As applications gained great novelty in 2009 and an app has been made for almost every problem, we have been living in the period of chatbots for some time. Do you want to order pizza? Does a meeting need to be organized? Do you want to find the love of your life? There is a chatbot for it. At that time, many people were as sceptical about applications as they are about chatbots today, but it would be difficult to imagine our life without the applications that offer a solution for everything.

Probably, you have already talked to some type of chatbot and you may not be impressed. You can reasonably ask: what's this hype about them? To answer this question, it is important to understand that not all chat programs are the same. Nowadays, we can mostly encounter chatbots that recognize pre-defined sentences, questions, or expressions and can respond to them in a pre-written way. On the contrary, the great opportunity resides in chatbots working with artificial intelligence. Equipped with machine learning, we are able create chatting programs that can understand and respond to almost anything and can become more intelligent and sophisticated as conversations run. These bots are much more successful in recognizing a person's intentions and can be further developed. The artificial intelligences currently used for these purposes are called narrow AIs, which are designed to perform a specific task. In contrast, with the advancement of technology we will be able to create so-called general artificial intelligences. By incorporating these into chatbots, we may create companions that can find a solution to any of our problems. Considering the above you might get a picture of the potential these programs hold.

The number of utilizations is endless, but we can only find a limited amount of initiatives that imagine the future of chatbots as an integral part of business life. Let's show you some ideas and great examples!

AI solutions in human resources

This is the area where most of the professionals agree with the need for chatbots and other solutions based on artificial intelligence, as they can help with many tasks. Let's start at the beginning with the selection process. Approximately 75% of CVs received for a given position are filtered out, which may entail a time-consuming task for a large company. At the same time, such companies have accumulated lots of CVs from previous candidates, which can serve as a great data set for a filtering AI. As a part of the sorting, an automatic background test can also be introduced, thus taking the burden off staff working in the HR department. In many cases, training of the recruited workers is not an easy task. Instead of the usual lectures and learning material, it is advantageous to create a chat program that keeps teaching during the execution of tasks. Knowledge acquired in this way can be learned more easily and the workers can receive immediate answers to the arising questions.

Many HR experts spend most of their working hours responding to employee questions. In most of the cases, these questions address the same topics (benefits, leaves, sick pay, etc.). Their work could be well automated with the help of a chatbot that answers frequently asked questions, so they would only have to deal with more complex employee problems and could devote more time to tasks that require expertise. In addition to the time saved, such a solution can greatly reduce the costs of the company in a short time.

Chatbots for managing orders and bookings

Many companies have already created their own chatbot for ordering or booking. Great examples are the chat programs called Dom from Domino’s Pizza and My Barista from Starbucks popular in Australia and the US, but many other companies have developed their own applications for these purposes. Most of these are available through Messenger and make orders and bookings a lot easier. We can also find similar solutions in e-commerce. The KLM Airline's Messenger-operated bot allows you to make flight reservations with a few sentences. Shopify's own chat program transfers the entire purchase process to the Facebook messaging app. Customers can view catalogues, ask for product recommendations, place orders, and even get customer service in a few messages. The chatbot of LEGO offers a very similar experience. After general questions like location or age, it helps you with choosing the best gift possible. We can also determine the product's theme, price, and size. Although the chatbot is unable to place the order, but after selecting the desired product it directs you to their webpage and puts the requested product in the shopping cart.

Personalized marketing solutions

Marketing is yet another area where automation solutions can be greatly utilized. Not only is the product or service purchased important to the customers, but also what they experience during the buying process. Even if most of the operations in the field of marketing will work automatically in the future, the importance of buyer experience will not be reduced. When we hear about automation, most of us think about cold and impersonal messages, but it is quite the opposite. Using chatbots we can create personalized ads that can really transform the purchasing process to a delightful experience.

We can encounter chat programs the most on the bottom right corner of web pages. Since 70% of people prefer writing a message to calling, these bots can encourage users to get in touch. For a small company that cannot afford to hire separate employees for this task, the use of such bots is expedient. Their biggest advantage is that they can help customers 24/7, so they do not leave the page after facing the first problem.

A well-built chatbot can also help you with placing your customers on the purchase funnel. With the right questions, you can easily categorize potential buyers, this way they can be put into the appropriate stage of the buying process. Such programs can also be used for generating personalized messages using the information asked in previous questions.

Customer service without waiting

We are certain that you have already had to make a call where you needed to hold the phone for a long time waiting for a customer service response. The music on hold may still be stuck in your head. If situations where you have to wait ten minutes for a simple question drive you crazy, we have good news for you. Traditional customer services may disappear completely in the future - instead, you will simply have to send a message and get your answer in minutes.

Source: Medium, Techopedia, Maruti Techlabs