
Chatbots are also known as conversational agents. They are software programs that can be integrated into different platforms that can automatically respond to messages that are received and begin conversations in a more natural way. This concept is not new. However, the implementation of customer experience management by different businesses will continue to grow in 2021 and beyond.
Business Insider reported that global chatbot sales were expected to increase from $2.6 billion in 2019, to $9.4 trillion by 2024. The report predicts an 29.7 percent increase in the annual compound rate. The same report also indicated that the highest growth in the adoption of chatbots will be seen in the retail and ecommerce industry because of the rising demands of offering customers seamless experiences across all channels.
This alone will convince you that chatbots will be the most efficient method to manage customer relationships in the coming years. But, they are expected to continue to develop as internal tools within enterprises and nearly every industry will embrace the technology even if it hasn't yet.
2020 was an extraordinary year. All people saw drastic transformations in their lives within only a few weeks. In a time where human contact had been limited and chatbots appeared to fill the void. In order to be able to manage their businesses, companies that were not already digitally transformed had to make the change.
In this period chatbots have been at the heart of the battle against COVID-19. Chatbots are helping a variety of industries recover from the decline in healthcare, from assisting healthcare workers by facilitating communication between local health authorities to helping to transform retail. Contrary to what some people believe chatbots are here to aid, not replace, the regular workforce.
Now that we've looked at the significance of chatbots, let's look at how they function.
What is the Work of Chatbots?
How can a machine talk naturally? When people think of implementing chatbots in order to improve employee experience platform it is the first question they ask. Although the actual programming and use of chatbots are complex, it's actually quite simple to see how they interact with humans.
In order to process and efficiently answer incoming queries, chatbots rely on knowledge bases. The incoming text is broken down, and a mix of patterns and algorithms are utilized to determine the intent of the message.
Chatbots employ natural speech processing (NLP) to determine the purpose of the message. Chatbots can extract pertinent information from text. NLP is the framework which helps chatbots comprehend the context and understand the message's intent. This organizes queries into categories, which allow bots to choose the best auto-response solution or escalate the issue to customer service representatives.
The first generation of chatbots were designed for chats that were text-based, but thanks to technological innovations and the advancement of NLP chatbots, we now have chatbots that are able to conduct speech-to text and speech-to-speech interactions.
What are Chatbots used for? Chatbots are becoming more important.
Chatbots are rapidly gaining recognition across the globe. Chatbots are becoming more popular due to their ease of use. Organizations and consumers alike are beginning to embrace the concept of using chatbots to facilitate conversations.
According to a survey conducted in 2019 that found 62% of US customers like using ex automation which allows them to communicate with companies. The study also revealed that in the survey of European countries, the most demanded functionality was text messaging (65 percent). Some of the companies who have recently adopted this technology include British Airways, eBay, Starbucks as well as eBay.
Chatbots are not just used by B2C businesses; in reality, the implementation within the B2B sector is much higher. In an analysis conducted by Relay, 58% of businesses with a chatbot feature were categorized as B2B.
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