Chances are, by now you’ve already had at least one, if not multiple opportunities to engage with a chatbot in efforts to access customer support. Whether you need technical support, assistance finding something or have a complaint or question, a chatbot is increasingly becoming your first line of communication.
Chatbots, like the humans they are engaged to support, come in different forms with different capabilities. Some are able to answer simple questions, like hours and location, with no capability to respond to more nuanced, individualized requests. Others, like those powered by conversational AI, are able to facilitate a myriad of functions, including responding to humans, with human understanding, in a human voice, with human complexity of understanding.
Chatbots are an amazing tool to help drive customer service support. Adding conversational AI takes them to the next level.
Conversational AI is a technology that enhances a traditional chatbot with the ability to understand natural language. This means that, rather than responding to specific keywords or phrases, the bot can understand the entire context of a conversation and even the mood of the human on the other end of the line. This makes for a much more user-friendly experience as the bot can provide relevant and personalized responses.
That little icon you see at the bottom of your computer or phone screen, indicating a chatbot is available for you to use, is popping up more and more as businesses increasingly see the value in having chat capabilities on their websites. Companies are gradually tuning into the understanding that they need to be wherever and whenever their customers prefer to find them; be it on their phone or computer. And so, they make available an instant chat option on their websites, to meet the needs of customers who want to speak via chat.
Informational chatbots - those that can respond to narrow and simple commands - are limited in their capabilities to interpret nuance and offer more meaningful support. Sometimes, all you need is an answer to a simple, common question. In those instances, an informational chatbot is the perfect tool to get you the answers you’re looking for, quickly, without taking up the valuable time of a live agent.
When customers’ needs are more complex, and the chatbot provided inadequate support, the experience can turn them off the idea of ever engaging a chatbot in the future.
In these instances, having a chatbot that isn’t powered by conversational AI can, not only disappoint and frustrate customers, but also trigger a negative association with chatbots as a whole.
All chatbots were not created equal.
Chatbots that are powered by conversational AI are more than just mindless auto responders. They are, in fact, computer programs that mimic human conversation. They can be used for a variety of purposes, but the most common use is for customer service.
Traditionally, chatbots have been limited to responding to specific keywords or phrases. Conversational AI, however, changes the game. A chatbot powered by conversational AI is a chatbot that has been enhanced with the ability to understand natural language. This means that the bot can understand the entire context of a conversation, which makes for a much more user-friendly experience.
Conversational AI is quickly becoming the new standard in chatbot interactions. Here are just a few of the ways that it improves the customer experience:
One of the biggest complaints about chatbots is that they are cold and unresponsive. Conversational AI changes that by making the bot more human-like. This provides a more engaging experience and makes it easier for customers to communicate their needs.
Another common complaint about chatbots is that they provide the same response to everyone. Conversational AI solves this by personalizing the responses based on the individual customer. This ensures that customers feel valued and appreciated, which is key to developing a positive relationship.
The best thing about conversational AI is that it is intelligent. This means that the bot can not only understand the context of a conversation, but it can also learn and evolve over time. This ensures that the bot is always providing the best possible user experience.
Whether or not you have one (or many) in your house, you’ve likely heard of voice-based personal assistants like Alexa or Google Home. So, even if you didn’t think you knew what natural language processing means, you’ve either interacted with it yourself or have friends or family who do, on a regular basis. They use these bots to tell them the weather, the top news stories, and answer questions. People trust these interactions to be available whenever they are needed and answer with speed, accuracy and a human-like voice.
It’s not an overstatement to say that such natural language interactions are the future of customer service. They provide an easier, faster and more human-like experience for customers.
Customers appreciate being able to communicate in a way that is natural to them, and they feel more valued and appreciated when the chatbot understands their entire conversation.
Additionally, conversational AI is intelligent. This means that the bot can learn and evolve over time, which ensures that the customer experience continues to improve. Businesses appreciate the efficiencies that conversational AI brings to customer service.
Chatbots can handle more customer interactions at a lower cost than human customer service representatives. They also never get tired, they are always available, and they can be easily customized to meet the specific needs of a business. That’s not to say they are superior to human interactions. It is to acknowledge the additional support they provide so that the humans can do their jobs.
The rise in automation has lead to an increased (though, unfounded) concern that there is, inherently, a decreased need for humans to perform customer service. ‘Soon computers will do all the work,’ goes the trope. Except that’s not actually the case at all.
Customer service agents are still, most definitely, needed to provide optimal customer service. The difference is, they will gain the benefit of having more time to focus on more complex customer interactions and issues and not be bogged down by simple questions that can easily be handled by a chatbot. Rather than answering questions about business hours, mailing addresses and return policies, they instead will be available to answer your pressing, complex issue.
Conversational automation is where chatbots and voice-based personal assistants, like Alexa and Google Home are used to automate the dialogues between people and machines. The dialogues range from simple interactions, such as ordering a pizza, to more complex interactions, such as booking a flight.
In the near future, it’s quite likely that most customer service interactions will start with a chatbot or voice-based personal assistant. They are that powerful and valuable a tool. Today, conversational automation is continuing to learn to best provide optimal, targeted, nuanced and human-like responses to queries.
Deep learning conversational AI is the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to enable chatbots and voice-based personal assistants to understand and respond to natural language inputs. This is different than traditional chatbots, which are limited to responding to specific keywords or phrases.
Deep learning conversational AI is capable of understanding the entire context of a conversation, which provides a much more user-friendly experience for customers. Additionally, deep learning conversational AI is intelligent. This means that the chatbot can learn and evolve over time, which ensures that the customer experience continues to improve.
CCI is the application of AI technologies to enable chatbots and voice-based personal assistants to understand the meaning of words and phrases in the context of a conversation. This is different than traditional chatbots, which are limited to understanding the meaning of words and phrases in the context of a specific conversation.
Contextual conversational intelligence is capable of understanding the meaning of words and phrases in the context of a conversation, which provides a much more user-friendly experience for customers.
Additionally, contextual conversational intelligence is intelligent. Conversational chatbot solutions that use AI-powered contextual understanding of natural language to provide a more personalized, intelligent and human-like customer experience.
As chatbots continue to improve and evolve, you can expect to see more and more businesses implementing conversational AI solutions to enhance their chatbots to improve customer service. With more businesses relying on conversational AI, they can spend more time improving processes and customers? Well, they can enjoy more time talking to a chatbot that understands them and can resolve their issues or quickly, find a human who can.
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