Need of Specialization in Booming the AI Chatbot Market

Organisations that focus their virtual assistants to particular corporate sectors may get a stronger foothold than general chatbots

According to Gartner researchers, organisations that focus their virtual assistants on particular corporate sectors may get a stronger foothold than general chatbots in an emerging market for AI chatbots. Zowie boasts to be the only AI-powered chatbot solution created exclusively for eCommerce companies who employ customer service to generate sales, no easy task in an industry where customer service staff answer thousands of repetitive inquiries every day. The company stated today that it has raised $14 million in series A fundraising led by Tiger Global Management, increasing the total amount raised to $20 million.

Chatbots, also known as virtual assistants, are created using conversational AI platforms (CAIP), which combine natural language processing, speech-based technology, and machine learning techniques to create applications for a variety of industries.

According to Magnus Revang, a Gartner report vice president who covers AI, chatbots, and virtual assistants, the CAIP market is quite diversified, both in terms of vendor tactics and the corporate objectives that vendors address.

There are around 2,000 vendors in the CAIP global market. In a market where no single CAIP vendor stands out, organisations will need to choose the supplier that best fits their present short and midterm demands, according to the report.

AI Chatbot Market Secret Ingredient

Specialization is Zowie's secret ingredient. Maya Schaefer, Zowie's CEO and co-founder told VentureBeat that the organization focuses on the demands of eCommerce suppliers. Brands may use the platform to improve client interactions and begin generating income from customer service.

Many other CAIPs give services to businesses that sell goods. However, their solutions are also aimed at other industries such as banking, telecommunications, and insurance. Solvvy, Boost AI, and Ada are some examples. Other chatbots, such as Ada, can be tailored for usage in financial technology and software-as-a-service businesses to answer concerns about a broken system.

Zowie is based on the corporation's 'Zowie X1' automation technology, which analyses meaning and sentiment to identify common inquiries and trends.

Zowie claims to be able to automate 70% of ecommerce business inquiries, such as "where is my package?" and "how do I update my shipping address?" The solution, she claims, also includes a collection of technologies that enable agents to provide personalised products or service suggestions.

If a consumer asks, "I'd want assistance choosing new shoes," the system routes the inquiry to a live product expert.

Before going live, the platform looks at a customer's previous chats, frequently asked questions, and knowledge base to figure out which inquiries should be automated. It uses AI to assess new inquiries and dialogues, resulting in more automation.

According to Schaefer, the AI chatbot can determine when something new or strange is happening by analysing patterns and alerting the customer service team.

Zowie gives employees unique data about customers, what item they are looking at, did they purchase before and if so, what did they purchase has a direct product catalog integration that enables agents to offer product ideas in the form of a rotation, she noted.

Time to Optimization

In 2019, Schaefer and cofounder Matt Ciolek released the CAIP, an all-in-one, modular chatbot development platform. According to Schaefer, Zowie answers 92 percent of customer questions like "where's my parcel?" and "what are the opening times?" within 6 weeks of implementation.

She explained that the program will detect new trends automatically and suggest ways to improve the process, eliminating the need for managers and staff to think about how to boost customer experience.