Ever thought about why chatbots get more popular daily?

Along with the digital transformation and revolution caused by the internet of things, the world has become hectic, and people want results instantly. As a result, customers no longer visit the company personnel to solve their issues, nor do they wish to make calls and try to convince the executive for hours.

Even people look forward to eliminating all sorts of undue conversations or time wastage as we all live in a hectic world. As a result, companies are constantly looking for quick and effective ways to communicate with their customers. Automation is what everyone looks for.

This constant hunt for efficient communication paved the way for chatbots or conversational bots!

So first, let's understand the concept behind chatbots!

What is a Chatbot, and How Does it Work?

A chatbot is a computer-generated program designed to interact with humans through auditory or textual methods. Chatbots are usually integrated with other communication platforms to simulate conversations with humans. Industries mainly use chatbots to understand and solve customer issues quickly and efficiently.

Chatbots are developed using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). They understand customers' problems and moods by engaging them in real-time, human-like conversations.

So chatbots are a hot topic in the industry that can help companies reach new heights in customer-client interactions.

The types of chatbots depend on the functionalities and use cases of the bot. However, there are mainly six types of chatbots;

1. Button-based Chatbots

These are the most basic types of chatbots prevailing in the industry. On the other hand, button-based chatbots allow users to choose predefined buttons to perform the desired action. Customers cannot provide free text input to button-based chatbots. As a result, these chatbots are less advanced and slowest in producing the desired results.

2. Rule-based Chatbots

Rule-based chatbots work on predefined rules that help customers reach their desired value. These chatbots are built on conditional if/then logic, where customers will get the desired help if their issue matches the conditions defined by the chatbot.

3. Keyword Recognition-based Chatbots

As the name suggests, keyword recognition-based chatbots listen to what users type and respond accordingly. It is more advanced than button-based chatbots, as it can identify customer queries by spotting relevant keywords. For example, when a user asks, "What is the price of product X?" the chatbot recognizes the keywords "Product X" and "price" and provides the pricing.

4. AI Chatbots

These chatbots are built with Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and can self-learn. Even though AI bots take more time to develop, they can understand and respond in various languages. In addition, conversational AI can also analyze users' moods and interests.

5. Voice Bots

Are you familiar with Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa? If yes, these two are the best examples of voice bots. Voice bots allow users to interact with the device through voice inputs. They are similar to chatbots but more convenient since speaking is quicker than typing.

6. The Hybrid Model

A hybrid chatbot offers both the easiness of a rule-based chatbot and the advanced capabilities of an AI chatbot. As a result, hybrid conversational AI helps industries respond to most customer queries without human intervention. If the question is too complex, hybrid conversational AI passes them to live agents.

Here are seven famous use cases of chatbots that help you easily understand the functionalities of conversational AI.

Customer Service

Undoubtedly, customer service is the field where conversational AI has the most significant impact. As you already know, an AI chatbot can quickly respond to customer queries and provide information about their order confirmation, shipping details, etc. Plus, companies can also use conversational AI to gather customer feedback.

Sales

When it comes to sales, conversational AI can be used to show demos and introduce products to customers. They also help businesses capture details like name, contact number, email id, and the query that led prospects to your business. Moreover, conversational AI can also act as a shopping assistant to customers by recommending relevant products and services.

Marketing

Similar to use cases in sales, an AI chatbot can also be used for marketing products and services. For example, conversational AI helps you promote your products with fun conversations using quizzes, contests, giveaways, etc. It also recommends products by analyzing customer answers and their preferences.

Social Media

Due to the increased social media usage, industries have also started using AI chatbots to boost user engagement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. They are integrated into social platforms to engage users and promote products and services.

Banking

Today, many banking industries have started implementing conversational AI that responds to unending customer queries. Using AI chatbots, customers can instantly get data, such as account balances, bank statements, transfer funds, etc. Besides this, conversational AI can also guide customers to change settings like balance alerts, SMS payment reminders, and more.

Healthcare

Many hospitals and healthcare institutes use AI chatbots to help customers quickly book appointments through their phones. These chatbots can be integrated with calendars so customers can quickly look for slots and book appointments without human assistance. Chatbots can also help patients by reminding them to take their medicines on time.

Personal Uses

Not just for businesses, AI chatbots can also be used by anyone for personal benefits. For example, plenty of fitness apps are available today that remind you about your diet, workout plans, health, etc. Conversational AI can also provide personalized workout plans and diet recommendations according to height, weight, etc.

• Chatbots are available 24x7, which means customers can clear their issues by interacting with the company anytime they wish.

• Chatbots can handle multiple customers simultaneously and provide instant replies.

• Since there's no human intervention, conversational AI always provides consistent and error-free responses.

• Chatbots offer omnichannel support, which means customers can interact with businesses through different channels like websites, Facebook, etc.

• Conversational AI can help businesses eliminate the costs associated with representative customer salary, training costs, devices, etc.

• AI chatbots integrated with messaging apps help businesses reach new customers worldwide.

• Chatbots are highly scalable, which means they can handle more customers as your business grows.

• Conversational AI helps customers order products and do transactions without any human help.

• AI chatbots can automatically interact with potential customers in real time and generate and qualify leads.

• Chatbots are usually free for customers, and they can use free chatbots to get any information they want.

As mentioned above, chatbots are computer programs that can engage with human conversations through text or voice. Artificial intelligence is the key to the scope of chatbots in the future. If you don't know already, many popular tech giants such as Google and Facebook are trying their best to build advanced AI to provide exceptional customer service. Advanced chatbots powered by AI can also be built to automate many tasks which seem impossible!

Even though chatbots are in the developing stage, many industries have already started using them, believing they can significantly impact customer service. However, chatbots aren't replacing customer representatives but making the process more efficient. Chatbots are capable of doing more than most people think. Imagine having a virtual assistant that instantly provides you with information regarding your bank account, online shopping, healthcare, etc.!

Coming to the end of the discussion, we can say that chatbots will stay in the industry for a long time. They are here to change the way companies communicate with customers. As you can see, chatbots are beneficial for both businesses and customers. So we can deny that more companies will implement chatbots in the foreseeable future.

Toobler is a software design and development company that offers many products and services in IoT, web applications, software, website design, industrial IoT, etc. So if you are looking to implement chatbots, Toobler should be your first choice since they offer high-quality solutions at reasonable pricing.