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Back in 2016, Gartner predicted that by 2020 people would be having more conversations with bots than with their spouses (yikes!). Whether that’s come to pass or not, the fact is that we are engaging with conversational artificial intelligence (AI) on a daily basis with our virtual assistants like Google, Siri, and Alexa. We ask them questions and give them instructions in our home or office, from our car, and in the middle of crowded stores. We also engage with businesses’ chatbots to get help, whether directly on their website or in a message on their Facebook page after hours. They ask us if we need help at just the right moment, and we know that little chat box at the right hand bottom of the screen is almost always there if we need help.
And why shouldn’t it be? We live in a time when consumers demand answers instantly. If they don’t get them, they go somewhere else. At the same time, younger generations are moving away from traditional phone and email support and favoring brands that offer support via live chat. So it’s no surprise that businesses are installing chatbots on their websites left and right.
The question is, is it helping – or frustrating – their customers?
What Chatbots Do Well
Conversational AI is the term for any artificial intelligence technology that can have human-like conversations with…humans. It uses machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), natural language understanding (NLU), and natural language generation (NLG) to “speak” to humans in a (hopefully) intelligent way. Chatbots are a form of conversational AI, but the technology can be applied to text, email, social, and even voice.
Like all technology, there’s a wide range of quality and capabilities with chatbots, as well as with the programmer installing them, and the marketing and customer service people anticipating the queries needed to configure them. A lot can go right, and a lot can go wrong, when using chatbots.
While the term “chat” implies a casual conversation, the reality is that chatbots work best when they’re used to perform routine tasks and answer common questions.
A good chatbot is a:
- Receptionist – it greets website visitors and lets them know the assistant is available if they need any help.
- Customer service rep – it integrates with CRMs and e-commerce databases to look up order statuses and process returns. It also answers commonly asked questions.
- Help desk – it troubleshoots common problems with hardware, apps, or software, or even purchased electronics or equipment and creates service tickets.
- Appointment setter – it checks availability, sets appointments, and takes RSVPs.
- Salesperson – it helps shoppers find what they’re looking for, makes product recommendations, and educates shoppers.
- Survey taker – it asks visitors about their experience on a website and allows for instant, open-ended feedback.
- Order taker – it automates online ordering for restaurants and other businesses.
- Information collector – it replaces some forms on landing pages to collect data from visitors.
- Pre-screener – it asks questions to prequalify B2B leads, or about symptoms when scheduling a telemed visit.
When Chatbots Go Bad
Like any new technology you’re implementing on your website or marketing strategy you’re deploying, chatbots require forethought and planning to be successful. As mentioned earlier, chatbot technology varies, and they have to be properly configured in order to work for your specific business.
Some of the most common problems with chatbots include:
- Poor programming and updates – Chatbots have to be programmed based on how visitors or customers ask questions, and they need to be updated as business conditions change. If not updated with new keywords, scenarios and answers, visitors can get frustrated not getting the right answers to their questions.
- Not routing to an agent – when a chatbot can’t answer a question or doesn’t know what the visitor is asking, they should be configured to either automatically route to a human, or, offer the visitor a call back from an agent.
- Directing visitors offsite – chatbots can send links to products, services, account information, or other pages as long as it answers the visitor’s question and stays onsite. When the bot directs visitors offsite, you lose the opportunity to engage them.
- Changing channels – if a visitor starts a chat on your website, it means that’s their communication channel of choice. The chatbot shouldn’t reply with an email or phone number as an answer unless all other automated avenues have been exhausted.
- Not working – sometimes technology simply doesn’t work. Like other parts of your website, your chatbot’s performance should be monitored and tested regularly. But above that, if the bot offers choices or says to type a command, like .help to get help — it has to work.
- Conversation fails – the reality is, chatbots are just that: robots. Even with the most advanced artificial intelligence, they can only carry on a human conversation to a certain degree. If a customer has a major issue with a company, a chatbot is not the one to vent to. An upset customer that continues to go in a circle of irrelevant questions and answers with a bot needs to be directed to a human ASAP (and yes, it is possible for chatbots to be programmed to recognize confusion and apologize!).
The best way to avoid these problems is to acknowledge that chatbots are a tool. They should act as an extension of your customer service department, not a replacement. They should be used to automate very specific and recurring routine tasks, answer questions, and solve known problems that you can accurately anticipate. When chatbots do their job successfully, customer satisfaction, conversions, and sales can skyrocket. When chatbots go bad, customers are sad.
Interested in more bot talk? We love talking tech! Contact PixelPeople to learn more about our web design and development services and see if a chatbot is right for your site.
