If you are an owner of a small or medium-sized business, then you’ve probably thought about using a chatbot. But despite the growing hype around programs that can automatically communicate with clients in instant messengers and on websites, many still find it difficult to understand how to use this fancy technology. Like any other innovation, a chatbot will take root in your business only if you find a useful application for it. This post contains a few ideas that we usually offer to our customers.
Waiter Chat-Bot
Use: Accepts orders and decreases the workload of the human waiters at your establishment.
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Setup: Simply assign a unique number to each table and offer visitors to use the chatbot for ordering their meals. For example, leave a sign saying,
“Don’t want to wait for the waiter? Add our restaurant chatbot as a friend on Facebook and he will take your order.”
People can use the usual menu for orders, telling the bot which meals they’d like, and all messages will be sent to the cashier.
Chatbot for Pre-Orders
Use: Saves the customers’ time and offloads the room.
Setup: This option is suitable for cafes where visitors often make take-away orders. Inform the frequent visitors of your establishment that from now on, they can make an order in advance and then just pick it up from the cash register. One of the most famous bots that works like this is TacoBot, from the American fast food network TacoBell.
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The chatbot is available in Slack messenger and can not only accept orders, but also remind customers of additional options, constantly working to increase the average check.
Promotion and Marketing Chatbot
Use: Helps keep the room full when you need it most
Setup: Inform your clients that you have a chatbot that can tell them about all your special promotions. Each time you need more visitors, you can come up with various promotions, inform people about them through the bot and offer them to book a table directly in the messenger. This bot will be doubly effective if it can attach photos of delicious dishes to its messages and invite users to share news about the promos and discounts on social networks.
The main problem with a bot like this is convincing your visitors to add it as a friend. This can be done in many ways. For example, by promising that every week, one of the chatbot’s friends/channel subscribers will receive a huge discount for dinner. As non-commercial method of stimulation, your chatbot may periodically reveal one of the chef's secrets or share a whole recipe with the clients.
Chatbot For Collecting Feedback
Setup: This function is essential when trying to improve service in your establishment, especially if it’s part of a chain. Often customers, even those who aren’t satisfied, don’t want to complain about the staff because they are sure that no one reads the Book of Complaints and Suggestions. A conversation with a manager is a stress that many wish to avoid. One of the advantages of chatbots is that people understand that they are dealing with a robot and allow themselves to leave sincere feedback. Invite users to rate the service on a scale by telling the chatbot the name of the waiter, the address of the restaurant and the date.
If you are an owner of a small or medium-sized restaurant or a cafe, then you’ve probably thought about using a chatbot to automate the ordering process. We wrote about the ways of chatbot uses in the food industry.