According to Salesforce, chatbots are computer programs that simulate human conversation through voice or text communication. Such a tool is used to engage customer service, specifically to receive customer feedback. For businesses, chatbots are used to increase efficiency and productivity. By leaving some customer interactions for chatbots and technology to handle, the humans behind the business can handle the more complicated or urgent needs of their customers. Depending on technology for giving quick and basic answers can help free up their time.
How Do Chatbots Work?
Chatbots are made to engage with customers for anything and everything. Two prime examples of chatbots would be the Amazon Alexa Echo and the Google Home. These two chatbots would be categorized as AI-powered chatbots since they operate through voice commands. Technology has evolved so much to the point that these chatbots act as “docile robots” for the customer. Customers use such chatbots to schedule meetings, create shopping lists, and play music.
Customers can communicate their needs and wants via voice communication by simply calling out the chatbot name and the request that they want to make. According to Harvard Business Review, “these are chatbots powered by an artificial intelligence that can understand and answer a wide variety of customer questions.” For example, a customer can command “Alexa, play music by Coldplay.” The chatbot then internally follows an algorithm that can adhere to that particular request from the customer.
Types of Chatbots
There are many ways to classify what kinds of chatbots exist. Here, we will break it down to two types of chatbots – AI-powered chatbots and rule-based chatbots. AI-powered chatbots have the ability to learn and continue expanding their response set based on queries and decide on the best answer to the given question. They’re also equipped with natural language processing, so they’re able to take complex questions in context and understand what the customer is asking for.
Rule-based chatbots are programmed with a specific set of instructions and situations to be prepared for, and cannot usually operate outside of those instructions. But with this programming, the chatbot is able to handle a basic set of questions from customers, and leave the more complex ones to the humans to figure out. Rule-based chatbots are also cheaper and easier to implement because the technology and complexity of AI-powered chatbots aren’t what most small or medium businesses need for their customer support interface.
How Can Chatbots Be Used in Business?
Businesses can use chatbots to receive feedback from customers. The beauty about this is that the feedback is anonymous. Anonymous feedback allows the customer to express their thoughts freely without any concern. Chatbots are a way of understanding your customers and their expectations. This means that businesses are willing to take constructive feedback and improve their products and services. Chatbots are automated conversational tools for customers. Automations expedite the process to resolve customer queries and grievances. They provide an effortless experience for customers that interact with businesses through the chatbot.
Benefits of Chatbots
Chatbots save time. Rather than making an effort to call a customer care number and get put on hold for a long time, chatbots can come back to you with a response in a matter of seconds. However, chatbots are not just used to resolve customer support cases. They also provide a source of entertainment to customers. Chatbots, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, act as external Bluetooth speakers for music. Customers also use chatbots for just plain curiosity. Chatbots can provide humorous answers to certain questions asked by the customer. For example, if someone prompts Amazon Alexa with a famous song or quote, such as “Alexa, my name is Inigo Montoya,” Alexa will respond accordingly to the quote.
Chatbots can also be programmed to answer a select set of questions so that customers don’t have to contact or search deeply for answers to important FAQs. The chatbot here on the PxidaX website, in the lower right-hand corner, is programmed to point you to the information you made need to find out more about our products or get in touch with our sales or support teams to get more detailed information. For small businesses, answering some queries using a chatbot will reduce the number of queries that the employees will have to handle themselves.
Building Customer Engagement with PxidaCX
Most of the time, customers are ready to provide feedback to the business for it to improve its products and services. There is always room for improvement in a business. Try out PxidaCX for free to see how to retrieve constructive feedback from customers to improve your products and services.