Bots For Small Businesses And Startups: Useful Applications

Even though startups usually plan to become big, they have a lot in common with small businesses. One of the main features they share is a lack of resources. From time to people, startups and small businesses need all the help they can get. And nowadays, they can get it from bots.

Bots are very popular these days. Not all bots are like ChatGPT; a lot of them are made specifically with businesses in mind and are very helpful. Some bots are limited to scripted replies and cannot go outside of the scope introduced into them by the developer. Other ones, though, are AI-powered and can “understand” requests while also learning from them.

The point is, your experience with bots can vary depending on what you can afford. And still, the applications of bots are numerous. We want to discuss a few of those to give you an idea of what a bot can do for your startup or small business. 

Customer Support: Reduced Costs and 24/7 Availability   

A robot is the perfect customer support agent. It can reply to multiple people at once and does not really take breaks or go offline unless it needs maintenance. That is why bots, even those limited to simple scripts, can reduce the workload of your team immensely. And as a startup or small business, you need your human resources to be used most efficiently.

An entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create.

David Karp, Tumblr founder

At the same time, a good bot will also improve customer experience. Advanced bots can even engage in smalltalk, and their responses are not that different from what a human would say. They learn from their experience with customers and apply those lessons to make the conversation better every time. 

Bots and Automatization: Greater Efficiency

Small businesses and startups cannot afford to waste time. Repetitive actions can usually be automated with bots. It can be booking and scheduling, reminders, or answering Frequently Asked Questions. That can apply to customer service, but it does not have to. For example, when searching for a new employee, you can also delegate some of the procedures to bots. Bots can ask and answer questions and help with onboarding a new hire. 

The rest of the things to automate depend on what you need. A bot, for example, can monitor and track packages or handle returns, letting your team do more complex and less repetitive tasks. Consider what you do all the time but what does not need human attention — and assign it to the bot. 

Analysis: Unique Insights

Startups in particular seek to grow, but they are often experimental, and they need data to inform their growth. Small businesses also would benefit from knowing what they should be doing to improve the various aspects of their activities. In that regard, analysis would be very helpful. 

Advanced bots are great at analysis. Sure, a very simple script-based bot might not come with the feature. But most bots will collect at least some information about the clients it interacts with. This ability has a lot of applications. 

For example, a bot can gather information about the clients’ preferences, needs, favorite services and products and so on. It can provide details about what clients do with your website and how they interact with its different options. It can even collect feedback about everything — from your product to the bot interactions themselves. And then, the bot can present the results already analyzed in the form of helpful insights on what to improve about your business.  

Bots and Sales: Marketing Made Simple

Getting leads, new customers, repeat customers is all very important for startups and small businesses. Marketing can help with that. And bots can help with marketing. 

Naturally, knowing all sorts of things about your clients is good for your bottom line. A bot can gather information directly (by asking questions) or indirectly (by analyzing the actions of your clients). And then, it can make marketing efforts, which are powered by this knowledge. 

Personalized recommendations that take into account what the client wants are made easy with bots. Bots also work with leads in a similar manner, asking them questions and then proposing products and services. The more advanced the bot is, the less intrusive its questions are. Turning the marketing funnel into an engaging conversation is a very good decision. 

Bots and SEO: Greater Engagement

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tool that increases the visibility of your website, making it more likely to reach leads and customers. One of the features that affects your SEO is how much your visitors use the website. Bots, especially advanced ones, can use their conversational ability to engage the visitors and make them stay longer. This way, a bot can even improve the chances of more people seeing your website, which is very important for a small business or a startup. 

In Conclusion

The lack of resources that startups and small businesses have to work with can be compensated by bots. While advanced versions are not cheap, it is possible to find a balance between features and costs. Bots can help with customer support, marketing, even SEO! You just need to find the right bot for your business. If you want a custom-made bot, consider placing a task for the experts at Insolvo!