Twenty years ago, chatbots were introduced in website design and made life exceedingly difficult because of their inability to understand pronunciations and dictions. Thankfully, they have gotten smarter because of improved artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These are the same things that allow Google to improve their autosuggestions when you start typing on the search bar. They also helped Facebook understand how you look like and subsequently tags you in photos posted by you or your friends.

Chatbots are not all over the internet. Many websites have integrated chatbots to provide a seamless experience for their visitors and improve the business’ customer service. With chatbots installed into their system, web visitors can then ask direct questions, inquiring mostly about the products and services being offered by the company. The autoresponder functionality is inherent in most chatbots and it allows them to seamlessly interact with customers and provide excellent customer service upfront.

A successful experience with a chatbot will start a good relationship with your client. It will also allow your sales team to gather the information that will help them make a sale once they have spoken to the client who inquired through the chatbot.

An old-school contact form and inquiry form are never to be taken for granted, too. Most customers visit your website because there is something there that they need to find. They want information on your products and services, or maybe even about your company. If they cannot find this information through the content published on your website, they need to get in touch with your team.

That is why when they land on your website, the first or second thing they’ll look for is information about how to contact you. instead of providing a number and email address and letting your customer open another browser for their mail and risk the chance of them seeing a different offer, let them fill up an inquiry form that is integrated into your website. This will stop them from browsing away from your site and accidentally seeing a better offer.

By next year, these technologies will be developed further. They will be hopefully perfected and will be integrated into many websites. Can you imagine the future trend of website design? Websites will be able to know exactly what a customer is looking for simply by analyzing his past interactions with your company. Every day, customer service on the web is becoming more efficient and reliable, so make sure never to overlook them when designing a website.