Web Chatbots For Government
The Rise Of Government Chatbots
When we talk of Government Chatbots, we are referring to the technology that enables engaging interactions at scale, between citizens and their local, city & state governments.
With the rise of the internet economy, citizen expectations from all service-providers have dramatically changed — so much so that even Governments can’t afford to be unresponsive and aloof. This has inevitably lead to an absolute explosion of chat-based automation in Government, with states like Missouri, Indiana & Montana in the US leading the way.
What Is A Government Chatbot?
Government Chatbot is a piece of technology that automates citizen-state conversations and improves citizen access to public services. It can be deployed as a simple widget on government websites (or web-apps) to drastically improve the citizen experience.
This is especially important when we consider the scale at which Governments typically operate. Unlike most companies which have only a handful of service offerings and encounter limited volumes of consumer traffic; democratic governments are answerable to millions of citizens for an infinite buffet of civic & welfare services.
Benefits of Government Chatbots
Here’s a brief overview of the various benefits that AI chatbots offer to local, city & state governments ⤵️
✅ Creation of a business-friendly environment
✅ Higher awareness & easier access to public services
✅ Increased citizen satisfaction, faster turnaround time.
✅ Higher citizen engagement in government initiatives.
✅ Savings on Employee Costs
Chatbot Use-Cases For Government
1. Automate Licensing & Permit Applications
Whether you run a neighbourhood bakery or a multinational corporation, starting and running a business is a bureaucratic affair. From licensing to corporation fees, trademarks to permit registration, business owners are constantly interacting with the government to run their business efficiently and legally.
Often it’s not the bureaucratic requirements but their opaque nature that discourages people from opening businesses in specific jurisdictions. Since governments rely on tax revenue, it’s directly in their interest to create a business friendly environment that attracts investments & generates economic growth. To do so they need to conversationally automate ⤵️
🎯 Business & Professional Licenses
🎯 Business & Professional Registrations
🎯 Housing, Zoning & Expansion Permits
🎯 Environmental & Tax Compliances
And that’s exactly what chatbots offer! By completely automating all licensing, permit & compliance through an engaging conversation, chatbots can play a key role in driving economic growth for city, state & local governments.
2. Virtual Assistant For Public Services
Government agencies & municipal departments deliver dozens of services to millions of citizens. The sheer complexity of information, rules, and conditions associated with those public services make for poor websites. This invariably results in government or their scheme website turning into a mess of links and mobile-unoptimized PDFs that citizens simply do not have the patience to navigate.
In other words, even if the government website contains all the info that citizens could possibly want; they can rarely, if ever find the specific information that they actually need.
This is where a chat-based Virtual Assistant for Public Services comes in. Using Natural Language Processing, not only can it accept citizen queries in their own words; but can even allow citizens to schedule appointments with various agencies (DMV, Passport etc.), without ever leaving the chatbot.
3. Citizen Engagement
As the Covid-19 pandemic has shown, trust between citizen & states is key in dealing with large problems that require coordinated public action. Governments can earn this public trust by collecting community feedback through high-engagement chat-based quizzes.
WhatsApp Chatbots For Government
What is WhatsApp Marketing Software?
In the public imagination, WhatsApp is viewed (rightfully so) as the most popular instant messaging service in the world. With more than two billion active users — if WhatsApp was a country, it would technically be the most populous one.
But what is often overlooked in the public discourse is the incredible technical infrastructure that WhatsApp provides for businesses, to enhance and upgrade their ⤵️
🎯 Lead Engagement: Pre-sale; includes lead generation and lead conversion
🎯 Customer Engagement: Post-sale; includes transactional messages, customer marketing and customer support.
The technology that enables the automation of these lead and customer engagement process is called a WhatsApp Marketing Software. Example? The Tars WhatsApp Engagement Suite.
What Is A WhatsApp Government Chatbot?
A WhatsApp Government Chatbot is a chat-based automation solution that enables local, city & state governments to provide end-to-end engagement across all citizen touchpoints — from public awareness campaigns to municipal services registration.
They do so by simulating human conversations based on a predefined set of conditions, that Governments are free to determine according to their specific use-case.
Benefits Of WhatsApp In Government
Since WhatsApp is primarily perceived as an instant messaging app to communicate with friends and family, WhatsApp Marketing Software (like the Tars WhatsApp Engagement Suite) allows Governments (and their agencies) to position themselves as much more approachable, trustworthy and personal in all its customer interactions.
Moreover WhatsApp Messages have an open rate of nearly 98% and a response rate of nearly 40%! By giving 5x times more visibility and responses than any other channel, WhatsApp blows every other lead & customer engagement channel out of the water.
WhatsApp Use-Cases In Government
1. Public Services Helpdesk
While businesses focus on streamlining their product line-up, the services being offered by governments are vast and constantly growing. This is because governments have to inherently cater to different stakeholders in society, meaning their audience naturally increases with the rise in inclusive governance. This means any citizen support must necessarily happen at scale, and that’s exactly what a WhatsApp Public Services Helpdesk offers to Governments.
If that’s not all — in many countries, government agencies have tight margins for citizen support, sometimes being unavailable in the afternoon or evening hours. Chatbots are always on (even on bank holidays), and can handle queries about services, instructions, documents, or tax processes.
2. Personalized Reminders
Modern citizens don’t exist in a vacuum. They breathe and thrive in a technological utopia where fantastic customer engagement from world-class businesses is the rule and not the exception. Naturally, their expectations from Governments today, are no less demanding. Thankfully these expectations have an obvious solution: personalized reminders delivered using the Tars WhatsApp One-Time Campaigns. Be it a tax deadline or a court summons; Governments can now send personalized reminders to all citizens in their respective jurisdictions.