Chatbots, or chatbots, are programs that use artificial intelligence to interact with users in real time. They are designed to efficiently support customers, automate routine tasks, and improve user experience.
Development history
The prototype of chatbots was the famous Turing test that appeared in 1950. It consisted in the fact that a person had to determine in a dialog between a machine and another person where the computer was and where the live interlocutor was.
In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum created a psychiatrist program called Eliza, which built a dialog based on key phrases and could create a new branch of conversation each time based on a word from the user's line. The theme of psychiatric experiments continued with the Parry robot, which simulated the behavior of a schizophrenic patient and was used to teach medical students.
Since 1988, thanks to Rollo Carpenter and his JabberWacky, dialog programs have become part of entertainment. In 1991, a computer psychologist Dr. Sbaitso was created in Singapore, and in 1995 the first open-source project - an algorithm with a female image A.L.I.C.E. - appeared.
2010 was the start for the development of virtual voice assistants from the world's leading IT brands. One after another, Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Alice, and Salute assistants appeared online. And since 2016, simple dialog programs have been gaining popularity in business.
Why do you need chatbots?
We specialize in developing chatbots that integrate into your business model to improve customer interactions and streamline business processes.
Our services include:
Using chatbots is a powerful tool for improving customer service and optimizing business processes. Contact us and we will help you implement a chatbot that will become a reliable partner of your business in the field of customer service.
- Instant Answers. Chatbots allow you to provide customers with instant answers 24/7, improving the customer experience.
- Automate routine tasks. Answering frequently asked questions, taking orders, making appointments and other tasks can be automated, freeing up company resources.
- Improved customer experience. Personalized approach and instant responses improve overall brand perception.
We specialize in developing chatbots that integrate into your business model to improve customer interactions and streamline business processes.
Our services include:
- Chatbot development and customization. We create customized solutions, taking into account the needs of your business.
- Integration with existing platforms. We provide smooth integration with your existing systems and platforms.
- Training and optimization. We train the chatbot to interact with customers and constantly optimize its work.
- Testing and Support. We conduct rigorous testing to ensure the highest level of performance.
Using chatbots is a powerful tool for improving customer service and optimizing business processes. Contact us and we will help you implement a chatbot that will become a reliable partner of your business in the field of customer service.
Who needs chatbots and when
The program will be useful wherever the initial processing of a user's request is required.
These could be the following areas:
- State structures for processing citizens' appeals in the network;
- HR, accounting, HR bot for collecting primary documents and communicating with personnel;
- educational institutions for organizational work;
- banking industry for answering questions and credit calculators;
- online stores for consulting at different stages of ordering;
- catering for food delivery;
- travel agencies for selecting and booking tours;
- insurance for collecting primary information.
Robots will help to optimize the actions of any support services, including cellular operators and telecommunication companies.
How bots are used for business
To illustrate why to implement a virtual assistant, we can use a real-life case study as an example.
- Problem: the call center of an electronics repair service loses up to 10% of calls on orders. Six operators are not enough. Customers wait at least 2-3 minutes for a response, and the average duration of a dialog is one hour. Many calls contain typical questions, and the operator has to give information from the FAQ section. Important situations were missed, which led to customer dissatisfaction and loss of orders.
- Task: automate the process of receiving calls.
- Solution: implementation of the SaluteBot application created with the help of tools from Sberbank's Digital Showcase personal cabinet. 64% of dialogs, including order placement, repair appointment and appointment confirmation, have been switched to automatic mode. Customized message time from chatbot is less than two seconds. The staff increase was avoided.
- Result: reduction of call-center costs by 34%, conversion of calls into orders increased by 12%. There are no unprocessed dialogs, the average time for a bot to resolve a question is six minutes. Satisfaction with the service has increased significantly.
With chatbots, business works more efficiently with less investment. They can replace real consultants in the network and quickly solve routine issues.
Sales
A sales bot communicates with the client, shows the assortment, talks about discounts and promotions. With a properly written scenario, it can motivate a customer who has asked a clarifying question to buy.
For example, the virtual assistant of the handbag store will show the variants of products, tell about the quality, generate interest and offer to place an order, even if the appeal was a question about the palette of a certain model.
In such dialogs, the “glove” algorithm is often used, when the assistant asks questions in one vector. In case of negative answers, branches appear, favorable offers are voiced, for example, personal discounts and promotions. This is a direct way to increase conversions and increase profits in business. The program can remind customers to view certain products and motivate them to buy them. It informs about new products, sales and thus makes presales.
A simple working application with a sales script can be created using online builders by yourself.
Collecting feedback
Feedback is one of the main tools for assessing business productivity and service quality. Collecting them manually is laborious and time-consuming. Artificial intelligence can also help here. You can teach a bot to search for and upload reviews from a given site, analyze the content, and give an answer based on it. The results are uploaded into tables or a CRM system and serve as a basis for analytical work by the manager.
The development of apps for collecting feedback requires knowledge of basic programming. Templates from the virtual builder will serve as a base, and open code and API settings will create conditions for personalization.
Informing
Operators often call customers or make mailings to communicate important information. For example, you need to confirm an order or inform about its status, remind about a service appointment, send out new information about location or price changes. A chatbot will do it automatically. Unlike standard mailings, it can immediately answer customer questions or make changes. The informer will tell about important events and make an appointment, offer participation in a loyalty program and register a customer at once.
Feedback form
Collecting feedback data is one of the simplest bot customization bot scenarios. It is a working tool that is often used on websites, one-pages, social networks. The assistant asks the user questions and offers to leave contact information, if the answer was not found, will explain why it is necessary. Within the specified time, the potential customer is called back by an operator, provides full information and leads to the purchase.
Telegram is rapidly entering the top platforms for communication, content viewing, sales and business in other directions. Therefore, the site has an opportunity to create a feedback chatbot for easy processing of requests. With it, you won't need to open a new chat for each request or search for customer questions in the general mass of correspondence.
Technical support
The standard technical FAQ can be translated into a program algorithm. It will advise customers on basic settings, troubleshooting typical problems, provide detailed instructions and usage recommendations. This will relieve the support team and allow them to focus on more complex tasks. Automation improves customer service.
Counseling, assistance
Typical recommendations of specialized specialists can be formalized in scenarios of communication with users of the virtual assistant. The chatbot will set the search direction in different areas:
- legal information, links to legislation and court decisions;
- suggested variants of diseases according to the survey about symptoms, instructions of medicines, nearest addresses of medical centers;
- basic recommendations of a psychologist and simple practices to restore psychological balance;
- consultations on popular pedagogical issues;
- step-by-step actions when rendering first aid.
Russian law does not prohibit giving professional information of a publicly available nature to the audience, but, for example, prescribing treatment in this format is not allowed.
Gamification
One of the marketing tools is exciting online quests that lead the client to a purchase. For example, a virtual assistant arranges a quiz between members of a store's community in social networks or Telegram. The person with the most correct answers gets a good discount on the product. He understands why he keeps answering the questions, as he is motivated by the bonus. Some training platforms are built on game principles, which relieves the workload of teachers.
To work with employees
The automation of corporate interaction leads to a reduction in business costs for additional employees. For example, thanks to chat rooms, one person can handle the receipt of routine information from departments, while the HR department can delegate the collection of applications to a virtual assistant. To save time, the manager can automatically upload the necessary reports from 1C at the touch of a button.
A group supervisor can give one task to everyone in one chat room. The execution report is uploaded there as well, and the algorithm generates an upload of the number of completed and non-completed tasks and their KPIs based on the results.
When a bot is not useful
An ill-conceived chat with a primitive script will not only fail to solve the client's problem, but will also cause irritation and misunderstanding why this tool was implemented. Among typical application errors there are several flaws:
- limited number of response options;
- poor knowledge base of the assistant;
- no possibility to go back to the end of the correspondence;
- inability to switch to an operator at any time.
If the client did not find a solution among the ready-made answers, spent a long time communicating with the virtual assistant, pressed various buttons and in the end could not get in touch with the operator, he is likely to leave. If he still managed to get in touch with a consultant, the dialog will already have a negative coloring, and the operator will have to work with objections.
You should not pretend that the communication is conducted by a real consultant - the client will be waiting for unfolded live messages, and template phrases will lead to misunderstanding and negativity.
Another irritating factor is spamming. Scripts in this case are usually written in a clumsy manner, the tone of the dialog is assertive, so users form a negative attitude towards all virtual assistants. Most sites where such applications can be placed actively fight spam, so there is a risk of account blocking.
Chatbots for business are more of a tool for communicating with an existing audience. A new one can be attracted only in the case of advertising, which is aimed specifically at switching to a messenger or other platform.
Often for such purposes, the method of attracting a useful bonus is used. For example, for subscribing to a robotic channel in Telegram, a potential client receives a free guide to cosmetic procedures or educational materials.
