Mention the word chatbot and I imagine a few people are likely to roll their eyes. I am sure that many of us have been caught in the online banking telephone queue pressing various handset buttons or started an online chat only to end up down a blind alleyway without an answer to your question.
In the past you may have found chatbots to be a frustrating experience; stuck in a chat thread where clearly the intervention of a real employee was necessary three or four text messages ago.
However, technology moves on quickly and we have seen chatbots vastly improve in the last couple of years. With talk of new artificial intelligence (AI) engines that can understand not only speech but also intent and meaning, chatbot technology is becoming smarter, more reliable, and more self-sufficient.
So maybe it is time to give this technology another chance?
Based on an original BHHPA Article January 2023 Live Chat and Chatbots for Holiday Parks
What is Live chat software?
Many holiday parks will already be using live chat software on their website. You sign up to a live chat service, embed a small piece of code on your website and it allows parks to connect with their customers where they are most comfortable to have a conversation.
Live chat software is the technology that powers instant messaging platforms through which your park customer support team can communicate with customers and potential guests.
These type of software platforms allow staff to carry on real-time conversations through several methods – via a park’s website, over social media channels (i.e. Facebook Messenger), via text message, or in a company’s mobile app.
The great thing about live chat software is that you can switch it on and off as you need it. Switch it on if your customer service team are available to accept messages or leave it off and you can simply accept emails or utilise the chatbot function that comes with most live chat systems.
Once it is set up on your website you login to the dashboard through a simple Internet browser and you can manage all your communications in one place.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a form of digital technology that simulates a human conversation either through voice or text chat. They are designed to mimic the kind of meaningful interaction a customer might have with a real employee. At the heart of a chatbot will be a database (or AI engine) and a set of rules that will enable it to engage with a series of questions that are put to it.
Think of them as a member of your reception / customer service team who responds automatically to queries, providing useful information and even answering specific questions.
The level of sophistication a chatbot can deliver will depend on the technology and the way it is used. Most chatbots that a holiday park would use are available as a simple application that can be embedded on your website or added to your social media accounts.
Live chat & chatbots combined
Basic chatbots features are usually included with live chat software – and they naturally complement each other.
The auto-messaging and responses can handle simple and repetitive requests and then when conversations get more complex you can hand them over to a member of staff to carry on the conversation.
How does a chatbot work?
Chatbots generally come in two flavours – a rule-based chatbot or AI-based version.
- Rule-based Chatbots
As the name suggests, guests can communicate with these basic chatbot by following a set of rules. You define the questions and associated answers, as well as defining any rules for the conversation to follow. These are usually based around standard logic methods “if / then else” statements.So, for example, your chatbot might be set up to ask a question: “Would you like to view our check-in and check-out times?” If the guest answers “yes”, then they will be presented with the appropriate times. Otherwise, another message will be displayed.By using a series of message topics and rules along with basic action buttons you can build a simple conversation flow, that is more than adequate for most parks. Some rule-based chatbots take it a stage further and can detect specific keywords within a user’s text message – before replying with an appropriate answer.
The main benefit of rule-based chatbots is that they are easy to set up and cost-effective to run. However, this type of conversation tends to be less natural than any human interaction and can be a little off-putting.
- AI Based chatbots
The technology that powers the likes of the major search engines is now being used for other applications. AI-based chatbots are significantly more sophisticated than rule-based ones. The technology can understand written communications (and spoken word – think Siri), interpret the intent of that question and then respond with an answer that simulates the natural language that a human would use.Some of the AI-based systems take it a stage further and use machine learning to build their database of questions and answers and can interact with smart recommendations.AI-based chatbot systems are becoming more difficult to spot when you use them as they offer far greater personalisation when you interact with them and will result in more natural conversations.
Reasons for using live chat and chatbots
Offer 24/7 support
Although you can switch your live chat on and off when you need it, the chatbot function will enable you to offer customer support around the clock. If any questions arise whilst you are not available, the chatbot can collect information to pass on to your teams so they can follow up when they are back online.
Streamline enquiry handling
Live chat software doesn’t have to exist as a standalone system, you can integrate it with your CRM or potentially feed it into your park management system. With this kind of integration, you can instantly add a new level of context to any new booking or caravan sales enquiry.
For example, imagine a customer is checking the availability of a holiday. They have chosen a set of dates and are now reviewing the different holiday caravan options they can choose from. Before completing their selection, they pause on the booking page.
With a trigger-based chatbot, you could prompt the customer (after a pre-determined time) with a message that asks if they need any assistance. This allows you to engage with a customer that is clearly showing buying intent.
If the customer decides to engage with the initial chatbot messaging, you can streamline your call handling by handing over the conversation to a member of you team for those customers that only request assistance.
With CRM integration all your guest interactions could be captured and available to use in the future.
Provide instant responses
We all know that guests can be fickle and will often want instant responses to a question no matter what time of the day it is. Having a chatbot can help you bring down your wait times and solve common queries efficiently.
Engage with guests across multiple channels
Chat facilities are available across most of the social media platforms using their messaging systems. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google My Business and Apple Business Chat all offer some form of messaging tool and many of them will also integrate with your live chat / chatbot systems.
The key opportunity here is that you can engage with guests on their preferred social platform / messaging tool whilst managing all the communications in one place.
Engage proactively
When a customer carries out a particular task on your website e.g. lands on your caravan sales page you can send targeted messages and try to initiate a conversation. The chatbot can carry on the conversation if the website visitor engages and then handover to one of your sales team to take it further.
Enable your reception teams to be more effective
Over the last few years, we have seen a trend towards people becoming less inclined to use the telephone and want to speak to someone. They are choosing instead to engage in other ways like social media and with online chat tools.
But it is not just your customers that can benefit from using these tools – your reception and customer service teams can also be freed up to deal with much more important guest interactions.
When properly implemented within live chat:-
- Chatbots and self-service options can filter out the easy questions that are asked repeatedly. This means your staff can focus on providing a personalised service that drives loyalty and repeat bookings.
- Canned responses can be used in predetermined situations. You can set up pre-written responses to typical message requests and respond automatically with things like…
- Personalising messages and greeting a customer by name
- Answering common questions – like check-in and check-out times
- Running special offer campaigns
- Dealing with late availability bookings
- Queue management
When your reception and booking teams are busy you can route calls through to your live chat / chatbot and prioritise waiting customers. You can display your chatbot messaging to waiting customers and set queue limits to control the wait times. - Proactive chat (Smart triggers)
Proactive chat is a clever option whereby you can set triggers for a real-time chat window to appear to a website visitor. You can do this when a person lands on a specific page or if they have / have not carried out a particular action.For example, you could trigger a live chat window with a canned message to appear if a website visitor has spent more than 3 minutes on a holiday caravan sales page.
Examples of Live chat & Chatbots
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger dominates the global landscape for messaging apps and is used as the backbone for many other chatbot providers. Facebook Messenger should be a key tool for all holiday parks because every Facebook page includes access to Messenger and the set-up is relatively straight forward.
Step 1 – Messenger set up
Visit the Inbox Centre > Automations within the Meta Business Suite and follow the simple set up.
Step 2 – Add a greeting
Add a customisable greeting that is displayed when someone opens a new message thread.
Personalise your messages by adding Facebook’s auto insert fields – like first name, business name, email address or phone number.
Step 3 – Instant Reply
Use the Instant Reply message to create an automatic first response to new messages.
Why not use it to confirm timeframes for responses, or simply thank someone for contacting you.
Step 4 – Create responses for frequently asked questions (FAQs)
These responses can be created to help you answer common questions easily.
Send automated responses when messages contain specific keywords. For example, when you receive a message that contains the words “swimming pool”, send an automated response with information about the pool opening time.
Step 5 – Schedule automatic Away Messages
If your park is closed or your customer services team will be away, you can create Away Messages. Think of these as out of office emails, but for Facebook Messenger. Use these messages to let customers know when you will be back online or when reception is open.
Step 6 – Message Management
Once set up you will soon find people interacting with you. You can manage your messages via the Inbox.
You can clearly see which ones are still unread, tag messages against a particular topic and mark messages for follow up or assign to specific members of staff.
WhatsApp Business
Many smaller parks will be able to use the standard WhatsApp Messenger that is linked to a personal WhatsApp account. However, if you are a larger park, you may wish to consider using WhatsApp Business.
You can set up an account either to either use their standard WhatsApp tool or their API.
It works in a similar way to Facebook Messenger. You can add greetings, away messages and quick replies but also send broadcast messages to multiple people and generate short links with QR codes.
Other 3rd Party Live Chat & Chatbot services
Click4Assistance
https://www.click4assistance.co.uk/
Largely UK client base – they provide AI chatbots and it can be integrated seamlessly with Messenger, WhatsApp and Facebook.
LiveChat
Manage all of your customer engagement in one place. Website widget, social media integration, SMS and email. Simple WordPress integration.
Chatbot
AI-based tool with ready-made chat templates. WordPress, Facebook and Zendesk integration.
Live Person
One of the most mature products on the market. Conversational AI-based chatbot.
Pure Chat
A popular live chat platform that enables businesses to engage with website visitors.
Integrates with several website CMS including WordPress.
Hubspot
Live chat tool that integrates with Hubspot. HubSpot Conversations is a shared inbox that includes free tools for live chat, Facebook Messenger, chatbots, and team email, plus a universal inbox.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a centralised support tool so you can deal with general enquiries and sales in the same place. Powerful support ticketing feature and other integrations alongside livechat options.
Future of chatbots
You may have seen lots of discussion in the technical press recently about a “new kid on chatbot block” called ChatGPT. Launched in December 2022, ChatGPT is a new type of artificial intelligence chatbot that generates impressively detailed and human-like text.
It uses a different approach to data gathering using unsupervised learning. Its database is trained from gathering vast amounts of data (books, news articles, Twitter posts and scientific papers) with minimal human input. It then predicts plausible ways to finish sentences based on the statistics of human language.
The ChatGPT website has crashed several times over the last few days with thousands of users testing the capabilities of the system. From automatically creating thousand-word blogs to holding believable conversations, ChatGPT can perform creative tasks at scale.
It will be interesting to see how ChatGPT technology progresses in the future and how it impacts current chat tools and the wider search engine space.
