Incorporate Conversational AI Chatbots Into Your Product-Led Strategy

Imagine a thriving digital town square where like-minded individuals share their passions, experiences, and knowledge. Think of a platform that seamlessly connects hosts with travelers, customers with drivers, and enthusiasts with their favorite brands. It's a world where user communication fuels growth, and communities emerge as the driving force.

But what if your app doesn't naturally fit this mold? What if you're not in the business of connecting travelers, athletes, or hobbyists? Can you still harness the incredible power of user communication to drive Product-Led Growth (PLG)? The answer is a resounding "yes”. The key lies in the innovative capabilities of conversational AI chatbots powered by cutting-edge Large Language Models (LLMs).

Let’s uncover how AI chatbots can elevate your app's PLG strategy. You might think that creating vibrant communities like Hinge or being a two-sided network giant like Doordash is a prerequisite, but it's not. Generative AI chatbots are leveling the playing field, enabling businesses to engage, retain, and convert through the art of conversation. Let’s review how generative AI chatbots can empower your PLG journey, no matter your industry or niche.

PLG strategy 1: Increasing your application user engagement with AI chatbots

For the first time with the rise of generative AI, chatbots can engage in a human-like conversation, fathom context, and be nimble in their answers. We are far from the legacy scripted chatbot you might have experienced on your bank app, where the most recurrent answer to straightforward questions was: 

“I didn’t quite catch that, would you mind rephrasing your question?”

With conversational AI driven by models like GPT, Palm2, Llama2, Varco, or the latest Mistral,  any prospect visiting a website can expect to engage back and forth with a chatbot that will resolve their questions and problems. It’s also critical to realize that through conversations, humans create an emotional connection with your brand, which drives conversion and long-lasting relationships.

• Games like PubG: NewState from Krafton leverage the power of live chat to connect users and increase in-app retention and advocacy. Human connection is at the crux of retention PLG strategies.

• A company like PicPay witnessed a 2x increase in transactions when elevating financial transactions to social interactions. Personal communication became a foundational component of their business growth. 

Today, with generative AI chatbots, mere point-and-click navigation turns into human-like conversations, elevating commodity interaction to engaging and rich experiences. 

Picture this: You send a marketing notification for a limited-time flash sale on seasonal handbags. It embeds a clickable link that instantly connects your customers to one of your AI sales chatbots. Your customers engage the AI sales chatbot with product and return policy questions. Satisfied by the answers addressing some of their concerns, the prospect decides to proceed with a purchase that would have unlikely occurred without your autonomous customer pre-sale service.

AI PLG strategy 2: Streamlining user onboarding with GenAI chatbots

Consider a marketing professional tasked with adopting a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform to boost their team's digital marketing efforts. As they log in for the first time, they're greeted by a helpful AI conversational chatbot.

The chatbot introduces itself as their onboarding assistant and asks if they need any guidance. Initially overwhelmed by the platform's features and options, the marketer seeks assistance. They type in a query about setting up their first email marketing campaign.

The chatbot responds promptly, breaking down the process into easy-to-follow steps. It guides the user through creating a campaign, selecting a target audience, designing email templates, and scheduling delivery. As the conversation progresses, the chatbot adapts to the user's pace and provides clarification whenever necessary.

Thanks to this educational conversation, the marketing professional quickly grasps the platform's capabilities and begins their first campaign confidently. What could have been a daunting and time-consuming onboarding process becomes a seamless experience, all thanks to the assistance of the AI conversational chatbot.

To create such an experience, the synergy between generative conversations and chatbot workflows is crucial.

What are chatbot workflows exactly? 
Chatbot workflows consist of predefined sequences designed to steer users along a specific path, helping them accomplish their objectives. In our example, these sequences represent various learning paths to a successful onboarding process. 

Always ensure your AI chatbot service includes workflows, so new users don’t abort their onboarding, get to value faster, and become loyal advocates of your product. 

Let's now explore how new AI chatbot capabilities like function calling can personalize further your customer experience.

AI PLG strategy 3: Enhancing your customer experience with personalization

Imagine you're an online shopper looking to purchase a popular smartphone model from your favorite e-commerce platform. You're keen on knowing if the specific color you want is in stock and whether any new promotions are available.

Upon visiting the e-commerce website, an AI chatbot pops up to assist you. You ask about the smartphone's availability and potential discounts. This is where function calling comes into play. 

Note: What is AI chatbot’s function calling?
AI chatbot function calling from OpenAI allows your GPT-powered AI chatbot to interact with external online services via Application Programmable interfaces (APIs). For example, an AI chatbot can retrieve weather forecast data from a publicly available database and integrate it into its responses.

The chatbot, powered by the retrieval capability, instantly gets real-time data from the e-commerce platform's inventory system. It checks the current stock status for the desired smartphone color and scans ongoing promotions. In seconds, the chatbot informs you that the smartphone is in stock in your preferred color and that there's a limited-time offer with a discount. It even suggests bundling accessories based on your past purchases. 

Thanks to the function call capability, the AI chatbot provides personalized and accurate information, ultimately enhancing your shopping experience.

PLG Strategy 3: Elevating the user experience 

Contextualizing AI chatbots using RAG

What is RAG?

RAG, short for Retrieval Augmented Generation, represents a transformative technique that bolsters the capabilities of large-language models (LLMs) like GPT-4. By seamlessly integrating information retrieval with text generation, RAG addresses the limitations inherent to LLMs. LLM models, while proficient, operate on extensive datasets that lack specialized knowledge. RAG facilitates ingesting expert content specific to your business, into LLMs, resulting in more comprehensive and valuable responses. This augmentation elevates the overall user experience and satisfaction.

Keeping control of generative AI

Additionally, a crucial feature to consider in AI chatbots is bypassing the generative LLM engine and providing verified answers directly. This feature eliminates the variability in response quality, especially when considering the potential for hallucination. Prioritizing user experience with this approach ensures consistent and trustworthy interactions.

Going beyond text with AI chatbots:

While generative AI undoubtedly elevates the chat experience, it's crucial to recognize that the chat interface is pivotal in optimizing user engagement. Chat interfaces have evolved to offer multifaceted interactions that cater to various use cases.

For instance, in an e-commerce marketplace, card views within the chat interface are indispensable. These card views enable shoppers to visually explore product displays, featuring images, descriptions, and pricing purchased directly.

In other scenarios like customer support, chat interfaces may incorporate features like file attachments for sharing documents, images, or screenshots. This capability expedites issue resolution by allowing users to convey complex problems visually.

Moreover, interactive buttons and quick-reply options have become prevalent in chat interfaces, reducing the need for typing. These buttons can enable actions like confirming appointments, selecting preferences, or initiating specific tasks with a single click.

By leveraging these modern chat interface elements, businesses can create dynamic, user-friendly interactions that drive customer satisfaction.

Boosting PLG with GenAI Conversational Chatbots

Harnessing the power of conversations is a proven strategy to drive Product-Led Growth (PLG). In today's tech landscape, many apps incorporate chat, voice & video calls, or live streaming to enhance the user experience. However, AI chatbots take the app experience to the next level. They empower businesses to create engaging, human-like conversations without needing direct user connections, effectively bridging gaps in the customer journey and strengthening brand connections.

AI chatbots are highly versatile, excelling in tasks like assisting uncertain visitors, gathering marketing insights, making recommendations, and generating leads. They prove invaluable on recruiting websites, efficiently screening potential candidates. Chatbots expertly qualify prospects in real estate before routing them to a salesperson. Surprisingly, GenAI chatbots now play matchmaker, reducing the frustration of finding like-minded individuals. These versatile AI chatbots offer countless opportunities to enhance the customer experience, boost efficiency, and drive growth. The potential is limited only by one's imagination.

How to get started?

To effectively achieve your app's objectives and build long-lasting customer relationships, leveraging and partnering with a comprehensive communications platform is essential. Look for one that offers API products to create a truly secured and branded app experience and provides add-on software services for critical operations like moderation, support, notifications, and AI chatbot administration. Sendbird, an all-in-one communications API platform tailored for web and mobile apps, is worth exploring. It will empower your business by harnessing the potential of GenAI chatbot conversations, enhancing your app's success and overall customer communication.