Intro to chatbots: an interview with our expert

This interview has been conducted by the amazing Shauna Blackmon.

Whether we realized it or not, chances are every one of us has interacted with a chatbot at some point. Sometimes the technology is good enough and we can get the information we are looking for. More than likely though, we all remember a time when the chatbot wouldn’t understand a word no matter how many times we said it, or gave us an answer that seemingly came out of nowhere. 

This then begs the question - What separates a quality chatbot from the rest? If your company is thinking about improving customer service with chatbots, how do you make sure to do it correctly? 

We sat down with a chatbot expert, Mercedes Rodríguez, to find out more about how companies can make the most of their chatbots and avoid common pitfalls. 

A few words about Mercedes

Mercedes is a conversational designer and software developer, currently focused on developing Actions for the Google Assistant and chatbots for different platforms using Dialogflow, distinguished as the Google Developer Expert for Assistant.

She is passionate about human-computer interaction and Voice User Interfaces, always trying to build the best conversational experiences, cause she truly believes that everything will be managed by voice in a not so far future. Previously, she has also worked as a teacher, as a translator specialized in localization, and as a web content editor, writing at many different blogs.

Mercedes is a very curious person who loves to learn new things all the time. Right now, one of her main concerns is the lack of women in technology. That's why she is a co-organizer at GalsTech, a group trying to improve women's visibility in the sector, in order to encourage more girls to choose technological careers by giving talks and organizing meetups and workshops.

Chatbots: why, how, what

Shauna: What do you find interesting about chatbots?

Mercedes: I find the human-computer interaction really interesting and how you can make artificial intelligence. Previous chatbots were robots; they just had buttons you could press. Now they are conversational and talk in a natural way like a human.

Shauna: What are some of the most common ways companies can benefit from implementing chatbots?

Mercedes: They have many benefits. You can have immediate communication with your clients. The chatbot is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can have that with humans, but it's very expensive. Imagine a human working New Years Eve or something like that, the chatbot is there all of the time. Also, it allows a standard communication. You can connect your chatbot not only to your website but to all of your social media and the chatbot will always answer in the same way. If you have 50 or 60 people answering the different channels, even if you give them a manual, it's not so standard. Also, most of the questions that clients have for companies are 70 or 80% the same all of the time. Especially for small or medium companies that have one or two people attending all of the channels. They are answering the same questions over and over. If you have a chatbot for that, those people can have time to answer more complex queries and attend to clients that really need help rather than just answering questions about the hours or something like that.

Shauna: Is that pretty standard practice now, if a bot doesn't understand a question that it gets sent on to a human representative?

Mercedes: It depends on the company strategy. Many companies don't do that, but the best strategy is to have that option. Otherwise, if the chatbot is unable to answer some questions, the client might get frustrated. If the chatbot doesn't have an answer, it's best for it to say, "I can't answer this for you, but I will forward you to a human representative."

Shauna: At EnterpriseAI we talk a lot about what might be holding small to medium-sized companies back from implementing technologies like AI or chatbots. Why do you think there is still a technological lag?

Mercedes: I think many of them don't even know what it is. For example, chatbots could be great for small commerce or restaurants because users could make their reservation through the chatbot or ask for the menu, but most of the people working in small restaurants don't know what a chatbot is.

Also, the people who know about it, many of the solutions are still expensive for them. Big companies can afford to build a chatbot but for smaller companies, it might be difficult.

Shauna: What is the process like for making a chatbot?

Mercedes: It depends on the company and if they are a technical company and have their own developers or not. If it's a restaurant or commerce place, they should hire a developer. I think it's like when websites started and then mobile apps and things like that. Many shops, restaurants, and other small companies wanted to have a website or app, but at the beginning, it was very expensive. Finally, the prices got lower though. I guess it will be the same for chatbots in the next years.

If your chatbot isn't good quality and doesn't answer questions properly, it can damage your brand. So if you want a quality chatbot, you have to hire an expert.

Shauna: If a company is interested in implementing AI but has no idea where to start, what advice do you have?

Mercedes: I would say it's best to look for a professional and ask to see previous chatbots they built. Most of the companies developing chatbots don't have them publicly available but some do. Also, get some counseling about what is the best technology for your specific needs. Depending on what you want to implement or what kind of technology you already have, an expert can offer advice about how to reach your goals.

Shauna: How do you see the industry changing? What do you think chatbots will be able to do in a year or so?

Mercedes: This is just my opinion, but I think they are going to be everywhere. The same as now that every company has a website, I think every company is going to have a chatbot. For daily life though, I think voice is going to be the future. I'm praying for the day where I can say "Ok Google, I want to buy tomatoes, milk, and bananas in the supermarket," and they will just come and bring it to my home. Or if you want to go to the cinema, you can ask what movies are showing, and it will buy the tickets for you. You don't even need to open your computer or take out your phone.

Conclusion

If you think a chatbot can improve your workflow or your customer service experience, feel free to get in touch. We love helping companies figure out how AI technology like chatbots can help their company run more smoothly and make more money.