The Definite Role of Chatbots in logistics and Supply Chain Industry
Introduction to Chatbots
In simplest terms, a chatbot is a program that communicates with you. At times a chatbot is powered by machine learning (it gets smarter when you interact with it), and sometimes it is driven by rules (i.e., if a person says this, respond with that).
The term chatbot is also synonymous with text conversation, but is gaining popularity through voice communication… “Siri, what time is it?” (other chatbots are also available in the market.
Chatbots are capable of talking to you through different channels such as Facebook Messenger, Siri, WeChat, Telegram, SMS, Slack, Skype and many others.
Did you know 85% of the customer interactions will be handled without a human agent by the end of this year?
Out of the various industries that are leveraging the benefits of chatbots, the logistics and supply chain business is one.
So, without any further ado, let’s find out how chatbots in logistics help supply chain and transportation companies offer an enhanced service and commendable customer experience.
How are Chatbots Enhancing logistics and Transportation?
Chatbots are improving the logistics sector in two ways:
- Enhancing the customer-facing operations
- Supply chain operations
Let’s have a detailed look at each aspect of these operations to understand the role of chatbots better:
- Real-time order tracking
When it comes to the logistics sector, the confidence of order visibility and status are extremely important for a better customer experience. Embedding chatbots in the customer service section will prevent long offline queues and offer real-time tracking. A simple question like ‘Can you share delivery status now?’ to the chatbot is sufficient for the user to get his/her queries resolved.
- Book delivery
A logistics company can implement chatbot services to book the place for shipment, time and tracking map online. Users can enter the information regarding the items he wants to transport, make payments online and the courier to complete the process without any paperwork.
- Amend and order
Chatbots allow the end-customer to make changes to the delivery – just by entering the tracking number. They will enable the people to review the conditions and provide status for the same accordingly. As of now, human involvement was needed to take care of this department.
- Warehouse matters
AI chatbots can help businesses to manage their inventories and warehouse operations smoothly. Now the delivery boy does not need to look among thousands of packages to find the one he is looking for. He just needs to ask where the package is kept – and receive the exact rack number as the response!
- Fleet information
In logistics companies, transportation apps are used to track the vehicles, routes, statuses and more. It is important to know where the drivers are to manage the delivery status. You can ask the chatbot to tell you which driver is idle or closer to the pickup point to schedule duties.
Combining the Logistics sector with Big Data
Chatbots act as an important data source in the logistic world. You need not make any extra effort to collect or store information regarding the customers, suppliers, managers, personnel and drivers.
Related read: 5 Essentials Facts about Cloud Contact centers
Companies are using this data for analytics to uncover meaningful insights and trends. These have helped them leverage their performance and boost revenue. Read here to find how IoT solutions are helping the logistics industry.
Advantages of Chatbots For Logistics Companies
Here are some of the top benefits of switching to chatbots when it comes to logistics companies:
- Enhanced customer service
According to Gartner, customer service is the most important factor in the success of any business. So, having a good customer service 24/7 will leave a positive impact on your customer satisfaction.
Chatbots are capable of giving automated answers to repetitive questions immediately. Moreover, they can also send the request to the customer representative if more complicated action is needed.
With the help of chatbots, companies can handle multiple queries at the same time so that no customer has to wait for their turn.
- Better team productivity
Chatbots have become a crucial part of every business concerning the shift from human to automated customer services. Bots are not going to replace human agents completely, but they will make delivery of primary support better.
Businesses can automate the sales and customer services tasks to enhance the productivity of their teams. Some of the common queries that chatbots can handle are order status, return policy, and delivery time frequently.
Some of the major team productivity metrics that chatbots can enhance are:
- Average resolution time
Chatbots engage with the customers in real-time and drastically improve the response time.
- First response time
By answering the FAQs in the first interactions, chatbots are saving service costs and time.
- Number to requests accepted
Chatbots are capable of scaling easily with increased conversions without any errors or missed chats.
- Number of resolved issues
By handling the basic customer queries, chatbots will increase the number of issues resolved in a given period of time.
- Chatbots help cut down operational costs
Hiring customer executives with 24*7*365 presence, and adding resources to give support to the customers round the clock can be too costly for many businesses. Chatbots can help reduce these operational costs.
Companies can use these saved costs to enhance other segments of their organizations and grow as a business.
- Personalization
Chatbots are capable of providing more personalized experience when compared to customer service specialists as they have no time to prepare for your call and understand the context during the call.
A chatbot, on the other hand, can access the history of a customer’s interactions with the company to provide a more personalized experience.
- Higher engagement and sales
It is important to keep your customers engaged with your brand and, therefore, companies are investing in chatbots for social media marketing. The flexible structure of chatbots has made it possible for them to integrate with other channels to improve engagement.
You can even get them programmed with natural sound humour to give a representation of human-like interaction. Such bots make the customers even more comfortable and make their experience more pleasant.
If you have been planning to integrate a chatbot in your website or social media platforms, you can contact a chatbot development company. They will help create a customized chatbot to meet your business requirements and preferences.
Wrapping up
In the logistics sector, you need to consider various factors simultaneously to make proper decisions. A chatbot can concentrate all the required information in one place for better management.
If you want to gain a competitive edge, you must definitely implement a chatbot service in your logistics business.
James GrillsDigital Web Services (DWS) is a leading IT company specializing in Software Development, Web Application Development, Website Designing, and Digital Marketing. Here are providing all kinds of services and solutions for the digital transformation of any business and website.
