How Chatbots Have Revolutionised Consumer Experiences Online

Most all of us have a horror story about customer service. You called up your broadband provider and got stuck on hold for hours only to be cut off right when it seemed to be moving.

For some of us these experiences might have even signed the end of our business with a brand/company. It is enough to put anyone off for life and a Forbes study found that 96% of customers will leave you for bad customer service.

Said brands and companies have taken notice of this in recent years and many have taken measures to improve. One such change and perhaps the biggest is the incorporation of chatbots in their help and support.

The origin of chatbots dates back to 1966. It was at this time that world's first chatterbot program was created at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by Joseph Weizenbaum.

Named 'ELIZA', it was created to simulate human conversations using pre-programmed responses. ELIZA examined keywords received as user input, and then it triggered ELIZA's preprogrammed output.

Fast forward to the 2000s and chatbots had started to shape into how we know them today. A wide range of industries such as shopping, e-commerce and even an online poker site have all started to incorporate their use to support customer service.

Using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and natural language understanding (NLU) to mimic human speech, chatbots have revolutionised customer experiences. It is now commonplace to find them on the websites/apps that we use every day.

Benefits for businesses

The benefits of chatbots to a business customer service experience is plain to see, especially amongst Gen Z and millennials.

One of the most obvious benefits is their ability to resolve customers issues and answer their questions. They are often used as the front end of online chat sessions for businesses.

They are great at handling basic problem solving which helps ease the workload of real customer service agents, allowing for a smoother process. If they are unable to answer the question, they can gather information from customers to pass onto an agent, making their job far easier and allowing them to resolve the issue faster.

Chatbots can also take out routine tasks. These include things like food orders, appointment setting and booking hotel reservations.

For example, the bots can find out preferred dates for customers and suggest alternate dates should they not be available. They can then confirm bookings and provide reservation details and even cancel bookings if necessary.

If a business works in sales then bots can assist with the sales process itself. For example, they can assist with help on sizing if customers were purchasing clothing or even provide recommendations based on their searches and browsing on the online catalogue.

One of the handiest things about chatbots however is that they are mostly available 24/7. Not everyone's schedule allows them to seek customer service during work hours so it is a major plus that they are available beyond that.

In fact, a study has shown that 90% of customers rate an "immediate" response as important or very important in customer service. By providing support around the clock you are supplying an imperative business need for your customer base.

What does this all mean for businesses?

Whilst chatbots are a quick and easy way to help customers when they need answers to basic questions or problems, it is the bigger picture where chatbots really help. By easing the workload for real employees, they can help increase productivity.

Chatbots free up skilled customer service agents who would perhaps be needed for more tasking matters. They also provide vital help to these agents when issues are escalated beyond the abilities of a chatbot.

There are many different tools that businesses can use if they are looking to build chatbots for their customer service. They are actually relatively straightforward to implement meaning if you have an app or a website where you provide a service you would be foolish not to take advantage.

It could even be a handy cost cutting method with 45% of consumers preferring chatbots. Tangerine, a telecom business in Australia, found they made significant savings when implementing a chatbot service.

"The bot has allowed us to not only effectively manage the increase in chat volume, but it's also saved us a considerable amount of money by not having to hire a lot more agents." Said Richard Branson, COO of Tangerine.

Chatbots have well and truly revolutionised the way customer service works around the world. Quick, easy and reliable, they provide a vital service not just to customers but to the businesses that have implemented their use.