Banking is a highly competitive industry, with multiple providers always vying for attention from a limited pool of customers. This makes attracting new customers a hugely important part of the business, and it’s crucial that banks are always looking for new ways to innovate in this area.
Making use of modern technology can be an extremely effective strategy for banks aiming to differentiate and attract new customers, and one example of this technology is chatbots. Chatbots, and especially AI-driven chatbots, give banks more opportunities to engage with customers and automate many parts of the process.
In this article, we look at some of the main ways that AI chatbots can help banks attract new customers.
What are AI chatbots for banking?
While all chatbots are fundamentally similar, they can be specialized for specific purposes. All chatbots converse with people, usually through an instant messaging interface, but AI chatbots for banking are generally designed to answer specific banking-related queries.
Some basic types of chatbots are only capable of very simplistic conversation, which can limit their usefulness and even frustrate users and lead to lower customer satisfaction. For this reason, AI chatbots are becoming increasingly more common in a banking context. AI-powered chatbots can respond to a far wider range of inputs and converse in a more natural, varied way. By offering a more real and adaptable experience, AI chatbots can not only improve service for existing customers but even help to attract new customers, without the need for human intervention.
How can chatbots help banks attract new customers?
Automatically engage with warm leads
Warm leads are the easiest people to convince to become actual customers, so finding ways to engage with them effectively can drive an increase in conversion rates. Usually this would require employees to actively engage with leads, but this is time-consuming and expensive.
AI chatbots offer banks a way around this issue by automatically engaging with warm leads such as people who have sent email queries or visited the company website. Once a potential customer has been engaged in a conversation, the chatbot can promote services, refer to a sales representative, answer queries, and so on, leading to an increased chance of successful conversions.
Maintain an open line of communication
Not all customers will sign up right away, so beyond the initial engagement, it is also important for businesses to maintain communication with potential customers. Again, this is a challenge for any organization as it would traditionally require dedicated employees to reach out, answer questions, and use up significant resources with no guaranteed payoff. By providing an ongoing, open, two-way line of communication with potential customers, AI chatbots offer a solution to this challenge.
Instantly respond to questions
A fundamental element of interaction with potential customers is your ability to be responsive. Most people who have questions about your services expect a quick response, and if they don’t then they are likely to move on to another, more responsive provider. But ensuring responsiveness is difficult. Unpredictable surges in demand, the expense of maintaining call centers, and more can all lead to longer-than-expected wait times and/or spiraling costs.
AI chatbots are a useful way for banks to overcome these issues. Whenever a potential customer sends a query, your chatbots can instantly and automatically respond with an appropriate answer. Beyond this, they can offer further information and guide the conversation toward signup, improving the chances of converting the lead into a customer.
Be accessible at all times
While it’s important to respond quickly to incoming queries, you need to be contactable and accessible in the first place. In modern banking, offering this accessibility is becoming increasingly challenging. Potential customers may come from different time zones, speak different languages, prefer to communicate through different channels, and so on.
AI chatbots can help potential customers access your support and services in a number of key ways. For example, chatbots are contactable 24 hours a day, including holidays, so people will always be able to get in touch. Additionally, AI chatbots can provide advanced functionality covering multiple languages and various different channels (such as SMS, email, and instant messaging services), reflecting the diverse preferences of potential customers.
Offer personalized service and product recommendations
A common gripe with consumers is the impersonal nature of some automated customer service. This can be a particular limitation of older and more basic types of chatbots as conversations can feel one-dimensional, untargeted, and clinical.
With the help of advanced AI, more modern chatbots can help banks offer a more personalized service, providing targeted service and product recommendations that are more likely to appeal to individuals.
How can Skil.AI help your bank attract more customers?
At Skil.AI, we create bespoke banking chatbots using advanced AI and machine learning technology, helping banks automate and streamline customer interactions and attract new customers more effectively.
Our chatbots are compatible with various popular platforms including email, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more, and can offer multi-language support along with other advanced accessibility features.
Talk to our specialists today to find out how AI chatbots could help you automate, improve efficiency, and attract more customers.