Interactions with customer service are increasingly automated. Think of a robotic voice over the phone or the chatbot on a website. While it's a solution for many companies, this automation often results in irritated customers. Recent research published by CGS reveals that customers are tired of it and still prefer to speak to a person.
What is a chatbot?
The word chatbot is a combination of chat and robot. While not new, the chatbot has only seen a real breakthrough in recent years. Simply put, a chatbot is an automated conversation partner. You find them on websites but also in chat programs like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. When your customer interacts with the chatbot on your website, language recognition ensures the chatbot understands what the customer means. The customer wants an answer to a question or asks the chatbot to perform a task. If the chatbot understands, a response usually follows immediately. This could be a link to the weather forecast, for example.
We could classify chatbots into two categories:
The simple chatbot
You often find this chatbot online or in the phone menu. They serve a very specific purpose. This bot usually shows some buttons or offers some options from which the customer can choose. It is not possible to input free text or speak to this type of chatbot, which limits the interaction for the customer.
The smart chatbot
This bot uses artificial intelligence to understand your intent. You can type or speak freely, and the chatbot determines the intent itself. It then answers your question or fulfills your request.
Why use chatbots?
At first glance, chatbots seem like a valuable addition to your customer service. They are deployed to save costs and support departments with high customer contact. The chatbot is ready for your customer all day and accessible everywhere. Additionally, a chatbot ensures a swift response. This way, such a bot eases the workload of your customer service representatives. Dull, repetitive tasks can be handled with this.
Why are customers still tired of chatbots?
However, the chatbot, as you commonly encounter it, does not seem to positively contribute to the customer experience. The development of chatbots is still in its early stages. This means that online chatbots do not always work well. No wonder customers are often irritated by chatbots. A survey by CGS among approximately 2,000 customers from the UK and the USA shows that customers are tired of chatbots and want human interaction. Of the respondents, 44% wish organizations were more accessible. They want to speak to a flesh-and-blood representative who can actually help them. Of all customers disappointed in a brand, 17% cited the inability of chatbots to function as problem solvers as the reason.
What goes wrong with chatbots?
Chatbots present various challenges:
Personalisation – The survey findings confirm the need for personalisation. Personal service, which helps you build a bond with your customer, is important. Most chatbots are not capable of this.
Spelling errors – Consider the spelling mistakes your customer makes, which cause the bot to not recognise the question and fail to provide an answer.
Accents – Telephone chatbots do not understand all accents equally well: dialects and different accents remain a challenge for chatbots.
Deception – We often see a picture and name next to the chatbot online. This suggests you are chatting with a real agent while it quickly becomes clear in the 'conversation' that it is not a real agent. This can lead to frustration and disappointment for the customer.
Frustration – It also often occurs that the chatbot gives an incorrect answer or an answer that does not match the question. Another reason why your customer, who wanted a quick and correct answer, becomes frustrated.
Cost – Although a chatbot can save a lot of time and money, implementing and maintaining one also takes time and money.
What's the current state of the chatbot trend?
There are many areas for improvement when we critically look at chatbots. Fortunately, development is in full swing and the chatbot trend will certainly continue. Significant strides have been made with artificial intelligence, and there will certainly be more developments. It's not surprising to see chatbots being applied more and more. Future chatbot trends will largely involve personalisation. They will become even smarter and much more human-like. This can positively contribute to the customer experience, but be mindful when you want to implement a chatbot for your customer service. Despite technological developments, the chatbot system still has many challenges, and real human contact is always preferred by customers.
