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My first conversation with a chatbot was on my brother’s computer some 12 years ago and I was fascinated by it. I remember the conversation being something like this…

http://www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3

My computer friend had no memory of our conversation so it was a little weird when I talked to her again. But I admit I was initially very impressed by how it learned my name and answered some questions like it really knew what it was talking about.

Like many technologies, we have come a long way with chatbots and they have gotten pretty good. I remember using a messaging app where there was chatbot you could talk to while waiting for your friend to show up. Those were the times when you had to wait for people to get online on computers, unlike today when everyone is constantly online on phones and laptops, and talking to chatbots really helped killing time.

I hadn’t really thought about chatbots as a part of a human machine system before it was mentioned in the class. But, now that I think of it chatbots can be very effective in disseminating information to customers/ users. For example a customer looking on a toy manufacturer website for instructions on how to replace a battery can be overwhelmed by the amount of information on the website; all the new products, flashy ads, etc. Search bars wouldn’t help either if you didn’t know the right keywords. But a chatbot could help you get to the right page by asking you right questions.

I think chatbots are great. Especially on websites where uses need information whose keywords are tricky, or websites where you need to put some personal information like name, zip codes, etc. like on travel websites. Here is an article on how travel websites are using chatbots to enhance customer experience. https://medium.com/hijiffy/top-3-chatbots-that-are-changing-the-travel-industry-d325082c50b8. Chatbots can do initial conversation asking you to input necessary information before handing over to a real person. In a nicely designed chatbot users wouldn’t even notice the transition.

Part of the reason why chatbots are great is because they give an impression of talking with a real person. It is easier to ask questions on a human language than to click through bunch of links to get where you want to go. Chatbots use natural language processing to understand the input and uses artificial intelligence to know how to correctly respond to the query. And like humans they learn with each conversation and get better and better over time.

The downside of chatbots is they can get annoying at times by popping up out of screen when you don’t really need any help. Sometimes the chatbots are not very intelligent and can send you to wrong places and that can be extremely problematic if you don’t have other way of navigating the website. Some chatbots work with limited keywords and preprogrammed responses. So they won’t be helpful and will increase customer frustration.

Chatbots are here to stay. They increase customer satisfaction, decrease service time, lower labor costs and make service faster. Link