The Impact of ChatGPT on B2B Businesses (and Use Cases)

What Is ChatGPT?

This text tool uses natural language processing – that's what makes the content it produces sound more like something a real-life human would write and a world away from earlier incarnations of AI chatbots that were clunky and obviously written by a machine.

It learns from human-computer interactions and generates language that relies on understanding how we talk, write, and communicate.

Released in November 2022, the OpenAI tool is free, although in prototype form, so it produces relatively short-form content rather than entire articles, website pages or blogs.

One of the primary applications is chatbots, used by companies to provide immediate access to a knowledge database, FAQs, or account information. For example, you might use a chatbot on a landing page to enable buyers to type in their account number or order number and receive an instant update on tracking details or the expected delivery date.

Anybody can create a ChatGPT account with a Google email address and experiment with the introductory preview page. You type in a question or sentence into the conversation field, and the AI will generate a response with a few seconds delay as it searches for the correct answer.

How ChatGPT Impacts B2B Businesses

There are multiple ways to use AI to improve business processes, deliver enhanced customer experiences and streamline workflows, relying on technology to shoulder some of the workload. 

Strategic implementation can bring a range of benefits, including automated sales processes, drafting marketing content, speeding up onboarding, or translating content into another language.

Customer service and client support are fundamental to B2B businesses, so a dependable, accurate AI-enabled chatbot can generate quick responses or automate tasks that normally take time.

However, businesses also need to be mindful of the limitations of ChatGPT. They should test new functions to ensure they deliver the standards, accuracy, and quality a buyer expects. For example, the free version of ChatGPT cannot access data on events that happened pre-2021. Still, a commercial version could integrate with a knowledge database and use that to respond.

It is also essential to be conscious of the potential for incorrect answers or fake information, although ChatGPT outperforms other AI chatbots since it will sometimes refuse to answer a question if it does not have access to any responses it thinks are suitable.

B2B Marketing Applications for ChatGPT

ChatGPT can be trained, which means a business can challenge the tool to find correct responses to input text and correct the programme if it makes a mistake. This feature allows a user to evaluate the accuracy of the answers provided and test them pre-launch to iron out any flaws.

Marketers can introduce AI content generation software into their research processes or as a shortcut to producing text and content where time is limited.

Examples include:

• Assistance with content writing – although content produced by AI will normally require editing and should always be carefully fact-checked and proofed, the speed at which the programme works makes it a super-fast way to create draft content for marketing campaigns or even a baseline of information for a longer-form piece of writing.
• Ad copy creation – ChatGPT is an easy way to produce text to accompany social media posts, paid ads, and email campaigns.
• Keyword suggestions – AI can search online in a nanosecond to find relevant answers to any input phrase and is a useful way to collate keywords based on your search term.
• Email content – marketers can find it difficult to reword promotions or newsletters in a fresh way, particularly if they are managing multiple campaigns or sending regular communications. The software can produce draft text for an email in seconds.
• Translation – although a professional translation is advisable for a globalisation strategy, the chatbot can rewrite anything in an alternative language, which is ideal for businesses trading with overseas customers or where they need to establish a dialogue with a buyer.

ChatGPT Use Cases in B2B

Alongside the practical functions above, ChatGPT has several promising use cases, from developing applications to automating communications.

Customer Support

Chatbots work quickly, around the clock, and don’t command an hourly wage! Implementing an AI live chat box improves customer service and ensures clients and buyers can request information or updates at their convenience, regardless of their time zone.

Sales and Marketing

AI can boost sales revenue by steering buyers to the correct product or service, recommending augmented options, or upselling by monitoring buyers' behaviour and personalising their experience.

As a marketing tool, it can personalise almost any activity or sales funnel, customise social media feeds, and create sales content aligned to the brand, product, or service.

Training and Technical Explainers

Sophisticated products, software and technical services often require client training or technical information to support sales or allow buyers to evaluate whether the product or service is right for their company.

ChatGPT can be used in commercial and educational environments to provide real-time suggestions, navigate a process, or respond to questions.

Scheduling and Bookings

An AI chatbot is an easy way to support online booking systems or schedules, with users able to enter specific information about what they need and when and cross-check this with availability and potentially multiple calendar systems to confirm a slot.

ChatGPT could also be used to simplify travel arrangements, corporate events, or seminars, with the ability to make bookings, plan itineraries, verify tickets or schedule flights, hotels, and rental cars.

Client Account Management

The evolving use of AI in healthcare demonstrates how this technology can be used in medicine, and pharmaceuticals, as a symptom checker, medical advisory database and to answer commonly asked questions.

Those applications cross over into the B2B world, with options such as having a chatbot to alert sales teams to buyer actions, prompt follow-up communications, deliver client aftercare, and monitor engagement to provide metrics and data.