You are looking at the stories of your friends on Instagram when suddenly an advertisement for a business appears that catches your attention. Since you have never heard of this one, you decide to enter their profile and find yourself lucky that they sell a product that you have been looking for several months.

But a problem arises, the profile does not specify where the premises are located nor does it include a number to contact them. For this reason, you decide to send them a message through Facebook, waiting for a response that never comes. This story repeats itself every day, especially taking into account that only on Facebook, there is an exchange of 2 billion messages per month between consumers and businesses. So today, companies are forced to use Chatbots, to be able to respond efficiently and fast to the inquiries and needs of its never ending stream of customers.

Chat-What?

Chatbots are computer applications based on artificial intelligence, which are used to perform tasks without the help of a human being, although they simulate communicating as such. They should not be confused with personal assistants, as their use is usually punctual, limiting themselves to providing answers to common questions. However, in some cases, they use multimodal neural networks that copy the functioning of the human brain, allowing them to learn from all its interactions and perform more complex tasks. Because it does not require the person to register, navigate through interfaces or download tools, chatbots have been well received by Internet users who are looking for quick and precise answers to their questions. Already there are more than 100,000 businesses that have one or more bots at their disposal.

Chatbots Functionality

As already mentioned, chatbots are used mainly to perform tasks related to customer service, such as ordering, solving technical doubts, solving complaints, offering information about a product or service, among others. They offer the advantage that their communication and identity are going to remain consistent, no matter who the recipient is and what their response is. Its design and functionality will depend on the service to be offered and the dialogue or types of conversation that are expected with customers. This requires designing an everyday experience and a content strategy, where the bot guides the conversation, often using closed questions, a controlled vocabulary and predetermined answer options.

Thankfully it’s easier to implement than you may think. You can add a chatbot to your website relatively quickly now. The cost of these systems depends on three variables: the type of industry, the desired level of interaction, and the required chatbot capabilities. For example, suppose the system needs to incorporate a natural language processor (NLP) to understand the tone, gestures and emotions of the user, or to be able to make reservations and place orders. In that case, it will require a more significant investment, since the processes carried out and the design of the bot will be more complicated.

A well-developed and implemented chatbot brings many benefits for companies, starting by streamlining interaction with customers, solving their doubts and procedures, regardless of the time of day or the number of consumers interacting. Thus, the time of employees is freed up, allowing them to concentrate on answering questions and more complex tasks. It’s time to get into the new decade.