Are Chat Bots the New Apps?
For a few years now, it has all been about the app, and we have been frantically acquiring an app for just about every imaginable purpose. These days, the average Australian is proud to boast an app for everything: a daily weather report, whilst guiding us with a new diet and training program, delivering the finance news, and sending us the results from the cricket. It was inevitable that at some point in time, people were going to get tired of downloading apps. And this marks the start of the next “big thing” – Chat Bots.
Chat Bots are a conversational user interface experience, a concept very much on the current experience design menu. Essentially a Chat Bot is created to assist a user solve a problem or attend to their query. They can provide very simple information, like a weather report, help you troubleshoot a computer problem, or schedule an appointment. It can make a purchase for you and help you manage your finances. Whilst one user is usually human, applications are currently being developed to allow two chat bots to communicate with one another.
The rise of Chat Bots has come as a direct user response against downloading Apps: at first, collecting different Apps on one’s tablet or phone was interesting and fun, but then the inevitable happened – everyone got tired of downloading Apps! At first, interacting with apps held great appeal – businesses were investing in apps rather than marketing with flyers or advertising collateral. They would create loyalty programs on their app, which would build a stronger customer relationship simply by existing on their phone, and would also provide a unique incentive to purchase by offering discounts. In addition, businesses could take advantage of customer purchase behaviour information provided by analytics and location data, better targeting their marketing plans. Effectively, apps made it easier and more exciting for customers to press the “buy” button… until they became tired of downloading hundreds of different apps in the first place.
On the other hand, people are living in Chat – social media, various different chat Apps, texting, tweeting, conversing – everyone is used to chat and it has become second nature. It’s unsurprising that the next step was for the Chat experience to be continued across the entire App collection. And we are out with the App, and in with the Chat Bot.
Large call centres and organisations are making use of Chat Bot technology to provide a different customer experience, whilst saving money on human resources and adding a bit of customised flair. The financial services industry through to Government Agencies are also making use of a process called Robotic Process Automation. This is where various repetitive manual processes are replaced with RPA for greater cost savings and even improving customer service satisfaction scores.
Play and experimentation are factoring into the creation of Chat Bots, rather than coding and primarily digital solutions. Global leaders in Chat Bot prototyping have revealed the extent to which they ‘act out’ interactions and conversations in the creation phases, to ensure they are delivering an element of surprise and even entertainment to users.
Chat Bots, being new, are the perfect customer experience tool for small to medium size businesses to adapt right now, whilst technology is still developing and new advances in artificial intelligence are being made. In addition, research on the Chat Bot customer experience has demonstrated that users actually have very poor expectations of the Chat Bot experience. This means that users will be easily pleased and surprised by a very mediocre Chat Bot experience right now.
Creating a Chat Bot doesn’t have to be a large complicated project in which to invest a lot of time and energy. Pullstring, for example, provides adaptable templates to give businesses a great start on theirs, learning as they go and hopefully having some fun along the way too.
Chat Bots have opened up incredible opportunities for businesses across all sectors. This is the first time people are sending more time in messenger apps than in social media, which hints at something very big on the horizon.
When creating your Chat Bot, make sure you act out the conversation with two people in “real life” to determine how it should go, before taking it digital with your conversational design. Your bot personality is important. Strike the right balance between friendly, helpful and respectful.
Robotic Process Automation. This is where a lot of organisations from FSI’s to government agencies are replacing repetitive manual process’s with RPA for greater cost savings and even improving customer service satisfaction scores.
About the author
Shane Parsons brings 20+ years experience in IT Sales and Sales Management, in both the UK and Australia. He built his expertise whilst working for high profile multinationals including NEC, CSG and in his currently role as Director, Microsoft Business Group at SMS Management and Technology. An innovative entrepreneur at heart, Shane was instrumental in building and selling a technology company in 2010 to an ASX listed company. Shane has since helped multi-national companies, such as SMS, to win multiple national and global awards and strives to deliver innovative solutions that make a real difference.