6 min read AI chatbots are being increasingly used to help businesses streamline their customer support. From accepting to handling queries, these chatbots now are doing a lot more than just responding to frequently asked questions. And that’s exactly why it is becoming important for businesses to not lose sight of the insights in these conversations.
This is where the importance of integrating CRM systems and AI chatbots comes into play. In this post, we look into why this integration is important and some of its common use cases.
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Why integrate AI chatbots and CRM systems (benefits)
Here are some of the reasons why we recommend integrating your chatbots with the CRM when using solutions like Auralis AI:
1. Better understanding of customers
When you integrate AI chatbots with your CRM system, you can consolidate the information about a customer, drawing up a well-defined picture. This helps understand their behavior, preferences, and pain points, which can be used to refine products, marketing strategies, and customer service operations – all leading to better business outcomes.
2. Improved personalization of interactions
The CRM integration gives AI chatbots access to more customer data. This allows them to provide more personalized responses, recommendations, and support based on the customer lifecycle with the business. It also helps the chatbots pick up the conversation from where it was left off, reducing the need to repeat issues.
3. Improved efficiency and cost reduction
The improved efficiency and accuracy of AI chatbots in conversing with customers can significantly reduce the workload on human agents. For businesses managing a high volume of queries, this integration ensures reduced workload on human agents while addressing the queries of customers without long wait times.
4. 24/ 7 availability
AI chatbots enable businesses to be ‘available’ around-the-clock. But when you integrate them with the CRM system, you can also record all conversations and keep track of them – be it sales queries, technical issues, or service requests. This streamlines the follow-ups and also helps personalize based on the input recorded.
5. Consistent and accurate responses
Human agents can often tailor the tone of voice in their responses. But AI chatbots eliminate this variability and offer more consistent responses across channels based on the CRM data. So whether the customer interacts via email, chat, or social media, they receive the same level of service and experience.
Use cases and examples of AI chatbot and CRM integration
Let’s take a quick look at how the benefits above translate to use cases for B2C and B2B companies:
B2C use cases of AI chatbot and CRM integration
- E-commerce support and upselling – From product inquiries, and tracking orders to processing order requests/ returns/ refunds, AI chatbots provide real-time assistance to online shoppers. When integrated with the CRM, these chatbots can offer personalized product recommendations, and upsell and cross-sell items based on previous purchases/ preferences.
- Loyalty program management – AI chatbots and CRM integration can help provide updates on loyalty points and offer custom discounts. It can also help personalize the conversation to foster stronger relationships and drive repeat purchases.
- Travel and hospitality – With a strong integration, companies can assist customers with booking modifications, flight or hotel upgrades, personalized travel recommendations, and more.
B2B use cases of AI chatbot and CRM integration
- Lead qualification and nurturing – AI chatbots integrated with a CRM can assist with lead generation by engaging website visitors, asking qualifying questions, and capturing relevant questions. This can help the sales team prioritize high-quality leads and follow up effectively.
- Automated appointment booking – AI chatbots can handle appointment schedules for meetings or demos based on the availability of sales reps through the calendars saved in the CRM. This reduces the back and forth with customers to boost engagement and ensure timely follow-ups.
- Customer support for technical issues – For companies providing software or complex services, the integration can come in handy to quickly access up-to-date information to troubleshoot common issues. The integration can also be helpful in setting up a seamless hand-off to human agents while keeping the resolution process streamlined.
Best practices to follow for AI chatbot and CRM integration
To leverage the benefits of each system, you need to follow the best practices:
- Choose the right AI chatbot platform – When evaluating an AI chatbot solution, also look into how well it integrates with your tech stack. They should either have a seamless integration built out or should be willing to build a custom one. For example, Auralis AI integrates with popular CRMs like Freshdesk, Zendesk, Help Scout, Intercom, and Gorgias.
- Create customer journey maps – Before setting up an AI chatbot, create a customer journey. Identify the common questions and pain points of customers at different stages of their lifecycle. This helps tailor the chatbot to address specific queries by syncing with the relevant CRM data.
- Train your AI with relevant data – To improve the accuracy of your AI chatbots, you need to provide up-to-date data. Ensure the chatbot has access to the information stored in the CRM system – be it website links, documents, PDFs, videos, or other formats stored on platforms like Microsoft Suite, Notion, Google Drive, etc.
- Offer human escalation option – While studies have found that 57% of consumers are willing to engage with chatbots, give them the option to seek human assistance. Ensure you have a hand-off set up for complex issues but also offer the ability to manually request the same.
- Monitor and optimize performance – Once your AI chatbot and CRM integration are set up, ensure you’re monitoring how it performs. Look at metrics such as response accuracy, customer satisfaction scores, and issue resolution rates. We also recommend using solutions like Auralis AI in this case that further provide actionable insights through a summary of conversations.
Conclusion
Integrating AI chatbots with your CRM can be a true game-changer.
Think of it as creating a seamless flow of data between common customer touchpoints and the functions that can leverage it to improve engagement and conversions.
Want to know more about the benefits of AI chatbot and CRM integration for your business?
