Chatbot Use Cases: What Bots Can do Per Industry and Function

Just like many other innovative technologies, chatbots only get more popular. They’re implemented across different industries and a variety of business functions to offer better customer or employee experience. They’re so top of mind for leaders that, according to research:

“Fifty-six percent say conversational bots are driving disruption in their industry, and 43 percent report their competitors are already implementing the technology.”

Chatbot use cases for business

Before we dive into specific industries, let’s take a look at important chatbot use cases for business as a whole (especially customer service chatbot use cases).

Research shows what customers usually expect chatbots to do:

So, based on customer expectations and current technology, here are 15 chatbot use cases:

Customer support and engagement

• Chatbots are first-tier support. Instead of customers waiting an hour on hold to get non-complex issues solved, they can get instant support from your chatbot, especially when there’s an emergency or if it’s after hours. Chatbots can also process refunds or order cancellations.

• Chatbots answer repetitive questions. For example, if your support agents are always getting asked about your pricing plans, it’d be cost-effective to give customers the option to talk to a chatbot instead.

• Chatbots help visitors navigate your site. Chatbots can help with navigation including helping visitors find specific pages, discover information, and receive instructions about tasks (e.g. registration).

• Chatbots can handle monetary transactions. Especially in the banking or finance sector, chatbots can easily help customers pay bills, check their card balances, and more. 

• Chatbots are fun conversationalists. Chatbots can serve as a source of entertaining discussions about the weather, movies, and more. This is a way to engage customers with personalized communication without having to distract a human employee from their duties. Part of this use case is also sending fun promos and getting emails.

• Chatbots can collect customer feedback. Chatbots can use surveys or communicate with customers to register complaints or wishes, thus helping capture the voice of the customer. 

Learn more about chatbots in customer support.

Sales and marketing

• Chatbots can make personalized recommendations. AI assistants can analyze a user’s behavior on the site and ping them with personalized recommendations or useful marketing content.

• Chatbots facilitate email collection and marketing campaigns. One way to capture email addresses is to program the bot to subscribe visitors to newsletters, events, and webinars. It can also hold contests or share promotional material. 

• Chatbots support front-line sales and lead generation. Apart from recommending personalized services, chatbots can engage visitors in conversations (e.g. “I see you’re checking out our cobrowsing feature. Would you like to know more about how this option boosts your customer experience?”) They can also connect visitors to salespeople automatically and help them book demo appointments.

• Chatbots can handle purchases and customer onboarding. A bot can handle instant purchases for retail businesses, like tickets, clothing, etc. or immediately sign up customers for free trials. Chatbots can also serve as additional assistance to customers by helping them use a product and explore options or features.

• Chatbots perform inventory checks and track orders. If a customer wants a specific item, the chatbot can see whether it’s in stock or how long it’ll take to arrive. The bot can also make alternative recommendations should the particular item be unavailable.

• Chatbots provide customers access to information. If a customer can’t find what they’re looking for, chatbots can instantly pull knowledge base articles, FAQs, or other documents for them.

Here’s more about sales chatbot use cases.

Employee use cases

• Chatbots assist employees in finding information fast. If your employees struggle to navigate your internal documentation or knowledge base, a chatbot can help them find answers quickly. (That’s especially useful if they’ve got customers waiting). 

• Chatbots serve as project support. Chatbots can send notifications for various tasks, e.g. a reminder to follow up with a customer or that an action was taken in the CRM.

• Chatbots can serve as HR assistants. For example, chatbots can help employees register time off, retrieve company policies, and find answers to repetitive employment questions.

This list is not exhaustive, as chatbots are becoming more and more versatile and capable via AI (e.g. Natural Language Processing). 

Now, let’s see how each of these use cases apply to different industries.

Chatbot use cases by industry

If you’re curious about how companies like yours implement these virtual assistants, here are the most common chatbot use cases broken down by industry. Skip to your industry if you want to:

• Banking
• Telecom
• Retail
• Insurance
• Ecommerce
• Healthcare
• Government
• HR

(We recently wrote about chatbots in education, too.)

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Chatbot use cases in banking

Chatbots are important in the banking industry – an industry traditionally struggling to offer high-quality online services (especially with the advent of fintech). According to a survey of 1,000 consumers in 2018, users are already sold on using chatbots for banking issues:

“Two thirds of those surveyed felt that an AI-powered chatbot would be useful in assisting them and 44 percent would rather communicate with a [reliable] chatbot than a real person.”

A chatbot can support a bank’s digitization efforts while benefiting employees and creating cost reductions. Sixty-four percent of agents supported by AI chatbots are able to spend most of their time solving complex problems, versus fifty percent of agents without this support. Reducing lines at bank branches is a benefit, too. 

Chatbots can deliver cost savings of over $8 billion per year by 2022 in the banking and healthcare sectors.

Here are potential use cases for chatbots in banking:

• Giving answers to basic questions. The chatbot will be answering basic questions from customers, like “when’s my next loan payment due”, “what’s my credit card balance?” or “how much did I charge to my VISA in September?” 

• Helping solve issues fast. If a customer is stuck with a banking service, such as money transfers or retrieving their e-banking password, and wants a solution quickly, a chatbot can help them or connect them directly to a live agent.

• Take up non-complex banking tasks. For example, a chatbot can process payments or simple transactions.

• Providing information on banking products, accounts, and actions. The chatbot can give an overview of bonus points options, online services, available loan types, and more. It can also monitor spend, review account information, and more.

• Generating leads. When users browse a bank’s website, the chatbot can engage them and encourage them to ask questions.

• Capture fraud or hacking concerns quickly. Imagine believing you’ve been hacked or defrauded and having to wait half an hour to tell an agent. Pretty frustrating huh? A chatbot can immediately register these requests and sometimes even take actions (e.g. lock a credit card).

Chatbot use cases in telecom

The telecommunications industry has some work to do to improve its customer experience. According to a study, telco placed last among industries for meeting customer needs.

Telecommunication companies may have many thousands of customers at any given time. If even a small percentage of these customers call in with questions or issues, the company’s contact center can be quickly overwhelmed and waiting times skyrocket. Not to mention having to service the visitors who are not yet customers, but who express interest in buying.

Chatbots are a good way to help address customer problems in these cases as they can help reduce wait times and triage customer needs. Also, chatbots enable telecom companies to provide support to their customers around the clock, helping them prioritize opportunities for  growth or great customer service.

Here are some common chatbot use cases in telecom companies:

• Handling queries or supporting sales/plan upgrade opportunities. If a customer wants to change their plan for phone, internet, cable, or any other service, they can ask the chatbot for information and even upgrade their plan automatically. They could also manage their account or pay their bills.

• Collecting and responding to customer feedback. From complaints about signal quality to concerns about data security, a chatbot can record what the customer is saying (and direct them to a live agent if their issues can be resolved directly). This helps provide quicker and better service to customers.

• Directing customers to the right agents for support. If your company has a different department dealing with each type of issue (e.g. accounts and subscriptions, troubleshooting), your chatbot can quickly “diagnose” the type of problem and connect customers to the right team.

• Answering frequently asked questions. Customers or site visitors may have questions about various generic issues that can be easily answered without human intervention. These include subscription plans, location coverage, setup instructions, terms and conditions of service, and more.

Chatbot use cases in retail

With so much purchasing activity increasingly online, in-store retailers understand that going digital will help them compete with ecommerce businesses. Equipping physical shops with online services helps retailers create faster and smoother customer experiences.

Especially in cases like the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, employing chatbots, along with other online services, is a good way to connect to your customers and keep them engaged. For example, companies like furniture retailer Dufresne have brought their showrooms online and powered their services with chatbots, video chat, and more. 

Here are some common chatbot use cases for retail:

• Generating leads. OK, customers have landed on your site to shop for products, but how do you make sure they stay around to make a purchase? That’s where a chatbot can help. It can capture customers’ contact info or keep customers engaged by sending them products or offers.

• Supporting in-store purchases. Imagine, for example, that a customer has their eyes on an item from your store, but wants to compare in-store and online prices, check whether you offer an online discount, or see if the item exists at another store branch in a different color. Instead of engaging the sales associate who may be busy, or having to go down to the store in the first place, they can chat with your bot.

• Offering instant service. As in every industry, retail can also benefit from a bot’s ability to give instant answers to customers 24/7. From providing product availability to store locations and working hours, a chatbot enables you to answer FAQs on the spot,  contributing to a positive customer experience.

Insurance chatbot use cases

Customer experience in the insurance industry is very important. One reason is that for many, insurance is a “necessary evil”, not something they enjoy dealing with. Also, insurers are facing competition from companies outside their industry like banks and online service providers. As research by Accenture shows, the results of this are interesting:

So, along with other strategies to improve customer experience in insurance, especially live chat, chatbots can be a big help.

Here are common chatbot use cases in the insurance industry:

• Suggesting policies and services. Chatbots can segment and analyze your audience and identify a list of services that may suit them. This means the bot can make some personalized recommendations about insurance types to engage the customer and connect them with an agent. One of the largest insurance providers in Ireland, AA Ireland, increased quote conversions by more than 11 percent and decreased agent handling time by 40 percent thanks to their bot.

• Offering insurance advice. Customers are already fine with these virtual assistants: 74 percent are willing to receive computer-generated advice about the type of insurance to purchase and 78 percent about investment asset allocation. Some bots can even achieve automated underwriting.

• Automating FAQs and administrative tasks. If there’s one industry where the customers have dozens of repetitive questions, it’s insurance. A chatbot is there 24/7 to answer questions from people who may be anxious to get answers, e.g. on insurance coverage, premiums, documentation, and filing claims. The bot can also take up customer onboarding, billing, and policy renewals.

• Helping people fill in forms and applications. The chatbot can be the first stop for customers who have trouble filling out complex applications. The bot can direct them to help pages or give basic answers, and then connect them to a live agent if their issues are more difficult to solve. Chatbots paired with cobrowsing software kick this level of support up a notch by enabling agents to guide customers on-screen through forms and applications.

• Sending important notifications. According to the Accenture research above, customers want relevant, real-time alerts. For example, 68 percent of those with home insurance want mobile alerts about potential fire, smoke or carbon dioxide hazards, while 64 percent of those with auto insurance want real-time notifications when they enter dangerous driving routes. Chatbots can take care of these alerts.

Ecommerce chatbot use cases

In ecommerce, all sales, customer service, and marketing happens online. This is why having a chatbot is a no-brainer – your customers will spend a great part of their purchasing process navigating your site or connecting with your brand in messaging apps.

That’s led many ecommerce businesses, like eBay, Nike and Sephora, to deploy chatbots on apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Kik and WeChat. According to HubSpot research, the vast majority of people are open to interacting with chatbots for a variety of reasons and 47 percent of consumers would buy items from a chatbot.

Here are some common chatbot use cases for ecommerce:

• Facilitating sales and sending offers. Chatbots can offer guidance to your website visitors by asking them questions and offering advice on suitable products, or by pulling data from your CRM system to make personalized recommendations. They can also send interesting offers and discounts to customers.

• Re-engaging customers with abandoned carts. Chatbots can send reminders to users that their order is unfinished or ask them whether they have an issue that prevents them from buying. They can also convince customers to finish their purchase, by reiterating valuable product info.

• Offering 24/7 support. When your human support agents are off the clock, your customers keep buying. So, what if they face a problem during those hours? A chatbot can be there for them around the clock to either solve basic issues or take a message for when the agents are back online.

• Helping with orders and suggestions. Chatbots can check the stock availability of specific products, help customers complete their purchases, track the status of their order and make any changes allowed. Bots can also help your customer choose what’s best for them (e.g. the appropriate makeup brand) via asking questions.

• Conduct consumer research. Your bot can be programmed to collect information on repetitive queries, common trends and preferences regarding products, and more. This info helps you shape your marketing strategy and also tweak your bot’s messaging to engage customers.

Chatbot healthcare use cases

Chatbots are most popular in healthcare compared to other industries. With good reason, as we said in the banking industry section, chatbots can deliver cost savings of over $8 billion per year by 2022 in the banking and healthcare sectors.

Chatbots save time in an industry where time is often literally a matter of life and death. Clinic or hospital contact centers don’t get overwhelmed with basic queries, and patients can get quick answers about topics that worry them. Also, chatbots can help smooth over healthcare operations by ensuring healthcare workers and patients have all the information they need when they need it.

Here are common use cases of chatbots in healthcare:

• Providing information on medical subjects. A chatbot can provide timely and accurate information on medical procedures, symptoms of illnesses, processes, health insurance, etc.

• Sharing useful tips. The chatbot can be programmed to share chunks of helpful advice to your patients or their families (e.g. diet to follow before surgery). It can also book examinations for your patients.

• Engaging prospects on sites. For example, your customers/patients may navigate on sites without knowing whether they can find their answers in an article or book an appointment. A chatbot can quickly understand what they need and guide them.

• Assisting physicians. We all expect our doctors to know everything by heart, but, as all professionals, they often need to retrieve information. Chatbots instantly provide answers on medication, dosages, standards, and more.

• Being full-blown health assistants. Chatbots can do so much more than giving tips, they can often help patients apply simple treatments, remind them to take medicine, and monitor their health.

Chatbot use cases in government

“I just love dealing with government services!” – said no one ever. Bureaucracy has a bad rap all over the globe, and government agencies consistently underperform in customer satisfaction, according to a McKinsey article. The same article reports that dissatisfied customers are “more likely to contact agency hotlines three or more times, thus straining resources and budgets.” 

The importance of customer experience in the public sector is highlighted by the Office of Management and Budget which urged government agencies to focus on customer experience and improve service.

So, one way to provide a better experience and relieve the impact of budget constraints is – you guessed it – chatbots. They can help ease government phone lines and keep them available for the most serious cases. They also save people time and effort, either because they don’t have to wait for a government employee to answer the phone, or because they don’t spend time looking through vast public records.

Here are some common chatbot use cases in government:

• Providing quick access to information and public data. People can use chatbots to search anything from their own records, to new laws, to government papers and public research.

• Collecting complaints. This is a possible use case in other industries, too, but it’s extra important for governments which often have to deal with angry or disappointed citizens.

• Helping with government processes. This includes submitting documents or completing forms, registering for government services, and more.

• Answering queries 24/7. In many countries, government agencies have tight margins for customer support, sometimes being unavailable in the afternoon or evening hours. Chatbots are always on (even on bank holidays), and can handle queries about services, issues, instructions, documents, or tax processes.

HR chatbot use cases

Implementing HR chatbots isn’t very widespread, but it’s gaining traction. 

This is because many companies realize that their HR department receives lots of repetitive requests or questions from employees that could be easily handled automatically. A chatbot can provide answers faster than a busy HR professional and thus improve the employee experience. The HR professional would then also be freed up to handle strategic initiatives instead.

Here are some HR chatbot use cases:

• Sharing company information and documentation. For example, an employee can ask your bot “what is the company’s policy on parental leave?” or for the standard confidentiality agreement. The chatbot can also produce salary documentation.

• Supporting HR functions. Several tasks that can be easily automated in functions like recruitment, onboarding, and learning programs can be run by chatbots. For example, employees can complete your onboarding checklist with the help of a chatbot.

• Answering questions about benefits and perks. Employees can ask about their time off balances, past benefits they took, or an overview of their current benefits.

• Assist with standard actions. This includes updating an employee profile, resetting passwords, and tracking attendance and hours worked.

Chatbots are here to stay

Chatbots have different levels of adoption among different industries. One thing is for sure, though; they’re here to stay and evolve. According to an article in the Verge, Ray Kurzweil, futurist and Director of Engineering at Google, predicts that bots will become steadily smarter: 

“If you think you can have a meaningful conversation with a human, you’ll be able to have a meaningful conversation with an AI in 2029.

The future holds great things for virtual assistants. Implementing them now will give you ample time to test their abilities and integrate them properly into your customer experience strategies.

Nikoletta Bika

Senior Content Specialist

Nikoletta Bika is an experienced content marketer, writer, and editor, with an educational background in business and people management. She writes about customer experience, the future of AI, data, and tech trends.