A Chatbot is a program developed by professionals in such a way that it uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) and NLP (Natural Language Processor) to understand the questions, automate the most appropriate reply and hold up the conversation just like a human.
History of Chatbots
In the past, chatbots were only text-based and programmed to reply to a particular set of questions with answers already input into the program. Finding it tough to believe, but it was like it! Chatbots operate like an interactive FAQ. Even though it worked well for those specific questions and answers programmed in it by them, it failed when asked a complex question.
Chatbots today!
We have advanced so much in this field that chatbots’ ability isn’t limited to just some basic replies. Artificial Intelligence chatbots now use Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to respond to users’ needs.
It uses advanced AI tools to understand what the user is trying to say and then reply with the most appropriate response to the user’s query.
How is it helping?
- The use of elements of Artificial intelligence (AI), like machine learning and deep learning, with some nuanced differences, improves their ability to predict users’ needs more accurately and respond correctly over time.  Â
- Deep learning helps these AI chatbots become more efficient over time because they build up a web of correct responses through past interactions.
- It would mean longer the usage of an AI chatbot, the stronger and more accurate its responses are than a recently developed program-based chatbot.
Improve customer engagement and brand loyalty
Before businesses started to use chatbots, their customers who had questions, concerns, or complaints had to email them or call the business for a response which took a lot of time. For a big business, it turns essential to have a big customer care department to overcome the unpredictable demand in a few days. They must continuously keep hiring. After hiring them, they must train their staff to provide consistent replies to similar or repetitive queries. It is a big concern for every business. This is a very expensive and constant struggle for businesses.
Solution:
Developers and businesses can now create chatbots to handle customer service and give personalized recommendations. Developers can program the chatbots to understand customer requests, analyze them, and send information accordingly, making it easier for the customer to find all the answers they need. Now developers can create customized responses for their sales. This way, they can provide efficient, easy, and quick assistance. Quick replies allow businesses to provide fast responses to customers’ questions. Chatbots are programmed so that they get triggered by a specific keyword or phrase and send pre-written answers to make customer support even more efficient.
Result of continuous improvement
Now with even deep learning, chatbots continuously improve themselves by giving better responses and minimizing costs. Since chatbots do all the repetitive customer service tasks, the freed-up employees can attend to urgent matters rather than doing customer service and repeatedly helping people with the same task. It helps to regulate the workflow and save money. Chatbots can also help avoid long waiting times for phone-based customer support or even longer wait times for email, as they are available immediately to any number of customers. It provides a great user experience and satisfies customers, making them more likely to stick to the business and express brand loyalty.
Chatbots can offer a personalized experience
Chatbots can personalize the user’s experience by tapping into CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database to know if the user is visiting the website for the first time or if the user is an existing customer; based on that, the bot will greet and pitch the customer.
For example, an e-commerce company’s chatbot can send a message, “Hey, welcome back, would you like to check the status of your recent order?” if an existing customer visits the website, but when a user is visiting the website for the first time then, “First time here? Check out our most popular products and see what you like.”
With AI, chatbots will only get smarter with time
Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot tracks how people respond to every answer. After a while, when it has collected enough customer data, it starts analyzing that information to understand the customer’s point of view better. It will improve with time and learn which queries it can solve and which are eligible to transfer to a human. Chatbots can also pick up on user language nuances to detect and understand customer emotions to provide appropriate replies.  Â
Generate leads
Before the chat box starts any chat, it can start collecting leads for your marketing team by asking the visitors for names, phone numbers, and email IDs. After it has generated that lead, it can verify it further by asking the customers about their requirements and identifying which product would be the best fit for them and then transferring all the leads to the sales or service team.
Generate Sales
Chatbots can also increase sales for businesses as it turns first-time website visitors into new clients by showing off the most appropriate product according to their requirements, along with the business’s best-selling products. The chatbot will also personalize product recommendations and help the client step by step to place an order. Even the HR department can use the chatbot to automate some recruiting procedures. For example, suppose you’re hiding for a customer service position. In that case, the chatbot can analyze the candidate’s replies to situations, and in this way, it can help good answers and inform the HR department about the best applicant.
Wrapping up
Chatbots were basic as their usage was for a very small cause, and they could only give certain replies as programmed by the developer. Still, AI chatbots presently can do so much more and benefit the business, be it customer support, customer relationship management, sales and marketing or even HR recruitment. AI Chatbot does it all and keeps improving itself.
