Chatbots: what are they and how can they help me?

Chatbots are the biggest technological disruptor in the customer service scene. They are the talking point of every call center, every support team and every digital business worldwide.

But what are chatbots really? Simple, it is a service, driven by rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, with which you interact through a chat. The service can take various forms, from functional to fun, and you can find it on sites like Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, text messages, blogs etc. and help in certain tasks that can be solved only with questions and answers.

The goal is that users who come into contact with chatbots can take advantage of this technology to receive information immediately, speeding up the response time between brand and customer/consumer. Keep in mind that these "bugs" work 24/7 and can respond simultaneously to a large number of messages.

Due to the use of wide-ranging chatbots, there are several different potential services that can use the technology. Currently, the most popular uses are in applications and messaging services, allowing customers to talk directly to a company, or vice versa.

Popularized by Facebook Messenger, companies also use chatbots to reach users through instant messaging services. This can be in the form of customer service or to send automatic notifications, promotions, etc.. Succeeding online is not easy and offering an effective and quality service is increasingly necessary to avoid succumbing to competition.

Chatbots can also be found on many of today's leading mobile devices in the form of personal assistant services. The well-known Siri (Apple iOS), Cortana (Microsoft Windows) and Google Assistant (Android) can be classified as chatbots, as they can use artificial intelligence and automatic learning to answer questions, albeit at a higher level than "traditional" shanties. Some services can even be linked to external applications and services to provide more enriching experiences, such as weather updates, travel times, or even restaurant reservations.

The Dutch airline KLM, for example, has set up a chat to better serve its passengers. They can now receive confirmation of their reservations, obtain their boarding pass or be informed of the status of their flight at any time.

Another example is Moovit, a bot integrated into Facebook Messenger capable of answering users' questions about travel planning, suggesting journeys using the public transport network. With 900 million users worldwide, it has information on public transport in 800 cities.

The million question: How Can Chatbots Help Me?

You're probably wondering what's all the fuss about chatbots? Great question and a very simple answer. It's because, for the first time, people use messaging applications more than they use social networks.

Today, one of the biggest problems for companies is still the lack of effective and fluid communication with their customers. The delayed and often ineffective relationship is the target of criticism. Chatbot can help provide faster and more assertive customer service.

According to a survey conducted by Lithium Technologies, 53% of consumers who come into contact with brands via Twitter expect a response within an hour. And this number grows to 72% when it comes to complaints. The result revealed that only 11.2% of brands respond at that time and that the majority of them (65%) respond within 24 hours. This is quite alarming for companies considering what this delay can cause, such as customer loss and negative branding on social networks.

This is where you have to make the most of them. Chatbots can improve the user experience, including customer service, as well as help with specific marketing campaigns. Keep in mind that if a customer has a problem with a product, they can connect with the chatbot to explain the situation and the chatbot can process that information to provide a recommendation on how to fix the product. Generating trust is fundamental for a business to be afloat and one of the main pillars if you want to sell on the Internet or have a presence worthy of your brand.

Create and configure a chatbot

First of all and for your better understanding: There are two types of chatbots, one based on a set of rules, and another more advanced version that uses automatic learning.

• Chatbots based on rules: These bots are very limited. They can only respond to very specific commands. If you say something wrong, they won't know what you mean.
   
• Chatbots based on automatic learning: These have an "artificial brain". You don't have to be ridiculously specific when you talk to him. They understand the language, not just the commands. These bots become increasingly intelligent as they learn from the conversations they have with people.

Now, if you're thinking about setting up a chatbot, forget it. It's a process that requires a very high level of computer skills. Nowadays there are tools that facilitate the life of those who do not master the subject and whose "hard" work is nothing more than the creation of a conversation between the audience and oneself.

There are different alternatives. You can opt for an official framework, such as those provided for free by messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger, Slack or Telegram, for example, or you can opt for unofficial frameworks such as Botkit, ChatScript, Meya, Gupshup or Pandorabots.

In addition, there are several commercial platforms with really interesting prices that let you create a chatbot from scratch. The best known are: Botsify, Flow XO, Rebotify, Morph.ai, Motion AI and Smooch.

Assigning the possible interactions with your audience, understanding the tone of the speech you want to give to your chatbot and making its messages attractive are fundamental requirements for your strategy to be able to give the expected results.

Chatbots are easy to use and many customers prefer them to calling a representative on the phone because it is usually faster and less invasive. They can also help companies save money and are easy to set up. Because most chatbots use messaging applications that are already on billions of phones worldwide, it is likely that your customers are already ready for your bot.

Chatbots rise as the future of the customer experience and have the power to replace search windows and many applications in the not-too-distant future.

And now, do you feel like launching your chatbot?

Main photo: Denys Nevozhai