How Chat Bots Could Help Small Businesses Capture Customers With Instant Online Ordering

I live in a small town. We have many small businesses that offer lots of great food and services, but chances are you'd never know it, because their web presence is abysmal at best. Most people who own those type of businesses don't know how to build a website, and they don't have the money to pay somebody to build a robust custom system for them. Some of them don't even have a website. In fact many of them only have a Facebook page! This however, creates an opportunity for a blockchain start up like MiniApps.

MiniApps aims to help small businesses solve problems in day to day operations. Most of the time they're used for things like answering common customer questions that pop up again and again, but these advanced chat bots can be used for more.

You know what would bring all these non-tech savvy businesses into the digital age? Online ordering. I'm sure many of them wish they could have something like this, but the technology is just too difficult for a small business owner who knows nothing about websites and doesn't have the budge to pay someone to make them something. That doesn't mean that they don't offer a valuable service though! They might be the best local sandwich shop in the whole area. Look, I hate talking to people on the phone. I have serious phone anxiety, and I will go out of my way to order online from places. There are several local places I love, but I wish they would do online orders!

Well, with a chat bot now they can. Even businesses that don't have a website can take online orders for pickup or delivery super easy. Imagine all of a sudden that thousands of small businesses across the country or the world suddenly had the ability to let their customers shop from home just like the big box stores can. What exactly could this do for local businesses? What could that type of ease of use do for their sales?

How about constructing a complex custom food order and accepting a payment without the need of the limited shop help having to quit what they're doing to answer the phone? Or maybe taking 24/7 reservations for small hotels and even offering the customer custom upsell items like amenities or activities? Even better what if this bot could do all of this from social media pages where their customers already are. They wouldn't even need to visit your website to checkout.

There are so many possibilities for a small business to take advantage of a service like this to save themselves time and money. Have complex scheduling needs? Why not let your chat bot automatically remind your customer on their facebook chat that they have an appointment for 8am tomorrow at your office? Conversely, what if your customer has a desperate need to change or cancel their appointment?

A chat bot could handle scheduling, re-scheduling and cancellations at any time - even when your office staff is out for the day! Imagine you have a lot of tourists in your area from out of the country. Would it be easier for them to order the right products or manage their accounts in their native language? With the right chat bot setup you could easily accommodate their native tongue without needing to know it yourself. Blockchain apps are slowly closing the gap and helping everyday people catch up and take back small business market share.

This is my entry for the @OriginalWorks miniapps2017 writing contest sponsored by MINIAPPS which you can see here.

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