#10things you should know about chatbots
Generic chatbots are not fit for many of the purposes they’ve been deployed for. If correctly programmed, chatbots can specialise to better meet the variety of roles they can fill
Chatbots are evolving and the generic bot found on many websites isn’t fit for many of the purposes it’s been deployed for. If correctly programmed chatbots can specialise to better meet the variety of roles they can fill. There are three different types of bots, says Ryan Falkenberg, co-CEO, digital self-service automation company Clevva.
“The first is an information bot. These are the chatbots most people are familiar with. They can answer a query if the answer is documented and housed on a business’ website or in the knowledge base the bot has access to. Ask it anything nuanced or complex, however, and it gets stuck.” These are the 10 things you should know about chatbots and how they are transforming customer service, from Clevva.
1. The bot information givers
These types of bots are fancy question answer machines that reference product and process manuals and FAQs to come up with defined answers to simple questions using natural language.
2. The most brilliant bot on the planet
The most brilliant information bot on the planet is the Google search engine. The difference between Google and your company’s chatbot is that billions of people are training Google and the content it searches is also provided by billions of people. It’s improving constantly because so many people are training it. If you ask Google something, it spits out the top 100 answers and you tell it which is right and which is wrong, which trains it, and it continues in a virtuous circle.
3. Why bots get it wrong
With customer service, if a chatbot gets it wrong, customers are less forgiving. They want to train your information bot. They don’t want some generic answer or link to some brochure that requires them to read and work out the answer for themselves. They want their problem solved for them. That’s why most people hate information bots because they are seldom looking for information – instead, they are looking for action.
4. Bots are action takers
The second type of chatbot that has emerged is a transaction bot. Instead of just searching for the right information, this bot looks to action specific requests. You will have worked with one if you have tried to buy more data from your mobile service provider via their WhatsApp channel. As long as you are clear about the action you want performed, e.g. ‘I want to buy 100MB of data’, these bots can help you.
5. Most bots do, they don’t think
Transaction bots are less capable when the required action is not clear e.g. if you say ‘I have run out of data. What must I do to get more?’. In cases where the bot first needs to clarify your request and analyse your situation, need or problem before a required action can be performed, they tend to require a live human to intervene and help. This is because their bot brains are built to perform a series of specific and defined actions. They are not designed to first work out which action they should take. They are doers, not thinkers.
6. Consumers need digital service
The reality with customer service is that most people don’t have simple information or transactional requests they need help with. Usually they have a request, query, issue or complaint that needs a bit of clarifying before any action can get taken. What they need is a digital service expert, not a digital service assistant.
7. The emergence of service bot
As a result, we are now seeing the emergence of a third type of chatbot – the service bot. Service bots are a significant step up from information and transact bots, which are built to react in a defined way to a specific request. Service bots are true product and process specialists, capable of helping each customer clarify their request, query, issue or complaint; analyse their situation, needs and/or problem; and then identify the right solution(s) before triggering the required actions.
8. It is all about hyperpersonalisation
To do this, service bots are built to handle queries in line with business and regulatory rules, while capable of adjusting dynamically to every customer’s specific context. Their brains don’t randomly self-learn. Instead, they offer you the assurance that every service query will get resolved in a consistent, complaint and hyperpersonalised way.
9. Hybrid interfaces are the future
Service bots are moving away from interacting with customers via the simple chatbot interfaces used by information and transact bots. Instead, they are using hybrid interfaces that combine the best of chat with the best of web app design. This allows them to blend unstructured and structured conversations with richer web interfaces that surface information in multiple ways; gather data in multiple formats; and allow customers to easily move back in their journey to change direction, if required.
10. One-touch customer service
Service bots are able to deliver true one-touch customer service via your website, mobile app, WhatsApp and email channels, without the need for a live agent to get involved. Expect to hear a collective sigh of relief from your customers as they no longer have to endure the frustration of dealing with a limited information or transaction bot. Instead, they can have their requests, queries, issues and complaints resolved first time via the digital channel of their choice.
Main image credit: Pixabay.com
– Receive the Retailing Africa newsletter every Wednesday • Subscribe here.