Have you ever had a nagging suspicion, during a customer support live service chat that the person on the other end might not be a human being, but an automated robot? These are Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots or software programs that are designed to provide automated enhanced customer services.
Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular, due to their advanced functionality and multifaceted approach. Some key benefits of using Chatbots in businesses are:
- 24*7 communication, which is not humanly possible
- Instant and focused communication with customers
- Cost-saving for companies
- Enhanced customer experience
- Quick problem solving
- Automated and instant transactions
Importance:
In the current dynamic and competitive business environment, it is imperative to give the customers an enhanced experience as well as achieve economies of scale. For this, technology aids such as Chatbots are very useful.
Following are the 6 most popular bots that provide effective client service:
- Customer Service Chatbots: Digital marketing and customer service spheres have changed rapidly over the past few years. Technological advancement and competition have increased the importance of customer service and engagement. Chatbots are designed to interact with and talk to the customers, instead of humans. They are programmed to ask questions, provide answers, solve problems and, are available 24 * 7. Chatbots provide a higher customer engagement perspective along with ensuring their privacy. They are also called ‘conversational agents’.
Benefits:
- Instant and personalized customer support
- Real-time engagement
- Faster problem resolution
- 24*7 availability
- Reduction in service costs
If the customer’s problem is complex, the bots transfer the conversation to human agents. This seamless integration provides a better customer experience as the customer does not have the repeat the problem. The agent can refer to the stored chat history and proceed to solve the issue accordingly. Chatbots can also do follow-ups with customers and provide after-sales support. Examples include Microsoft’s Little Ice and Facebook’s Messenger.
2. Skills Chatbots: Chatbots are increasingly revolutionizing the way we work and are rapidly augmenting humans. Skills Chatbots are equipped to perform various tasks for the user. They can track inventory, submit timecards, create expense reports, etc. They also help with various skill-based processes such as supporting employee onboarding, employee orientation, training, knowledge transfer from an outgoing employee to new ones, measure and improve employee performance, managing employee exit formalities among others. They support the human resource team by standardizing the company’s policies and imparting the required skills through software. These Chatbots work through keyword recognition and AI.
Benefits:
- Saving time and resources
- Better quality of information and knowledge imparted
- Standardization
- 24 * 7 Support
- Increase in employee productivity and motivation
This does not negate the need for humans. Of course, the human touch is required. After the initial imparting of knowledge and training, the HR staff can take over and assist the employees accordingly. An example of such Chatbot is Beekeeper App Marketplace.
3. Assistant Bots: AI-powered Chatbots provide a delightful experience to the user. They can book meetings and appointments, schedule events, track orders, and deliveries, answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), manage membership renewals, refunds, payments, collections, etc. They can also generate and manage daily progress reports. These Chatbots use Machine Learning and AI to store conversations and learn and grow over time. These Chatbots are very simple and user friendly.
Benefits:
- Saving time, energy and money
- Increase efficiency and productivity
- Enhanced experience to the user
- Optimum resource utilization
- Automatic scheduling
- A decrease in manual paperwork, hence reduction in repetitiveness and monotony
These Chatbots decrease human efforts, clearing their bandwidth for more strategic work. Data management and documentation requires a lot of time and repetitive work, which reduces employee morale. Chatbots take care of all the reporting and paperwork. Humans can carry out the required analysis and plan, strategize, and make informed decisions accordingly. Virtual Assistants are ahead of Assistant Chatbots, in terms of functionality and ability to carry out complex and many more tasks. Alexa is a good example.
4. Informational Bots: They are used to provide relevant information as well as for gathering data for research purposes. They are designed to collect and collate information from humans or various internet sources. They can carry out surveys and extract information without having the customer fill-up lengthy forms. These Chatbots have diverse uses in many industries such as aviation, hospitality, education, retail, banking and finance, healthcare, entertainment, IT to name a few. They surface helpful information as push notifications, breaking news stories and articles, etc. They can also broadcast data.
Benefits:
- Simplified data collection and management
- Ease of reporting and tracking
- Saving of time and resources
- Accessing a wider group of people for data collection
The primary level, exhaustive, and time taking activities of mass data collection and management, number crunching, and reporting can be outsourced to Informational Bots. The managerial decisions on the facts and figures can be taken by humans. Examples include Techcrunch.
5. E-Commerce Bots: The rise of Chatbots in business, especially in E-Commerce is enormous. They can automate business processes and systems, support customer service, provide data management services, give an enhanced shopping experience to customers, and simplify many other complex tasks. They prioritize responses to customers, refer to human agents when required, and also manage competition effectively.
Benefits:
- Personalization
- Product guidance
- Reduced costs
- Cart Recovery, so decreased loss of revenue
- Protection of Customer Privacy
‘Conversational Commerce’ or E-Commerce Chatbots connect companies with buyers. They assist customers by giving them personalized shopping assistance, planning their holidays, and informing them about a new product or service launches and offers. They also generate and nurture more customer leads for companies, drive sales and revenue, track customer behavior, and increase profitability. Examples of companies using these Chatbots are Staples, Sephora, and H&M.
6. Transactional Bots: They are extremely intelligent AI systems that have improved the customer experience and operations of the BFSI and retail industries. They provide customer engagement and services, problem resolution, employee assistance, staff training, personalized banking services, develop marketing strategies, technical and financial consultancy, and reduced costs. Banking is becoming ‘Smarter’ with Bots. Some of the immediate advantages are an increase in conversion rates, a drastic reduction in service and resource costs, a decrease in losses from frauds, and an increase in customer retention and loyalty. Brand recognition and strengthening are positive results in the long run.
Benefits:
- 24*7 customer support
- Streamlining of routine office tasks
- Resource optimization
- Faster and Instant transactions
- Reduction in human errors and consequences
- Increase in customer retention and loyalty
These Chatbots are not a threat to human employment but are a very useful aid to them. They help decrease work monotony and increase productivity and boosts morale. Examples include HSBC’s Amy, SEB Bank’s Aida, and OCB Bank’s HR Chatbot. Knowledge Bots are way ahead of Transactional Bots. They can handle a much larger volume of tasks and can carry out more complex transactions.
An overview of the matter
The Chatbot ecosystem has revolutionized digital marketing, content marketing, and customer service and engagement spaces across all industries. Chatbots use chat mediums, such as SMS, social media, instant messaging platforms, website chat windows, etc. to interact with customers or gather information. They are becoming increasingly popular due to their multifold benefits – saving resources, better speed and quality of customer service, increase in customer base and revenue, customer engagement, loyalty and increase in employee productivity and efficiency, faster transactions, reduction in human error and consequences due to human limitations, standardization, and brand recognition. Using this technological aid along with humans in a hybrid approach will work wonders for all.
Inspiring Ink 