Are AI Chatbots Useful or Dangerous for Businesses? [Infographic]

Shane Barker — May 25, 2020

Efficient customer service is one of the key necessities for a thriving business. In fact, 93% of customers tend to make repeat purchases with brands that offer excellent customer service.

With the advancements in technology, AI-powered chatbots are assisting humans in this task. The idea of conversing with bots is normalizing at a rate faster than ever.

For anyone testing the waters before introducing chatbots, here are some brief insights that can help:

Why Using Chatbots is a Good Idea

Today, there’s an increased interest in integrating chatbots in business communications. According to a report by Gartner, 70% of white-collared workers will regularly interact with conversational platforms by 2022.

Here are some reasons why the use of AI chatbots is spreading like wildfire:

#1. They Can Cost-Efficiently Boost Conversions

By popping up when users visit your website, these chatbots can engage with multiple consumers at once. They don’t need toilet breaks, lunch breaks, or sleep times.

AI chatbots are always up to serve your customers where they are, which helps them save time and improve user engagement.

One of the best examples in this regard is toy brand, LEGO, that uses their chatbot, Ralph, to give personalized gift recommendations to their customers. After asking a few questions about their price range, and their child’s age and interests, Ralph aids decision-making for their customers.

Image via Landbot.io

Chatbots make users feel comfortable by letting them pose questions and requirements without the fear of being judged.

#2. They Enable Data Collection

Chatbots are geniuses at making conversations, gathering consumer data, and analyzing it.

In fact, 2018 saw the launch of Chatlets.ai – a conversational user experience platform that uses chatbots to segment customers based on a number of parameters. It then funnels the data and produces tailored content like videos, presentations, charts, etc.

This is a goldmine for any business that relies on data analysis for forming their strategies.

Why Using Chatbots Could Be a Bad Idea

For some, AI chatbots have not lived up to the promise of bridging the gap between humans and machines. 75% of people who participated in a survey by NewVoiceMedia preferred to have live agents handle their questions, only 13% of people preferred interacting with bots.

The question here is “why.”

Let’s take a look at why using chatbots could be a bad idea for your business.

#1 They Lack Personal Touch

Chatbots lack the element of humor, empathy, and emotional intelligence – traits that are essential in an era embracing personalization.

They can certainly handle straightforward customer requests and commonly-asked questions. However, consumers are often left frustrated by bots’ inability to provide empathy.

Poncho, a weather bot, is one of the many examples of chatbot communication failures.

Image via Comm100

Unfortunately, this chatbot was only equipped to recognize days of the week like Tuesday and Monday, but it didn’t recognize terms like weekdays or weekends.

#2. They aren’t Secure Enough

It’s paramount that chatbots only demand relevant data from customers. In the light of companies’ legal responsibility for ensuring the safety of information, bots pose several threats.

Many of them handle sensitive information like banking details and contact numbers. Thus, it is important that these interactive agents don’t act as back doors to hackers.

The attack on chatbot, “Tay,” released by Microsoft in 2016 is a reminder to consider security measures when dealing with bots. In less than 24 hours, Tay went from saying, “humans are super cool,” to being a racist and anti-feminist among other things.

Image via Twitter

Conclusion

It can be said that one should only consider introducing conversational AI chatbots when they’re fully prepared to handle them. Using the right chatbot platforms 24*7 can also go a long way in maximizing conversions and minimizing risks.

For more information about the challenges and opportunities associated with using chatbots, check out this infographic:

Infographic via Shane Barker

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