What are Chatbots?

Saurabh Patil           28 march 2023

Chatbots have been fashioned out of artificial intelligence and have been automated to engage with humans like another human being would. Subject to the difficulty of the query, chatbots will simply reply to particular keywords or they’ll hold entire conversations with a user rendering it tough to differentiate them from humans. Chatbots are formed by using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing. Due to these two, a chatbot can comprehend the intricacies of English as a language and decipher the authentic meaning of the query. Akin to children, chatbots are also capable of learning from their conversations with human beings and only get better with time and interactions. They work in two simple steps. Firstly, they recognize the import of the inquiry and gather all the data from the human asking that may be essential to respond to the question. Then only do they reply to the question suitably. The answer given also hinges on the difficulty of a specific chatbot. If it is comparatively daft, it may just offer a nonspecific and chronicled response and if it is a bright chatbot, it will generate a personalised answer grounded on the question asked by the user and the information previously deposited in the chatbot’s information bank. An intelligent chatbot could even cross-question a user if it has doubts.

The advantages of Chatbots are

Simply put, a chatbot is an automated customer service representative at the other end. What are the advantages of these automated reps? We list some of the benefits of chatbots:

1. Chatbots are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Chatbots can be accessible to solve client issues 24/7 irrespective of whether it is day or night. Since they are automated they never sleep or take breaks! This would be impossible to attain with humans. This means that chatbots can respond to a customer’s questions whenever the customer fancies asking one. This helps to boost customer loyalty. Establishments that fail to address customer issues lose that customer immediately to a competitor who offers good customer service.

2.Chatbots are capable of collecting customer perceptions

Most companies flourish on customer information. The more information they have on their customers, they better equipped they are to service them.

This is where chatbots are of huge support. Every time you engage with a chatbot on a company’s site, you offer basic inputs such as your predilections, purchasing habits, feelings, etc, that are then broken down to understand market tendencies, functioning perils, etc. Putting information to good use, the company can resolve customer problems easily and produce customized products. This assists in boosting customer allegiance.

3. Chatbots save you the moolah!

Organisations that run human customer service departments have to dish out a handsome sum in remunerations to their staff. And if it’s a big establishment, the expenses are equal. In such cases, having a chatbot to service customers reduces expenditure by a sizeable amount, creating long-term financial savings. Once the chatbot has been created it’ll be able to respond to all the basic customer requests that would otherwise have taken humans a long time to do. Additionally, the chatbot replies instantaneously saving a lot of time. And time is money!

4. Chatbots can augment sales

Customers are able to receive prompt support and solutions for their issues using chatbots versus humans who take up a lot of time. When customers are given great service, the odds that they’ll be loyal to your business is high which will in turn lead to a boost in sales Companies could also employ chatbots to advertise their latest offerings straight to their end consumers. When customers get commendations for a product while conversing with a chatbot, it has a personal touch as opposed to an e- mail or an arbitrary advert and they are more inclined to make the purchase. Suffice to say, chatbots can push sales in this manner too.