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One of the biggest advancements ever in customer service was the invention of chatbots, and they are becoming ubiquitous online.

Chatbots help answer questions and suggest next step actions by processing the data provided by the user. Often chatbots are used to answer frequently asked questions by identifying keywords and phrases in the user’s question. They can also progress their replies as the conversation continues, incorporating the additional data provided by the user. Advanced chatbots also use machine learning and natural language processing to understand the context of a conversation and improve the accuracy of their answers.

Here we look closer at chatbot software and the benefits and challenges in this ultimate guide to chatbots.

Types of Chatbot Software

There are three types of chatbot software that website users encounter online and that a business can implement, depending on what suits their purposes best. These Chatbot types include Live Chat, Rule-Based Chatbots, and AI Chatbots.

Live Chat is popular in retail and will often only be able to answer very basic questions without human intervention. They are usually a means for a user to contact customer service, with automated answers only for the most frequently asked questions.

Rule-Based Chatbots use many more predetermined rules than basic Live Chat bots in order to better understand the context of a conversation. They are still quite limited and only respond to specific pre-defined keywords and phrases. Their answers will attempt to guide the conversation towards a satisfactory conclusion according to the data entered by the user.

AI takes things a step further by analyzing the data entered by the user and understanding the user’s intent. The answers provided by AI Chatbots are determined by the results of their data analysis, and they are capable of following the user’s guidance and adapting their understanding of the data as the conversation progresses.

Advantages of Chatbots

Chatbots can provide website users with a more personalized experience without using up the time of a human member of staff. They can help increase website engagement through this personalization and can increase the conversion rate by engaging with a potential buyer during their moment of highest intent.

This higher level of automated engagement helps combat customer churn, especially for any businesses experiencing a high volume of support inquiries. Users no longer need to dig around the website seeking the answers they want, as the chatbot comes to them and provides them with the information they want in the moment they want it.

A learning AI Chatbot can also use previous encounters with a user to further enhance the customer experience.

Disadvantages of Chatbots

There are some challenges when it comes to implementing and maintaining a chatbot. One of the big ones is misspelled words and people’s use of slang. There is also nuance in certain sentences which can change the intended meaning entirely, and this can lead to a chatbot misunderstanding the user’s intention.

Chatbots also require constant monitoring and adaption as technology advances and new and improved practices come into play.

If you are interested in finding out more about chatbots and how your business could implement them, please contact our team at +1 800 9747219 ext. 202

Alternatively, complete our online form and a member of our team will be in contact with you.