Report: Two-thirds of consumers would rather use a chatbot than browse a website

Conversational marketing agents, or chatbots, have become practically ubiquitous on the internet today. According to Botco.ai, not only do eight out of 10 people say they’ve used a chatbot in the past, but the vast majority of consumers — 70% — say that chatbots typically answer all or most of their questions satisfactorily.

Chatbots have become such an important way of navigating websites and finding information that two-thirds of consumers say they would rather use a chatbot than browse a website to find what they’re looking for. Approximately 18% of consumers use chatbots to find business hours, while 17% are interested in learning more about product information, and 16% are looking to find a nearby business location; other use cases include making a customer service request (16%), requesting technical support (12%), requesting a quote (11%) and asking for personalized recommendations (9%).

Meanwhile, marketers are deploying chatbots in greater numbers to enhance the customer journey. Ninety-three percent of marketing professionals say their companies currently use chatbots to interact with prospects and customers, while 87% of companies that don’t currently utilize chatbots expect to do so in the future, with half of them expected to do so in the next year or sooner. Nearly all marketing professionals — 98% — confirm that chatbots have improved the customer journey overall for customers and prospects, as well as increased lead conversions for their companies. The most noted benefit was increased sales conversions, followed by more qualified leads, decreased customer-support requests, a more positive customer experience and increased brand affinity, respectively.

In November 2021, Botco.ai conducted two surveys to gauge the utilization of chatbots in the field of marketing. The first survey was directed towards consumers and had 1,000 participants. The second survey conducted had 250 respondents, all of whom held a title of either chief marketing officer, digital marketing manager, vice president of marketing or director of marketing. The goal of the survey was to evaluate the participants’ familiarity, use of and satisfaction with intelligent chatbots, as well as the appeal of the technology compared to other products currently available. Respondents represented a wide variety of industries, education and income levels.

Read the full report by Botco.ai.