What is a chatbot and how does it work?

Alexandra Peake
Voice Tech Podcast
Published in
6 min readOct 12, 2020

A chatbot is artificial intelligence (AI) software that can simulate a conversation with a user in natural language through messaging applications, websites, mobile applications, or telephones. Chatbots are often considered as one of the most advanced and efficient tools for human-machine interaction.

Chatbots that use natural language processing (NLP) represent the evolution of the question-and-answer system. So; chatbot can be defined as a computer program based on artificial intelligence that simulates human conversations. This AI software interprets and processes user requests and responds to them quickly.

Famous companies chatbot:

Many brands and businesses use chatbots. Like Facebook, there are more than 300,000 active robots in Messenger. No doubt in the future, a large part of the marketing and customer support tasks will be performed by chatbots. it means that; They can provide new opportunities for your business. Here are some popular companies that use chatbot:

Lyft:

People can request a car from Lyft via chat (Facebook Messenger and Slack) or voicemail (Amazon Echo). The robot shows the current location of the driver and an image of the license plate and the model of the car.

Fandango:

Fandango’s Facebook Messenger robot lets people watch movie previews, find local theatres, and get to know the trends of the week.

Mastercard:

Mastercard Facebook Messenger makes it easier for customers to check their account reports. For example, you could ask this robot: “How much did my restaurant cost this month?” Furthermore; People with this robot can also buy from some Mastercard partners such as FreshDirect, Subway and Cheesecake Factory.

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Spotify:

Facebook’s Spotify messaging robot makes it easy for people to search, listen and share music. This bot will provide a suggested playlist based on items such as your usual searches and selections.

Staples:

Staples tries to make everything easier through its intelligent system to provide customer service. Facebook Staples Messenger robot can answer common customer questions that are usually about orders, tracking and inquiring about product availability.

What is the future of chatbots?

The role of chatbots will be more active and essential in the future.due to the growing role of chatbots and market landscape decide about customer interaction is very important.

“Artificial intelligence (AI) will be a major asset to the customer experience over the next two years,” Gartner said. 47% of organizations will use a chatbot for customer support and 40% of companies will deploy virtual assistants.

In the future, chats are expected to evolve from simple user-based queries to real-time conversations based on forecast analysis. With the advancement of the chatbot industry, businesses are designing more and faster creative applications to automate their business processes. Undoubtedly, robots will change the way businesses relate to customers and their perspectives.

The landscape of chatbots will be developed in near future. The first use of chatbot is to respond quickly to customers. Therefore, having a chatbot platform can help businesses achieve their core metrics. Most businesses use a chatbot for their customer service and support activities. At the same time, many of them also design and develop robots for their internal processes.

Human resource is one of the areas that can use the chatbot to conduct initial interviews with people. Video avatars will make the process more user-friendly, and AI chatbots will process resumes to find eligible candidates.

This helps speed up the slow recruitment process as well as cost management. Robots can manage and provide information about processing steps during hiring. Furthermore; They provide faster access to key information for employees and provide forms, leave times and absenteeism requests.

Benefits of Using a Chatbot:

Benefits of Using a Chatbot

When chatbots are developed in different business functions and industries, they will act as a catalyst and increase efficiency. Here are the importance and benefits of using chatbot:

1.Advantages of using a chatbot in customer service

Customer service is one of the main activities of businesses in which chatbots have a great role. Businesses can save money on customer support costs and raise key performance metrics by using artificial intelligence chatbots, which will enhance the customer service experience. Here are some of the benefits of using a chatbot in different areas of customer service:

  • Website Support:

Customers today expect to respond as soon as possible. Businesses use chatbot technology to interact quickly with the customer.

  • IT Help Desk:

Chatbots can help your IT help desk increase your team’s productivity and efficiency.

  • In-app support:

Using a chatbot to handle users’ FAQs increases interaction with them. Also, companies can send notifications via bots to keep their customers up to date.

2.Advantages of using a chatbot on sales

The most effective performance of any business is lead generation. You can increase the chances of generating leads by using chatbots, so your sales funnel will work automatically. To do this, you can send leads directly to CRM or sales departments. The main advantages of using sales robots are:

  • Identifying your target audience:

A chatbot lets you identify the interests of your visitors and customers and categorize your target audience accordingly.

  • Generate and direct leads:

Chatbots turn your website visitors into potential customers through a predefined sales questionnaire. The leads will then be automatically redirected to the next level of the sales funnel.

  • Reservations:

Chatbots can help to schedule appointments in cases such as offices or medical centres, as well as booking personal services.

3.Advantages of using a chatbot in marketing

Chatbots can share information about your brand, products and services. Chatbots are capable of over-selling and complementing in a personal, conversational and engaging way. Fifty-seven percent of businesses believe that using a chatbot has resulted in a high ROI. The advantages of using chatbots in marketing to better interact with the customer are:

  • Product Recommendations:

Using a chatbot, you can recommend combined products or offers based on the customer’s journey.

  • Start an active conversation:

Once the customer is attracted to the product, the chatbot can start an effective conversation with him.

  • Personalized notifications:

By personalizing notifications, you can recognize your customer behaviour and improve your conversations.

How to have a chatbot?

Chatbots or virtual assistants help automate some of the core business functions such as sales, support and marketing. Here are the steps to create a chatbot:

  • Define your career goals:

Identify activities in your business that should be automated. What exactly should your chatbots do?

  • Choose the right channels to interact with your customers:

Identify the channels that customers prefer to communicate with you across your website, mobile apps, Facebook Messenger, Telegram or other messaging operating systems.

  • Train your chatbot to answer correctly:

Depending on your job needs, you can transfer comprehensive frequently asked questions to your chatbot. This helps the robot to provide relevant answers to your customers or visitors.

  • Give your robot a voice and personality:

You can enhance your robot personality by providing a name and image that complements your business message.

  • Take a balanced approach:

Sometimes using chatbots may not be very effective, and in some cases, customers may seek support through human dialogue. You can define at what specific stage your customers can find the opportunity to connect with the human agent.

  • Test, set up, and repeat:

Once you have determined your chatbot stream, you can test its performance. Once you have started the chatbot, evaluate the robot’s performance and repeat it from time to time.

You can choose one of the following two ways to build a chatbot:

1.Use a chatbot platform.

Chatbot operating systems are very useful for businesses that want to build their own chatbot without much effort and time.

2.Build with Scratch

If your business needs are very specific or complex, it is recommended that you build a robot with Scratch. You do not need to understand the chatbot code to create your robot. Creating a chatbot without coding will be fun and easy.

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