What are the benefits of Chatbots for Customer Relationship?

The uses of chatbots in the customer relationship have been widely discussed in recent months. After the craze around this technology, its uses have shown the disadvantages of chatbots. Some companies have managed to adopt them successfully, to provide quick answers and combine them with their agents. Other companies have developed ChatBot Philippines degrading the customer experience because of their lack of understanding and their inability to transfer the conversation to a human.

What is a chatbot?

A chatbot is a service, configured with rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, with which you can interact via a chat interface."

Chatbots are also often compared to apps, as Gartner points out in his definition:

Chatbots are often associated with Artificial Intelligence: AI can be used by chatbots, but this is not always the case. The most advanced chatbots use AI and automatic natural language processing to understand full sentences of clients, like real humans. In concrete terms, interaction with a chatbot is like a conversation in the messaging applications you know. Depending on the chatbot's technology, the conversation may include different components:

Home screen: The screen visible to users when they start a conversation, including the name, image and description of the bot with a greeting

Structured messages: This component provides the message recipient with options from which to choose, such as the action to take or the nature of the request. This ensures that the chatbot understands the user.

Text messages: Unlike structured messages, this allows users to write complete sentences, which the bot will understand thanks to the automatic processing of natural language.

Why are chatbots so popular?

In recent months, all events and media related to Chatbot Customer Services relations have spoken about chatbots. Several factors can explain this trend:

The growth of messaging applications:  With 2 billion users of messaging applications expected in 2018, messaging is the preferred mode of interaction for customers. The development of customer service on messaging channels such as Messenger contributes to the development of chatbots. The application now has more than 100,000 active bots and encourages their development. The social network has recently launched a "Discover" tab, helping users to discover bots easily:

Customer Expectations for Rapid Responses:

Customers are now waiting for quick answers, forcing companies to reduce their promise of response time. For basic queries, a well-configured chatbot can help meet those expectations, providing instant answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. According to a My Clever study, getting quick answers to simple questions and accessing a 24-hour service are some of the main benefits expected from chatbots.

Expected savings:

By providing automated responses, chatbots can free up agents' time. Companies can then expect to reduce associated costs. However, chatbots cannot answer all requests and agents remain essential. The costs associated with a chatbot must also be taken into account: its development, the enrichment of its knowledge, its maintenance, and its monthly cost.