I’ve been thinking of sticking a chatbot in my blog and was wondering if it was worth it. Well, I really did some digging, and I discovered some pros and cons to them.
Cons – Cost money, empathy, can make mistakes, ethics, setup, could hurt the chance of a sale, could slow down your website, and there is maintenance.
Pros – Saves your time, could increase conversions, can help someone faster, improve bounce rate, upsells, and help your sanity.
Keep reading, and I’ll share all these pros and cons in more detail, and I’ll share 1 chatbot that might be worth looking into and why.
5 Disadvantages of Using a Chatbot on a Blog
1 – Money – One of the largest disadvantages of using a chatbot is that they cost money. It’s an investment, and you just want to make sure the tool earns you more money than you’re spending on it.
If you have a VERY tiny blog or website, then it might be better to hold off on this tool. It’s better to first crawl and earn some money, and you can use your profits to reinvest back into your business to earn more money.
The challenge is we ALL want to earn more money quicker, right?
You just want to make sure to do the numbers to ensure that using a chatbot is profitable.
2 – You’re not important – Another large disadvantage of using a chatbot is that you’re basically saying you’re not important enough for my time.
It’s like having a child and hiring someone all day long to take care of them. Sure, it can save you time, but there is a trade-off.
Call me crazy, but a marketer, if it’s done ethically, can be similar to a doctor. You find out what is wrong with someone and then try to fix the problem.
A big reason doctors get sued for malpractice is that they act like they don’t care. It has nothing to do with their medical knowledge; it’s because maybe they act like they are holding the door handle when they are talking to you, and want to leave as soon as possible.
This can make you feel unimportant as a patient, and in return, the doctor isn’t that important. I read this in a book somewhere, but it’s true, and you can learn more HERE. Basically, communication skills are everything.
It’s a tricky topic, and I’m not saying a chatbot could NOT be helpful when appropriate, but this is something to think about.
Perhaps if there were an option that someone could talk to a live person, that could be VERY helpful because you get the best of both worlds.
80% of basic questions that get asked ALL the time could be answered. If someone really wanted to talk to someone, that could be an option as well. Most importantly, it shows you care, and this is VERY important. This all depends on what you’re using the chatbot for.
3 – Mistakes – Yeah, bots make mistakes or could interpret something wrong. This isn’t a big deal for some things, but for others, such as a life-or-death situation, this might not be ideal.
Imagine calling 911 or an emergency phone number and talking to a bot that doesn’t understand what you’re saying.
There are just some things people don’t trust bots with, and maybe one day this will be reversed. A bot isn’t as trusted as a human you have known and is qualified.
4 – Ethics – As I’m writing this post, I’m watching the movie, Megan. It’s a doll that interacts with a kid, so parents can spend more time doing other things.
Sure, there is something wrong with this, and some things in life you just can’t shortcut, and this is a moral and ethical issue. Then, “of course,” the doll goes crazy.
I know a doll isn’t the same thing as a chatbot, but they are both bots. The million-dollar question is, would you like to speak to a chatbot? If the answer is yes and it was MORE helpful, then it could be a good thing.
If the chatbot was as annoying as talking to a computer on the phone, then maybe not (at least, I hate talking to those things). Oh, the video below is the funniest video ever on talking to a robot.
In the video, the roles are reversed!
5 – Setup – there are a lot of different chatbots, and it does take some time to figure things out. Even when you do finally choose one, do your research, you still have to put the code on your website. Even after you install the code, there are other customization options you can go through.
This could be worth it depending on your situation, but it’s going to take some time to learn and set up, and this is the truth.
6 – Could hurt the chance of a sale – When it comes to marketing, you could say there are 5 steps.
- Introduction
- Offer
- Value
- Benefit
- Close
First, an introduction has to be made, and there is some type of offer. The other person looks at the value and benefit of the offer, and a close happens with purchasing or not.
You could say the value is more emotional and the benefit is more logical. Some people purchase things more emotionally than others. The more you explain things logically, the harder the sell becomes. Guys, you “might” have noticed this with your girlfriend or wife.
A chatbot could help by sharing the benefits, but the more benefits it shares, the more someone may NOT be interested.
Again, every person is different, but it’s something to think about!
7 – Could slow down your website – When it comes to ranking, anything that relates to speed is super important. The more code and complexity on your website, the slower it is.
If your website is too slow, then Google will not rank it as high because it hurts the user experience. This “of course” depends on the chatbot!
8 – Maintenance – The truth is, any chatbot does require some ongoing maintenance. This means you can’t just install it and forget about it.
There are updates and changes that may be required.
5 Advantages of Using a Chatbot on a Blog
1 – Saves your time. A large advantage of using a chatbot is that instead of you interacting with someone, your robot friend does it. Since time is the MOST valuable thing we have, this is a clear benefit.
Even if the chatbot saves you a TINY amount of time in the long run, it still could be worth it.
2 – Can be helpful with conversions – If someone is on the fence about buying your product, then your chatbot “could” answer their concerns, questions, and help with making the transaction happen.
More conversions = more money, and we ALL want to earn more money, right?
According to Leadoo HERE chatbots can increase website conversion rates on average 10-100% from a study involving 400 companies.
The catch is that it depends on the company, industry, and how you use it. The only way to truly know if the chatbot helped would be to test it out.
Still, the chance to increase conversions sure does “salivate my mouth” like a dog.
The reason conversions are big is that it’s “everything” and can affect paid traffic and working hard to promote a website.
3 – Can help someone find something faster – Let’s be honest, ALL of us struggle with patience. We want things NOW. We want same-day delivery and NOT have to wait a week.
A chatbot can help someone find something more quickly. Helping someone find something could help you sell more items and thus earn more money.
Plus, helping someone find something faster probably helps with their user experience, and this REALLY is everything. The more helpful you can be, the better!
4 – Could help with bounce rate – Another benefit that is often overlooked is that a chatbot can interact with someone who is about to leave.
If you get just 1 extra sale from someone who was going to leave, then it could be worth it. This depends on what you sell and how much traffic you get.
Again, if you’re not getting enough traffic and money to start with, then a chatbot may be too early for your website.
5 – Could offer upsells – If someone purchases a product, the chatbot could interact with that person and offer an upsell right then, when someone is in the buying mood.
Not only can this earn you more money, but it can also help your visitors by offering something that is helpful. Offering an upsell (something similar that is a higher price) is important right after the purchase because someone is in that state of mind.
Have you ever noticed it’s easier to purchase something after you have been spending money?
That first sale really is the hardest, and then it gets easier because someone is in the mood to buy, and this is more emotional.
Plus, this upsell can happen the VERY instant they make a purchase. The old-school way would be to use email for an upsell, and that is slow, and your customer could be in a completely different state of mind.
6 – Help your sanity – Oh, I almost forgot, if you’re answering the same question over and over again, this might not be good for your mental health.
Having a bot answer questions you’re always getting could not only save you time but, most importantly, your sanity. This is more geared toward someone who does text support, but it’s worth thinking about.
When to Use a Chatbot?
As a marketer, I ONLY care about being as helpful as I can. If you think your chatbot can be MORE helpful to your visitors, then it could be a good idea to try it out.
Don’t take my word for it, the chatbot that I would recommend experimenting with is this one HERE.
One reason I recommend it is that it offers many upsell opportunities. It also allows customization NOT only for how to use it, but you can even market customizable bots (if you want to).
Plus, it can integrate with TONS of different software. You can learn more about it HERE.
According to Hugo, after installing the bot, he almost doubled his conversions for that particular product.
Still, I would ONLY recommend trying it out with your profits from your website.
Track everything, and if you don’t earn MORE money then you can get your money back in 30 days.
I do strongly believe in learning to crawl before trying to walk and run. If you’re NOT earning any money on your website, then I would recommend a simpler approach.
I’ve been into affiliate marketing for over 15 years, and when I got started, it was all about..
The money is in the list
Today it’s still about the money is in the list.
This means to build a landing page and collect email addresses. The main reason a list is SO SO powerful is that you own the traffic.
Plus….
- You own the list
- Can promote multiple offers
- Can contact someone WAY in the future
- Promote your other content
- Do list swaps
- Easier to get accepted into affiliate programs
- MUCH higher conversion rate
- Great for launching products
- Get valuable feedback
- Protects you from algorithmic changes
- More personalized marketing
I’m giving away a guide that shares how to build a list, how to earn money from it, how to collect emails, and even how to drive traffic to it, and you can view this guide for FREE HERE.
It’s FREE, so what do you have to lose, right?
Conclusion
In the end, a chatbot really depends on how you’re going to use it and its case-by-case approach on whether it’s worth it or not.
Give a whirl and see what happens.
AI can be SO helpful, not only for blogging, but in many fields. If you want some ideas on how to use AI with blogging, I wrote a post HERE that shares 10 hidden ways to use AI for a blog.
I hope this blog post on chatbots was helpful. Bye for now.