Chatbot refers to a computer program equipped with an artificial intelligence capability, which makes it a handy assistant for your business. Think Siri and Alexa and you will have an idea of a chatbot’s functions and potential.
For a small business with a thin staff, the value of the chatbot is obvious. For instance, you can address customer queries with ease without adding more administrative tasks to your personnel. For now, however, the technology is still not as perfect as everybody would have liked.
One example of this is Florence, which helps remind the patient of when it’s time to take medication while also encouraging them to comply with all the doctor’s requirements. It also helps track your health progress in adherence to your own goals. If you need to find a pharmacy to buy a specific medication, the chatbot will also help direct you to the nearest location.
Here are the main reasons why you should use chatbots for your medical practice:
- Handy and accessible – The clear benefit of the chatbot is that it’s with you all the time. You can access the AI through your mobile phone wherever you go. By installing a chatbot on your own website, this will drastically improve the customer experience. This will also help drive up the satisfaction level for your customers, which would be invaluable for your practice. This is especially true with the online business where reviews are crucial to ranking and conversion. Talking about customer experience, chatbots are also not driven by emotions. This is a great way of handling really emotional patients whose interaction with another human being can trigger really strong feelings.
- You can save money – The chatbot will dispense with the need to have your very own assistant. Although you can’t really download a chatbot without paying for it, it’s inherently cheaper compared to paying for the salary of a human assistant. In addition, you also don’t pay for overtime and holidays. The chatbot doesn’t complain even if you turn it on in the dead of the night for a query. It doesn’t demand a day-off either because it’s tired. When you scale up, the chatbot is right there with you. When you shift industries, you can also customize the chatbot’s features to match your requirements.
- Increase your capacity – No matter how effective your human assistant is, there will come a time when they will reach a limit. They can only handle a certain number of customers per day. The chatbot, however, has no such limit. The technology allows you to manage several customers all at once. You don’t have to make a customer wait while you process another patient. Their concerns will be addressed simultaneously. This means that you don’t have to hire extra hands just so you can maintain excellent customer service. You can book as many patients as you can and be assured they will be attended to.
- Boost customer satisfaction — According to research, more than 3 in 10 Americans are likely to switch companies because of poor customer service. Once you lose their business, it’s very difficult to regain their business. Not only that, they are more likely to tell everybody—even their acquaintances—about the poor experience. Imagine if they posted the experience on Facebook and that post goes viral? You will have a difficult time managing your reputation after that, especially for people who have never dealt with your business and are only relying on online reviews before they arrive at a decision. For instance, according to studies, more than 50% of prospective customers cancel their appointment because of a bad review.
- Simplify your life – Even if the technology is still in its infancy, chatbots will help simplify your life. There are already proven innovations that have been helping physicians and other professionals in the medical field. Some facilities use chatbots to schedule appointments, monitor patients, reminding patients about their medications and their upcoming laboratory tests or schedules. They also help create and issue invoices, receipts, insurance verification, and issue prescriptions. By automating all these tasks, your staff can now focus on the more important aspects of your operations like caring for the patients, for instance, or growing your business.
These are just some of the reasons why you should consider using chatbots to help optimize your workflow and boost your profits. The best thing about chatbots is that there’s much room for growth. As technology rapidly grows, so does the number of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that will help the healthcare industry. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t start integrating the chatbots in your own workflow. At the very least, it will help your staff adjust better whenever you introduce new technology into your systems.
Author: The Digital Marketing Guru
The Digital Marketing Guru is a full-service digital marketing agency. We’ve been providing a wide range of services to clients of all industries since 2010. Our digital marketing services include consulting and management options for a variety of online marketing tactics including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) ads, copywriting conversion rate optimization (CRO), and more. We also offer expert web design and development services for both eCommerce and B2B companies. Don’t just partner with any digital marketing agency; work with a company you can trust.