AI Chatbots and Human Partnerships are Proving Best for Businesses

03/26/2019 by Steve Sunshine

As frightening as we once perceived Artificial Intelligence to be, it is slowly working its way into our everyday lives. Companies have brought it into our houses with gadgets designed to add convenience to our already busy lives. Businesses have found ways to incorporate this data into their marketing strategies and to take our customer experience to a new level.

Just a few short years ago, we would never have dreamed of having an online AI chat with a small business. After all, AI was just for the proverbial "big boys" of the technical world. Nowadays…whether people realize it or not, they have had some exposure to a talking bot. The most familiar talking bot is a smart speaker. Have you seen any Amazon Alexa or Google Home commercials? Or the Progressive Insurance commercial where the teenager asks: the computer to order pizza, the fridge for the weather, and trash can to turn on the tv…with each appliance repeating the requested task.

Today, nearly 39 million Americans own a smart speaker. According to Neilson’s latest study, that is, almost one out of every four households, with 40% of those owning more than one. Artificial Intelligence bots are making a big impact on our daily lives. Not only do they accomplish simple tasks, but based on reminder rate, they can even predict when we need to restock items. Companies are also finding new ways to use this information to their advantage. Have you ever received an advertisement when you were running low on a certain item?



Was that virtual assistant a human?

With the recent technical advances in AI, does anyone really know when they are interacting with a real person anymore?

Today, consumers want top quality customer service and they want it immediately. You message a company…receive an immediate personal greeting and are asked how they can help you. You are guided down a path of fact-finding questions with immediate, on-topic answers that will resolve your problem. Before you know it, your problem is solved and you are merrily on your way. Happy as a clam.

You weren’t asked to wait while someone checked your account and neither were the multitude of others that were utilizing the chat window while you were. One Customer Service Rep can’t do that, even on their best day.

Chatbots + human interaction

Was that a person you spoke with during your online chat? A chatbot with artificial intelligence? Or was it a hybrid? A combination of a chatbot and knowledgeable expert.

AI chatbots should not be used to completely replace the human Customer Service Agent (CSA). They can, however, replace one with an entry-level knowledge of the company's product and be used to handle the most routine issues.

Inevitably, a question will be asked that is not within the chatbots knowledge base. In these instances, the chatbot should direct the customer to an agent that is more specialized in the given topic or create a help ticket to get you answers as soon as possible. Additionally, an after-the-fact benefit of having an AI chatbot is that they will be able to analyze these conversations increasing their own knowledge base.

Chatbots

Early chatbots were designed to help companies answer repeated questions that required simple, straight-forward answers. These were structured with the chatbot providing questions and the user choosing an option from pre-determined responses. If the user manually entered a response, they would most often be taken back to the start of the chatbot flow. At the time, there was no affordable technical knowledge allowing for AI-based or NLP based chatbots.

Virtual assistant artificial intelligence chatbots are becoming more popular, especially with e-commerce companies. These can sift through hundreds of thousands of items based on user entered data or previous product searches in mere seconds. California-based Invoca and Adobe polled 1,000 US adults and found that 61% expect AI will make online shopping faster.

AI Analytics

When using the information derived from specific algorithms, companies are able to troubleshoot areas in their customer experiences that have weaknesses or holes. If customers are getting lost or dropped in a particular flow of information, these algorithms are able to pinpoint the exact spot where the weakness is. The same goes for instances where customers are complaining of the same issue with a particular product. Algorithms that use AI derived feedback can be used to pinpoint specific problems in products and correct the problem before it becomes a real issue for a company.



Conclusion

For businesses, when done correctly, AI is a win-win situation. It is proving to be just as valuable to the business owner as it is helpful in the overall customer experience with any company. As a consumer, whenever we have to deal with any company, our number one concern is to get our issue solved as quickly as possible and with as little hassle as possible. AI chatbots are making that possible. Having a hybrid AI chatbot and CSA partnership, companies are able to handle issues quicker and with more accuracy.

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