The Challenges of a Successful Chatbot Implementation
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The challenges of a successful chatbot implementation

Chatbot: one of the technologies companies are adopting to improve their operations. Although it’s a key tool to represent your business and serve your clients better, there are several challenges associated with its implementation:

Create value for your customers

Ask yourself this: will the implementation of a chatbot create value for my business? If so, how?

An advanced chatbot is not worth it if it doesn’t create value for the customer journey – it’s important to understand whether the investment is worth it.

Ask yourself if this technology will:
  • Improve the company’s communication with its clients;
  • Give more time to workers which they can devote to better customer care;
  • Be used by your stakeholders.

Meet your audience

It’s also vital to know which of your customers will use this tool – which, after all, would become obsolete if there were no customers to help. As such, our advice is to assess the age groups of your target and to understand who interacts more with your website and social networks – the hosts of your new tool.

Abide by the Privacy and Security regulation

Making sure your clients feel secure and that their privacy is uncompromised is of paramount importance. This is an increasing concern among consumers, which means that questions asked by chatbots should be restricted to those that are strictly necessary and people should be informed they are communicating under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Additionally, it’s vital that the network hosting the chatbot is protected against possible hacking attacks. These features are especially important in businesses that deal with sensitive information, such as the Banking, Healthcare and Insurance sectors.

Make the chatbot “human”

We know. It might seem strange to talk about making a robot more human, but even if people know that they are talking to a chatbot, they want an easy, fluid and, more importantly, a fast interaction. So, the idea behind these systems is to ease communication with a business and a bad experience with a robot might well have the opposite outcome.

To become more efficient and be able to attract and retain Internet users, chatbots must be useful, careful, trustworthy and likable – bear in mind that this will be the first interaction that most of your clients will have when meeting your business.

Ongoing commitment with the chatbot

It’s equally important that there’s an ongoing commitment to the maintenance of this system. We must stress that, if there’s no one in charge of the maintenance of the chatbot, there’s a high chance that, sooner or later, the assistant will have issues. However, this isn’t complex, so you can hand this task to an IT junior employee.

To know where the customer experience with the chatbot starts and ends

Another barrier you may well come across when trying to implement a chatbot is the idea that people would rather communicate with other people than with robots – a subject discussed in “Are we ready to communicate with chatbots?”.

Despite their ability to transform the customer experience, chatbots can’t fix everything. Therefore it’s important to define where the customer journey starts and ends with these assistants and where it begins with humans, better able to help customers with complex problems.

Costs

Lastly and probably one of the most relevant questions is: “How much are we spending on creating and implementing a chatbot that is efficient and creates value for our customers?” You might be surprised by the answer – contact us via info@visor.ai and let us show you what we can do for your company.

Are We Ready to Communicate with Chatbots
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Are we ready to communicate with chatbots?

We’ve entered a phase of the digital era in which “artificial intelligence” and “virtual assistants” are on the agenda. The stories from the 80s and 90s  we saw on the big screens are now a reality. In our modern world, where robots are becoming more human, there’s something we must ask: are you ready to communicate with a robot or a chatbot?

“A chatbot? What is that?” – you may ask.

Even if you don’t know, it’s likely that you’ve already communicated with one. Surprisingly, the device you’re using to read this article may have one of these systems.

“Oh really?”

Yes. And, if this wasn’t amazing enough, these digital robots are available in two categories:

In virtual assistants. Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana are some of the examples available on the market. These kinds of chatbots, usually available on smartphones, are equipped with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Two features that enable them to learn and understand what they’re asked.

Or in messaging apps, which companies are adopting to solve basic questions and to have a customer service available 24/7. These assistants are available on platforms like Facebook Messenger, WeChat, LinkedIn, and, more frequently, on institutional websites.

So, it’s probable that you’ve already talked to a chatbot without realizing it. According to a study by Drift, in 2017, 15% of the respondents had communicated with a messaging chatbot. But are people ready to communicate with chatbots if they know they’re talking to a robot?

63% of people say “yes” to chatbots

Studies show us that yes – we are ready.  Humanity in the Machine report indicates that 63% of people are predisposed to communicate with a brand or a business via chatbot. Another study points out that 29% of consumers would rather contact businesses via chatbot, more than those who would rather do it by email (27%).

Among millennials, a generation whose behavior partly differs from its predecessors for preferring to communicate with messages, 48% say they’re ready to receive recommendations of advice from chatbots, as reported by research from DigitasLBI.

All these studies point to a positive scenario should companies use these modern tools in their operations. However…

Consumers are not willing to deal with bad chatbots

Although they are ready to connect with robots, consumers are not ready to carry out a conversation with bad chatbots. The same study from DigitasLBI indicates that 73% of Americans wouldn’t contact a company via chatbot again if they had a bad experience initially. Humanity in the Machine points in the same direction with the conclusion that 61% of people find robots that can’t answer something more frustrating than if it’s a person.

So, are we ready to communicate with chatbots? Yes, but if companies want to create value with these systems, they need an efficient assistant that’s capable of answering the simple questions that customers ask.

Are you ready to adopt chatbots? Contact us via info@visor.ai and let us introduce you to this brand new world.