Thanks to chatbots, depending on their purpose, design and advancement level, we, as users, can easily order a cinema ticket, take advantage of help in choosing a product in the online store, find a solution to a technical problem with a purchase or receive various types of information.

Chatbot in the company – examples of applications

– answers to the most popular questions related to the product or the purchasing process,
– preliminary lead qualification – obtaining information on the expectations of a potential customer,
– comparison of the offered products based on data provided by the user,
– testing the level of customer satisfaction with the product / service.

The simplest chatbot is based on rules – the mechanics of its operation use a set of predefined answers to specific questions. As you click on the next options, new branches will be activated in the tree. More advanced bots use machine learning, thanks to which, to some extent, they “themselves” choose answers based on keywords and their construction, in theory increasing their capabilities with each subsequent interaction with the user. The most developed chat programs are based on artificial intelligence, which allows them not only to “learn” to interpret new words, but also to generate statements in natural language.

Chatbot in the company – is it worth it?

From the company’s perspective, the greatest advantage of a chatbot is the relief of the customer service department. The bot is usually able to answer frequently asked questions and solve simple user problems. If the matter asked by the client requires an employee’s intervention, the bot will provide the consultant with basic data after an initial “conversation”, thanks to which the consultant will be armed with information about the question category at the beginning of the conversation, saving time – both for the employee and the client.

Despite the many undeniable advantages, it is very easy to implement a chatbot in a way that will do more harm than good. The installation of the chatbot in the company must be thought out and properly implemented.

What should we watch out for when “hiring” a chatbot in a company?

In customer service, even the most advanced chatbot builds a psychological wall between the company and the contacting user at the outset. No human likes to be treated – mechanically. Of course, this is an individual matter, but for most clients, making contact with the program creates a feeling of being an ignored petitioner to some extent.

Conversation with a bot (especially underdeveloped) can be irritating – explaining the problem to a consultant is usually faster and easier in terms of communication than “clicking” through the available options to finally find – or not – a specific issue or reach the option of contacting a person on the hotline.

Bots process natural language better and better, but it will be a long time before they learn less standard grammar structures and will be able to fully “understand” every question addressed to them. Even greater complications arise with bots that try to interpret verbal speech. Then the first system is to understand the message using the speech recognition system and process the message into a text form, and then tag individual words. This involves a huge amount of data – each person speaks with a different voice, has a slightly different accent or phonestic habits, and there are potential interference or background noise on the line. It should also be remembered that we usually construct verbal messages a bit differently than written ones. It is only at this point that it comes to the “standard” interpretation of the text, which in itself is a multi-faceted, intricate process.

If the bot cannot recognize the interlocutor’s intentions quickly and accurately, the stairs begin. Some users will resign from contact at this stage, which can be considered a Pyrrhic victory (less work for the service department, at the cost of annoying the customer at best, losing the customer at worst).

Let’s assume that the message has been fully understood and the bot has data on the basis of which it is able to help the user. As in the case of the list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), messages sent by the chatbot must be as specific and precise as possible. In this case, placing a wall of text in front of the user, overloaded with various topics orbiting a specific issue, but not touching it directly, will increase negative feelings from the entire account.

How to implement a chatbot?

The key aspect – as usual in business – is the answer to the question of what tasks the chatbot is supposed to fulfill and, above all, to whom it is intended. Only after a thorough analysis of the purpose and requirements of the target group, it is worth moving to the design stage and then implementation.

Therefore, you should collect a database of questions with which customers (no matter if current or potential) turn to a given company – the brief should be as detailed as possible. The good news is that in the vast majority of cases it is not necessary to create a chatbot from scratch – there are hundreds of ready-made programs on the market that we can implement with the help of specialists according to our needs and requirements, for example by integrating the chatbot with the company’s CRM system.

Chatbot – what is it?

One definition gives:
A computer program designed to simulate conversations with human users, often over the Internet.

Chatbots have been around for many years. The first of them was created in 1966 under the name ELIZA. He was supposed to parody the behavior of the psychoanalyst, who mocked the patient, often repeating his statements in the form of questions. However, only recently have companies started to pay attention to the business benefits of their use. The real merit for popularizing chatbots, however, should be attributed to Facebook, which allowed them to be integrated with their messenger.

Depending on how the individual chatbots have been programmed, we can divide them into two main groups:

Simple chatbots
They operate on the basis of a previously prepared set of keywords that they are able to understand. Each chatbot reaction to a particular query must be designed separately by the programmer. If the user asks a question without using one of the known keywords, the robot will not understand the query and will usually respond with a “sorry, I don’t understand” message.

Advanced chatbots
Self-learning algorithms were used in their design. Instead of using pre-prepared answers, chatbot creates them on an ongoing basis, based on flexible rules and their knowledge. All customer queries are saved for later processing. Nevertheless, in this case artificial intelligence does not work perfectly, and preparing such a chatbot requires a lot of work. It must be admitted, however, that great progress has been made in this area. The proof is the world famous voice conversation of the Google machine with people who wanted to reserve a place at the hairdresser. It perfectly imitated even momentary reflection in the style of “mmmmm” or “eeee”. People were convinced that they were talking to another person. She definitely passed the Turing test.

What encourages users to interact with chatbots?

According to one study, the main factors are:
– Productivity – chatbots provide quick and effective help and access to information.
– Entertainment – chatbots entertain people by giving them funny tips, and help to pass time when users have no classes.
– Social and relational factors – talking to bots gives some people the chance to talk without being judged and helps work on conversation skills.
– Curiosesity – many people are interested in the very idea of “talking programs”, which encourages them to interact with them.

Let’s move on to how chatbots can help your business grow:

Answering questions
The simplest and most popular chatbot application is to make it an interactive FAQ. Chatbot filled with answers to individual questions will be particularly useful in situations where customers use a particular jargon. He will be able to answer the most common questions, leaving the employee service for really demanding cases.

The introduction of a chatbot will also help you improve your visibility on social media. It is difficult to make the customer service team be able to answer any query on the platforms on which you are present. Even if you succeeded, it would be rather time consuming and, consequently, expensive. Chatbot, in turn, can be active 24/7. This will not only save employee time, but also maintain better communication with customers and improve statistics related to reply rate.

Reduction of operating costs
Service and contact with clients (current and potential) takes time and generates costs. However, according to Paraphrase-Online.com research, implementing virtual advisors or chatbots helps reduce customer service costs by up to 30%.
Of course, such solutions will not completely replace people. Chatbots will successfully deal with simple and repetitive tasks, so that employees can be assigned to more complicated jobs.

Collecting and analyzing consumer data
Your chatbot is a great tool with which you can collect customer information. If you don’t really have a specific reason for doing so, you won’t be willing to complete the survey. Chatbot approaches feedback collection in a gentler and natural way by entering relevant questions during the conversation.
Additionally, thanks to the use of machine learning algorithms, your chatbot can analyze opinions and other information that it collects from users. This will give you better insight into what they really want. It will also help you improve your marketing strategy to focus more on your needs.

Personalized customer contact
Customers don’t always know what to do to find information that interests them. In fact, they may not even know what they are interested in. Maybe they just heard about your brand and decided to take a closer look.

Therefore, chatbots integrate with social media, collecting data about each person with whom they interact. When a user enters a specific query, chatbot can respond by offering personalized advice based on purchase history and customer preferences.

Even if chatbot does not use such a solution, it can get to know the potential customer better with a series of questions.

Streamlining the payment process
Advanced chatbots use features that allow them to make payments. Customers can pay for their products without leaving the chat interface. Bots that store the payment details of regular customers significantly improve the ordering process for subsequent products.

Summary

Chatbots are undoubtedly a useful tool in business and their popularity will grow. They help to meet recipients, adjust marketing activities, reach new consumers and save employees time. It’s definitely worth using their options as soon as possible. Chatbots currently support businesses, but in the near future it may turn out that … they will be businesses themselves. An example is the movie “Her”, where the hero enters into a conversation and is connected with an advanced algorithm (woman’s voice) managed by a company that was established to provide satisfying, platonic relationships in a world in which interpersonal relations were qualitatively getting worse . Sounds familiar? Ha! Maybe the demand for such a service is just around the corner.