Let’s face it. Chatbots wouldn’t have gained this much traction if the overall preference for live chat hadn’t surged in recent years. In the age of the internet, where every piece of information is best acquired in as little time as possible, live chat serves as a sort of elixir that can meet the demands for speedy communication.
Indeed, the senior living industry is not at all impervious to this same change, and specific senior care communities have even been proven to greatly benefit from the deployment of AI-powered chatbot solutions.
Chatbots enhance the live chat experience, to the point that they become nothing short of essential to managing a senior living facility. The following advantages should give you a precise explanation as to why this is so.
But, first, let’s get to know what this kind of messaging “bot” is really like and how it functions.
What Exactly Is an AI-Powered Chatbot?
A chatbot basically serves as an independent and reliable replacement for human chat agents. They are termed as “chatbots” simply because they are designed and equipped with the ability to converse naturally — at least, to near-human levels. How is this made possible? With artificial intelligence, of course.
Do take note, though, that not all chatbots are built alike. Not all of them use AI with the same level of sophistication and complexity. Some chatbots are too “primitive” and unengaging that they only end up turning off customers.
So when we use the term “AI-powered chatbots, we’re really referring to the ones that can hold human-like conversations and interactions online. Many have already been tweaked to the point that it becomes hard to distinguish them from human agents. What more once the technology reaches unprecedented levels of enhancement? Considering the rate of AI’s ascent, it’s only a matter of time.
How Senior Living Communities Can Use Chatbots to Their Advantage
1. The matter of cost-saving
From low occupancy to the inherent struggle to maintain the finances of your community, it goes without saying that many senior living communities can benefit a lot from cost savings. To optimize your finances, you should be willing to look at every area, customer support included.
With AI-powered chatbots, you won’t need to hire a dedicated customer agent team and sales staff to handle your clients’ inquiries and marketing for you. You can only imagine the significant degree of cost saving that this can give you. Compared to the costs of maintaining chatbots, the difference is just too vast, rendering the other option impractical.
This same economical advantage also applies to the common strategy employed by senior living communities that involves using directory websites for lead acquisitions. You won’t need to pay any additional commission fees just because you have been deemed to have received a lead via their services.
These directory services can provide valuable assistance in lead acquisition, but they tend to go overboard with their fees. Oftentimes, you would have to go the length of proving that the lead arrived directly to you just to avoid paying the said commissions.
With a chatbot, every lead you acquire will be “stamped” accordingly, so you will always know when and where it originated.
2. A more engaging customer experience.
What’s even better is the fact that you can set your chatbots up in such a way that they’ll be able to keep potential customers engaged and even raise your conversion rates! By the same token, you can also markedly mitigate human errors this way, which only provides the icing on the cake.
As humans, our current mood can interfere with how we face customers. And in customer service, agents who often give in to their emotions or end up becoming exasperated are more prone to making mistakes that could result in lost leads or customer dissatisfaction. This isn’t at all an issue with chatbots, as they’ll always (literally) be happy to serve customers and provide unwaning support.
3. Better conversion rates.
As said above, chatbots are fuelled by data. With the wealth of data within AI’s reach, your prospects will be able to attain the kind of personalized customer service experience most of them undoubtedly prefer. They acquire the necessary connection that is as humanly and as responsive as possible.
Just think of specific assisted living inquiries that can be answered in a very personalized and hyper-focused way. What level of care can they expect once they become a member of the community? Do they allow (or even encourage) the playing of rock and roll music? Are the regular events held in the facility to the senior’s liking? These could all be answered in seconds by a dynamic chatbot.
And what do engaged customers readily mean in the assisted living sphere? Almost always, they are the ones that become loyal, long-term residents.
4. New routes for scaling and becoming future proof.
Once you begin relying on advanced chatbots for your customer service, you will essentially be setting your facility up for the future. It’s already a given that chatbots can provide a more satisfactory user experience. Unless it is toppled by another innovation soon (which is highly unlikely because it is AI-assisted — trends show that AI is here to stay), this technology empowers industries simply because of its unprecedented developments to the assisted living field.
Any innovation that can bring about this significant change (and improvement), one that hits the sweet spot of customer-centric service and support, is bound to become the norm (that is if it hasn’t already).
Conclusion
AI-powered chatbots really do have the necessary clout to move the senior living needle, so speak. That alone should give you an inkling as to how much of a game-changer they are for anyone in the industry.
They fit the “innovation” category, as they make a vital aspect of senior living (in this case, communication and lead acquisition and conversion come to the forefront) easy for everyone. Obviously, this “ease” extends to your funds, too, which for many owners, provides enough impetus to make that change.
