It is impossible to deny that chatbots are currently all the rage, especially among those who are exploring consumer-facing technology. And, must say that the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled a new generation of chatbots that are rolling out across all sectors, corporate organizations as well as marketplaces. All the industries employing them are already reporting with enthusiasm.

There are several benefits offered by the chatbots such as they demonstrate a measurable capacity to convert visitor traffic, they help to communicate better with customers than live personnel, help to increase sales, boost customer engagement, and most importantly they help to lower the costs to do business.

Based on a survey report, 80% of businesses want to integrate chatbots in their business model by 2020. So the question arises that which industries can reap the greatest benefits by implementing consumer-facing chatbots?

Well, here we are with a complete list of on which industries are most benefited from chatbots. However, before that, it is a must to have basic knowledge about what Chatbots are? So, let’s learn about it first.

What is a Chatbot?

In simple words, it is a service powered by rules and AI (artificial intelligence), sometimes that you interact with via a chat interface is what we call a chatbot. From functional to fun, it could be any number of things, and it could live in any major chat product (Facebook Messenger, Slack,  Telegram, Text Messages, etc.).

Industries That are Benefiting the Most from Chatbots

Well, if we talk about major areas of direct-to-consumer engagement, below ones are prime:

1. Retail

As it comes to the retail sector, Chatbots are a natural fit here because they are struggling with mobile conversion even when physical stores close. Moreover, Bots offer a key channel via which brands can improve their e-commerce presence, ranging from top-of-funnel branding from sales as well as retargeting.

Hence it can be understood that the most effective bot experiences are for retail fuse marketing. Apart from that, AI in customer service and sales their optimizing the user experience based on which function the user needs and the user's past behavior and purchase history.

What this looks like is an interactive, hyper-personalized shopping experience that replaces combing through endless tiny thumbnails with AI-powered guided selling, personal styling, and even virtual try-on, reducing the number of decisions a customer has to make. Bots are a powerful remarketing tool, post-conversion, sending out segmented messages that are hyper-relevant and received inside of a customer's messaging app, where they read them.

If we talk about recent attractions for retail bots, Facebook has a payment beta program that allows for in-bot, one-click shopping; it is likely to remove considerable friction from the checkout process when rolled out widely, and also will boost mobile conversion numbers to some of their highest rates. Chatbots can also be a key customer service tool for retail brands, down-funnel, as they can offer service without wait times and around the clock.

2. Publishing

Publishers are still figuring out ways to best disseminate content for a new generation of digital-first consumers as the traditional publishing industry has been upended by the digital revolution of the last decade. Publishers were some of the first to roll out high-quality chatbots exhibiting a prescient savviness, and have reaped the rewards in engagement, users, and eyeballs.

The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Digg, and NBC News are some of the most widely-lauded Messenger bots in any vertical right now. And, in terms of both user engagement and bot user base growth, the results have been astronomical.

3. Hospitality

Gone are the days when hotel rooms were filled staples like clunky binders with print-outs of activity brochures and huge phone extensions. And, no doubt that industry like Hospitality is where success completely relies on the level of service.

And in this mobile-first era, almost every guest expects that if hotels are accessible by their most native communication tool, i.e., smartphones. Ranging from check-in to a wide array of concierge services to booking restaurant and providing amenities info and activity reservations -- Messaging bots can power everything -- all of which are done by human staff is mostly hotel.

Well, there are a good number of well-known bots that have been rolled out in the travel industry, but they often perform power bookings. Most of them are available in the newly-released Facebook Messenger Discover tab's Travel section like Kayak, Snaptravel, Hipmunk, and Istalocate (that let us track flights).

However, some hotel chains are trying out the bots for the on-site experience, and that's where we think is the major opportunity to include bot-first solutions in hospitality service to redefine it. The most remarkable of these are virtual concierges, during a hotel stay, for at-your-fingertips resources. This offers guests 24/7 service rather than only during certain hours, takes the pressure off human agents to answer basic questions about amenities and also, lends help with zero wait time as bots don't get overwhelmed by high volumes of inquiries.

Headliner also deploy Facebook Messenger's parametric codes and QR codes that guests can scan at various locations in a facility to access information and services strictly to that place, i.e, a guest scans a parametric code near the entrance while entering the pool deck of a resort, prompting the bot to provide info about pool deck maps, cabana rentals, and requesting seats or towels.

4. Live Events

Whether for a business conference, festival or concert, or even a sporting event, you have been asked to download an event app. And likewise, you have no doubt declined to do so because the download friction is insufficiently overcome by such temporary use.

A bot is a perfect place to centralize event information in an easily accessible way. Event organizers can implement the following process to own the entire loop: First, a bot can facilitate buying tickets and access key information in the lead-up to the event. Attendees can go right back to the bot for information about the schedules, nearest parking, and floorplans,  programs, or even the wifi password when it's time to attend the actual event. If there is any floor plans, unexpected change to the schedule or an important update, organizers can broadcast messages to attendees in real-time.

This can have a considerable impact on event revenue and goes beyond ease and convenience. More efficient parking and layout information let people enter into the venue earlier, which gives them more time to shop at food and merchandise vendors. Reducing the need for an army of human staff can visit more booths and find the ones they seek more easily.

5. Banking/Financial

After Hospitality, the financial and banking industry is on the rage of accepting chatbots. And, the reason behind this is the transactional nature of most banking tasks offers an almost perfect use case for chatbot interfaces they function the best. When bots are designed to handle a discrete task, regular banking transactions are just those specific, clearly-defined tasks that require a command and a resulting action with minimal supplemental intelligence needed. Users can accomplish works like transferring money to friends, checking balances, locating the nearest ATM, or viewing the history of recent transactions.

Bank of America, one of the banks that pioneered chatbots, launched Erica,  a bot to assist with most of the tasks described above. Western Union's Messenger bot also provides several options like "send money," "transfer again," and "track transfer." Moreover, American Express enables users to add their accounts for purchase card information and tracking. Well, this is nothing but just the tip of the mountain. So all these examples prove that a swift rollout of finance and banking bots are coming up the pipeline.

6. Service Businesses

In service-oriented sectors, there is a real opportunity for small businesses to utilize bots as the first line of defense in their lead generation operations. To sustain the businesses, many service professionals rely heavily on inbound leads and have to field a torrent of these inquiries regardless of how hot or relevant the lead is.

Dana Gibber, COO of Manhattan-based Headliner Labs, explains,

“For a business of any size, chatbots can add immeasurably to the lead generation equation.

An ideal solution will include a strong user-facing experience that engages and qualifies leads, a highly intelligent algorithm that recognizes the hot leads from the cool ones, and a comprehensive dashboard that easily facilitates human sales agent interaction.”

7. News and Media

As we all know, youth spends a maximum of their time on Social Media or surfing online. And, this is an undeniable fact based on surveys that about 30% of all online traffic is from social media and out of which 60% is via a mobile device only.

Especially at news platforms, it can be a feature as they offer help for instant queries or help can be of great substance. Some of the news and media agencies have already deployed the integration of news focused chatbots for social messaging platforms. For example, CNN is one of those who have developed chatbots for Kik, Facebook Messenger, and Line.

Hence, as chatbots are allowing the user to read the topic that they love, they are serving towards a bright future in news and media. Moreover, it allows the user to view content that is relevant to their interest as the data is collected through the past search behavior of users.

8. Fashion Industry

To improve customer experience and business processes, Chatbots is paving its way. And, the fashion industry is no exception. Yes, several famous brands like Victoria’s Secret and Tommy Hilfiger have already realized the importance of chatbot in improving customer services and increasing sales.

The collection of fashion accessories available at the store can be displayed by the bots only. The customer can pick the option according to their own needs with several questions asked. For instance, what price range suits their budget, if they like to go for casual or formal wear, what colors do they prefer, and much more. Customers can have a shopping experience with a sales representative ready to help them as if they are in a brick and mortar shop.

Final Words

The above discussions can show that in the coming years, Chatbots will dominate almost every industry. Hence, analyze your business and the benefits it would reap by chatbots, in the long run, to offer you positive ROI before hiring a chatbot development company.

Also, you can contact us at Covetus for more assistance!