wanna check that it’s nailing all the usual customer questions and fits with what your company’s trying to do. Keep the talking simple, no fuzz, and a breeze to get.
Step 4 – Chuck in AI and NLP
Grab tools like Google Dialog Flow, IBM Watson, or Microsoft LUIS, for slapping some natural language processing into your SMS chatbot. These gadgets are all about helping the chatbot get what people are saying kinda like a real person.
Step 5 – Give the Chatbot a Spin
You gotta test your chatbot with a few folks once you build it. Take what they tell you about how it’s working and tweak the talk patterns, the words you use, or just how it does stuff.
Step 6 – Launch and Grow
Get your SMS chatbot out there for more people to use after you’ve tested and made it better.
And hey, as your company gets bigger, keep an eye on how your chatbot’s doing and fix stuff as you go.
Smart Moves for SMS Chatbots
You want your SMS chatbot to do a solid job and be something customers dig so check these tips:
1. Make Messages Snappy and Clear
SMS chats gotta be short so keep your messages straight to the point. Don’t make folks read a novel on their phones.
2. Make Exiting Easy
You gotta let the users bail on the chatbot chat if they’re over it. Keeps you in the clear with the rules and keeps the folks happy.
3. Make it Feel Special
Peep the data you have on customers and make the chatbot talk feel special. Say hey using their name, hit ’em up with stuff they’ll dig, and switch up your chat based on what you’ve chatted about before.
4. Have a Human on Standby
Look, SMS bots are cool for the easy stuff, but when the going gets tough, peeps need to hit up a real person. Make sure they can get to a live agent without a headache when they gotta.
5. Keep Tabs and Level Up
Don’t sleep on checking how your chatbot’s doing. Always be looking to step up your game.
Keep tabs on how fast your chatbot replies how much it gets people to engage, and how happy it keeps customers. Always take a good look at these stats to make your chatbot better at what it does.
Ending Thoughts
By letting chatbots handle chats over SMS, companies can talk to their customers without a lot of hassle. It’s like putting customer service and adverts on autopilot. You save time, cut down on spending, and everything is smoother for everyone involved. Set it upright, and your SMS chatbot will get people more involved and kick the quality of service up a notch.
Thinking about sticking an SMS chatbot in your company’s toolkit? The folks at Accord Innovation are who you wanna talk to. They’re ace at making custom chatbots that make talking to your customers a breeze and help your biz run like clockwork.
Hit us up Contact us now and discover how we craft a custom SMS chatbot to suit your company’s needs.
To know more about marketing automation, check out Microsoft Dynamics CRM
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