What if you could make your website more effective as a credit union? What if you could take interested site visitors and convert them into members? Best of all, what if you could do it all in an affordable way and without a large increase in manpower?

We’re talking about improving your website’s customer experience with an AI chatbot. Businesses that focus on improving their customer experience see an 80% increase in revenue. Rising fintech tools like AI chatbots are providing simple ways for financial institutions to provide high-end customer experiences from their website. But what’s so special about the simple chatbot?

AI chatbots: a quick overview

You’ve probably seen a chat bubble pop up at the bottom of a website you visited recently. Maybe even the words “How can I help?” appeared next to it. We can expect to see these more often in the future, as chatbots are currently the fastest-growing brand communication channel.

For financial institutions, chatbots have an opportunity to:

• Answer frequently asked questions related to your website or services
• Assist members with quick changes to their account
• Provide answers to inquiries related to financial concerns or loans

These are just a few examples. Companies who value customer experience know the large role chatbots have to play in our evolving digital world. It’s not unlikely for every customer to eventually expect that all websites have a chatbot to talk to. As for today, your customers are online, and experiences are everything. The better digital customer experience you can provide, the more likely they will be to do business with you.

How it works

An AI-powered chatbot is exactly what it sounds like: a chat room monitored by a computer, instead of an employee. Customers can ask questions and the computer will respond as if it were a human employee assisting them. Speech patterns and nuances in conversation can be adapted to make this experience as smooth as possible. Some people may not even realize they are speaking with a computer.

Of course, your chatbot is there to serve the customer. But it’s also there as a representative of your company. It can suggest financial services, refer someone to an application process, and persuade a potential member to choose you.

Think of it this way: a good business website tells a visitor who the company is and what it offers. A great website engages the visitor, meets them where they’re at, and provides them with solutions. This is the power an AI chatbot brings to your website.

Five benefits of an AI chatbot

There are so many great things AI chatbots can do. Check out a few of these benefits below.

#1: AI chatbots are approachable

Some people may actually prefer or be more likely to speak with a computer than an employee. An AI chat allows individuals the opportunity to ask any question without worrying about how their question may be perceived. They can ask financial questions openly without embarrassment.

Chatbots also respond quickly. Customers don’t have to wait for someone to read their question, find an answer, and respond. Computers are fast and respond immediately. In this way, a computer can actually be more approachable than another human at times.

#2: Assistance available 24/7

How do you help new or existing customers who keep odd hours and want to talk to someone at ten o’clock at night? Or 1 AM? It’s often not worth the money required to hire staff to be available 24/7, but being available to anyone who comes to your site at any time means catching more leads before they leave your site.

Having an AI chatbot solves this. You can provide service at any time to anyone, even when you’re technically closed. Customers can feel like they’re cared for, even when they can’t have a human interaction with your business. If a customer’s inquiries or needs become more than what the chatbot is capable of, they can help the customer get connected with one of your employees at a better time.

#3: AI chatbots can identify customer goals

Sometimes it’s hard to know what a customer wants. They may not even know it themselves. A chatbot can ask the right series of questions to narrow down exactly what the customer really needs and where they should go on your site.

With this assistance, your visitors can navigate your site better, know they’re getting the right service to fit their needs, and ultimately save time. On the other hand, you get to see what site visitors are looking for to inform your future decisions. This leads us to our next point.

#4: Save data for the future

Data is extremely helpful to refer back to as a business. Informed decisions are always the best decisions, but you can’t make informed decisions without first collecting the information. Enter your AI chatbot.

Every conversation your chatbot has can be archived and referenced. What inquiries are visitors making? What services are they wanting to set up? What clarifying questions are they asking? This data can help you get inside the head of your site visitors, and understand how you can make your website better. Here are a few examples.

• There are many questions about how to get to the right place on your site: use these inquiries to improve your website or menu layout
• You find a lot of inquiries are about applying for a service or changing something on their account all online: consider adding online services that allow them to do this all digitally
• Many visitors are asking basic financial questions: can you write some blogs or resources to educate people?

#5: Go beyond the basics

People tend to see chatbots on a business website and assume they are limited to simple questions only. Chatbots are often seen as a fancy version of an FAQ section, without much room for the conversation, specialized advice, or nuances you can receive from speaking with a human.

However, AI chatbots continue to improve rapidly. Some AI conversations are now indistinguishable from live human chats. From a marketing standpoint, you can make your AI respond intuitively, suggesting further services not just for the sake of trying to sell something, but because it’s something the customer really needs.

A note about current members

Your AI chats can assist more than common website visitors. Alleviate your member services team by offering AI chat for your members. These chatbots can assist with common member requests, keeping your team available for more detailed or time-consuming requests.

Members may want to answer simple questions such as paying off a loan early, how to open an additional account, or making major changes to their account details. Many AI chatbots today are capable of answering these questions or making changes immediately. At the very least, like with your site visitors, chatbots can point your members in the right direction for the changes or information they’re requesting.

Reasons you should implement an AI chatbot

In addition to all of the benefits that come from an AI chatbot, here are a few more reasons you should implement one into your website.

The present is digital

For years, people have talked about how digital our future world will be. Today, the future is here. Your customers are online, and we’re stepping into a world where soon the majority of the population will not be able to remember life without the digital world.

Like your website, your chatbot prepares you for this present world we live in. It’s important to implement digital advances as early as possible. You don’t want to be the last business to offer a digital service that every one of your competitors already offers. Consumers appreciate a business that is on top of the digital world.

Spend less money

Your chatbot will save you money. Businesses can save up to 30% on customer support costs from using a chatbot. You don’t have to pay for large support departments dedicated solely to answering common customer questions. So many queries can be filtered through your chatbot instead.

In the event the chatbot can’t answer a question for some reason, members can always transfer a customer through to a live employee. But the many people they can help will be worth it for the few that require more personal assistance.

Make more money

Of course, what are we here to do as a business but to sell our services? Remember our statistic from the beginning: companies who focus on improving their customer experience see an 80% increase in revenue. Consumers want to feel like they are heard, understood, and taken care of. This is especially true in the financial industry. An awesome and supportive customer experience does just that.

Revolutionize your customer experience

Fintech tools like AI chatbots are a must-have for credit unions and all in the financial industry. They revolutionize your customer experience and take a bold step into our present digital world. It’s estimated that chatbots will soon handle 75-90% of the banking financial industries’ queries.

AI chatbots both save and make you money while at the same time providing a better customer experience than ever before. It’s time to take advantage of this opportunity and create a better future for your credit union.