Chatbots took over the tech industry in the dying months of 2017 and they’re all the craze right now, but what is this new technology and why are so many big companies scrambling to get their own versions out?
In this article, we’re going to give you the layman’s definition of chatbots, explain why they’ve become so popular, and tell you the benefits of having them on your mobile/web applications.
What is a chatbot?
Chatbots are computer programs that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to have human-like conversations with users. Think of some of the more popular messaging applications like Facebook messenger but replace the person on the other end with a smart computer, and you’ll start to get a fairly good idea of what that means.
Now, chatbots aren’t a new invention. In fact, they’ve been around ever since the days of MSN messenger when an automated chat client could help you test your sound quality when you first signed up to the application.
What’s different now, however, is the use of technologies like AI to improve the chatting experience. Over time, the program analyses millions of different conversations between a real customer service representative and a client, and it starts to recognize patterns. These patterns help it formulate well-informed answers to many of the standard queries users have on a website.
For example, on a travel agency’s webpage, the chatbot could even learn to answer questions like,
“Cheapest destinations under $XYZ budget”, or, “flights to America in June”
Once you expand this service to the online e-commerce industry, you’ll start to see why chatbots have become most popular in web applications Dubai and the rest of the world.
Why is there so much buzz around chatbots?
The recent popularity of chatbots comes down to the increasing use of messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
According to research conducted by the Global Web Index, more than 80% of all internet users are adopting to messaging applications.
What’s more, the number of people using messaging apps has actually exceeded those using social media networks over the past 3 years.
Think about that for a second! More people are using the likes of WhatsApp and Snapchat than Facebook and Twitter.
Another important factor playing a role in the recent rise of chatbots is the improvements in artificial intelligence over the past few years.
Today, these power web applications have achieved almost 90% accuracy during their day-to-day conversations. That’s an incredibly impressive feat.
What are the benefits?
Modern chatbots have a ton of great benefits that have contributed to their increasing popularity:
1. 24/7 Availability
Unlike real customer service representative that might get tired or ask for a break, a computer program will continue to function without fail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
This simple fact is incredibly important for customer service since it means that users will no longer have to wait for their call to go through to a sales representative for what usually seems like an eternity (the average user spends 7 minutes on hold before their query goes through to a service agent).
2. Unlimited customer handling
If you put a human agent on the line to 3 customers at the same time, they’re guaranteed to make multiple errors in the information they give out. This is why call-waiting, one of the banes of customer service, exists.
A company can only field so many representatives in its many offices. At some point or the other, the number of customers will always exceed the number of service agents.
With a chatbot web application in Dubai, the computer program can easily deal with thousands of different queries at the same time without getting overwhelmed. Large food companies like Dominos and Taco Bell have already started using this technology to organize order delivery.
3. Save money
Imagine the amount of money businesses will save by making a one time investment to replace their entire customer service team with a single chatbot. That’s years of salaries and benefits the company no longer needs to spend any money on.
Of course, no amount of technology can ever replace genuine human interactions (or can it? You never know what kind of robots will rule the world in 2050), so there’s no need to worry if you work in the customer service department at your organization.
At the end of the day, customers will always want to “speak with the manager” anytime they have a complaint or a complex query that an automated bot can’t understand.
4. 100% customer satisfaction
Unless it’s programmed to do otherwise, a chatbot will never be impolite to a customer, no matter how rough or rude they might get during the conversation.
This certainly isn’t the case when customers are dealing with human agents and emotions get involved. If the CSR is having a bad day or they didn’t get enough sleep the night before, there’s a high chance they’ll get irritated with a rude customer’s behaviour very quickly.
Another great benefit of automated chatbots is that they can be programmed to converse in every major language. This is hugely important for industries like hospitality and travel, which regularly deal with customers from all around the world.
Conclusion
The technology is relatively new and it certainly has a few limitations (such as an inability to handle complex queries), but chatbots represent an excellent opportunity for companies looking optimize their customer service tasks.
As AI advances further in the upcoming years and more and more people start to understand machine learning better, we could soon see chatbots take over the tech industry entirely. The likes of Microsoft and Facebook are working on their versions, and this is definitely a trend that’s going to revolutionise the way we see automated conversation.