Introduction

Chatbots are computer programs that replicate human-user conversations through text or voice interactions.

In this article, we’ll describe the best use for chatbots and provide a few notes on how they need to be implemented to create efficiency, not frustration. They are becoming increasingly significant for organizations across a wide range of sectors because they can:

• Customer Support - this can allow you to have a 24/7 system capable of giving instant support and responses to consumer inquiries, however, if done incorrectly or abused, this leads to more frustration than anything;

• Automate routine tasks - conversations with chatbots can be used to fill out forms, check the status of orders, and even trigger automated tasks;

• Collect valuable data and insights - chatbots can be used to log events like complaints, sales, and so on;

• Work as notification channels for both client and internal use - chatbots can be used as a superefficient notification channel;

Chatbots, with their capacity to function 24 hours a day, seven days a week, may assist organizations in improving customer satisfaction, lowering expenses, and gaining a competitive advantage.

Chatbots for Customer Support

This use case is the easiest to get wrong. Many companies are now abusing their use of chatbots, forcing their clients to go through a poorly implemented bot.

These chatbots commonly suffer from:

• Limited capabilities: While chatbots can handle common questions and deliver basic information, they may be unable of assisting with more complex, or sensitive issues that require human sensitivity and understanding.

• Lack of personalization: chatbots may not be able to provide the same level of personalization as human customer service agents who can tailor and adapt their responses based on the unique context and needs of each customer.

• Inaccurate or irrelevant responses: if poorly developed and trained, the bot might fail to respond correctly.

These can lead to two major risks:

• poor user experience: if a user is incapable of solving their problem quickly with a chatbot, for whatever reason, this leads to a poor user experience.

• reputational damage: if a chatbot provides someone with incorrect responses, it may reflect poorly on the organization and damage its reputation with customers;

Conditions for Success

To use a chatbot for customer support successfully, not only do you need to think of the chatbot as an additional, more efficient communication channel, but you also need your customers to feel and believe that way.

To improve your chances of success you must follow these rules:

• The chatbot is trained and designed properly to handle routine queries and provide accurate and relevant information to each user;

• The chatbot can escalate complex or sensitive matters to a human customer service agent if needed;

• There’s a clear and transparent policy in place for how the chatbot can be used and how the customer can contact a human customer service agent if preferred;

• The chatbot is implemented securely, to protect user data and prevent cyber security threats;

• The organization monitors and evaluates and improves the performance of the chatbot regularly.

In summary: the chatbot should be a benefit to the customer, not a hassle to deal with!

If you are interested in implementing chatbots for customer support, please contact our team to learn more about how we can help.

Automate Routine Tasks

By adhering to a set of pre-established rules and instructions, chatbots can be used to automate repetitive chores.

An automated chatbot could, for instance, be used to answer consumer questions, give details about a good or service, or help users navigate a website.

Chatbots can free up human workers' time and lighten their workload by automating repetitive operations, allowing them to concentrate on more difficult and complex jobs.

TV Show Application Registration and Notifications

We have used a chatbot before to automate the application for a TV show contest. Applicants would talk to the chatbot and fill in their information. The chatbot would record their data and add it to a database of applications. As their application was processed and moved from one stage to another, the users would receive notifications about it.

Additionally, this chatbot worked as a marketing tool to push exclusive content about the TV show to the interested people.

Collect valuable data and insights

While a lot of data can already be collected and preprocessed automatically, much of it is still collected manually and will likely continue to be. This is especially true for events that happen in the physical world.

Even the most advanced systems still need to get informed about these external events. These events could relate to lost goods, physical returns, people checking in, etc.

Sometimes, collecting this data manually can be a necessary hassle: people have to login to a dedicated platform or website, go to the correct menu, and update the data there.

Instead, a chatbot can be used. This allows someone to use their chat application, for example, Telegram, and send a message to the bot.

The following image shows an example conversation between someone responsible for the logistics of a warehouse and the chatbot.

Notice how the chatbot iteratively collects the required information in a natural way.

The chatbot can request additional information such as the reason why they were lost, to which the answer could be “water damage”.

This information would then be recorded on the company’s systems.

Work as notification channels for both client and internal use

A chatbot could be used to automatically send notifications to clients when:

• their order is ready for pickup;

• when their account balance is low;

• when a product on their watchlist is available again;

• or to push any other relevant information;

Similarly, a chatbot could be used to send internal notifications to employees, such as:

• reminders about upcoming meetings;

• alerts on their KPIs;

• anomalies detected;

• predictions on future stock;

• notifications about changes to company policies;

• and many others.

By using chatbots as notification channels, businesses can save time and improve the efficiency of their communication processes.

Conclusion

In summary, chatbots are an effective tool that may be utilized to streamline repetitive tasks and improve internal communication in businesses.

If good practices are followed, chatbots can save time and reduce workload for employees while providing your customers with a better experience.

An example of this can be found in one of our use cases, Supporting Customers Through Chatbots. Our chatbot provided automatic responses to 75% of messages, significantly saving employees’ time for more important tasks.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions about using chatbots to enhance your company's operations.

We would be delighted to talk about your requirements and create a specialized solution to assist you in achieving your objectives.