Beginning from ELIZA, the first chatbot developed by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT Laboratories in 1966 that worked on pattern recognition and premade templates, we have come a long way, especially with the development of generative AI-powered chatbots. A chatbot, as defined by Gartner, is a “domain-specific conversational interface,” that uses an application, messaging platform, or social network like WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook Messenger to engage in conversations. These chatbots can be text, voice-based, or both.
Today, chatbots are used across industries for different use cases, predominantly in improving customer experience via customer service. As per a research report from Grand View Research, the global chatbot market is estimated to be valued at USD 27,297.2 million by 2030 and the integration of chatbots can be a cost-effective strategy for business.
In this blog, we will walk you through the two main types of chatbots and how chatbots fit into the generative AI roadmap. We will further discuss how WIZ.AI‘s generative AI-powered Chatbots improve customer service and the different business use cases of these chatbots.
Difference Between Traditional Rule-based Chatbots and Generative AI-powered Chatbots
A chatbot is a computer program that can simulate human conversations in varying sophistication. There are different types of chatbots. Among them, traditional rule-based chatbots and generative AI-powered chatbots are the ones that are popular these days.
A traditional rule-based chatbot, also known as decision-tree bots, functions based on specific pre-defined rules that are set based on the scenario or problem they are trained for. Most of these traditional chatbots are developed based on the concept of Expert Systems that was prevalent in the 1980s and utilize if/then statements and provide output primarily through keyword detection. When it comes to generative AI chatbots, they are a type of conversational AI system that can handle human-like conversations. The reason is that they utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) that are trained on massive datasets to generate their responses.
Traditional chatbots, as they are rule-based, offer less flexible conversational flow and stick to the script. They are simpler than generative AI-based chatbots and don’t interpret languages. On the other hand, generative AI-powered chatbots are flexible and can even learn based on their previous interactions. They can understand behavioral patterns, perform sentiment analysis, and provide personalized experiences. They are creative and can interpret languages.
While hallucinations and biases exist as concerns for generative AI-powered chatbots, several innovations and advancements are happening around these bots, making them better than they are. These bots have a wide range of applications, from customer support to content creation across industries. WIZ.AI’s chatbots are one such generative AI chatbots that come with strong contextual relevance and abilities to communicate like humans.
How do Chatbots Fit into the Generative AI Roadmap?
Generative AI chatbots use deep learning and natural language processing technologies. Generative AI chatbots come under the category of conversational agents, which includes virtual agents, generative AI assistants, and generative AI chatbots. Generative AI chatbots rely on transformers to generate complex content. In the generative AI roadmap, chatbots play a critical role by applying pre-trained data, fine-tuning specific tasks, and adapting to user interactions.
These AI chatbots utilize pre-trained data to undergo training, and based on specific use cases, they can be further fine-tuned to perform these tasks. The training methodologies of chatbots are also undergoing drastic changes, especially with advancements happening in the world of generative AI.
When it comes to adapting to user interactions, these chatbots have adaptive learning capabilities, as they can perform contextual learning like WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots. These bots are also continuously learning by incorporating new data and iterative training.
How do WIZ.AI‘s Generative AI-powered Chatbots Improve Customer Service?
WIZ.AI’s generative AI-powered chatbots are intelligent bots that can answer open questions, scene questions, FAQs, and more. They help businesses across industries to reduce labor costs and improve customer experience. In this section, we will explore in detail how WIZ.AI’s chatbots can help improve customer service for your business.
Reduce Wait Time
According to a recent CX Trends report by Zendesk, 71% of consumers stated that AI and chatbots help them attain faster responses. Integrating WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots into your customer service system can reduce wait time, as these bots can act as the first point of contact for your customers. The bots could answer questions quickly and accurately and leave customers satisfied.
If the issue is complex, the bot could transfer the interaction to a human agent. This would reduce the load on customer support teams as they would only have to handle complex tasks. This is because minor and repetitive queries, otherwise handled by human agents, will be resolved by AI chatbots.
Facilitate Round the Clock Support
WIZ.AI’s AI Chatbots can offer 24/7 availability and work around the clock. As per a research study by Outgrow, 64% of consumers consider 24/7 availability as one of the best features of chatbots. When these intelligent virtual agents provide customers with accurate responses at customers’ preferred time, this will enhance customers’ experience and satisfaction.
Provide Personalized Experience
A study by McKinsey shows that 71% of customers expect businesses to offer personalized experiences, and 76% of the respondents stated that they feel frustrated when brands fail to meet their expectations. This shows how important personalization is in a customer’s journey. It is also important to understand that personalization goes beyond merely addressing customers by their first name. It includes providing customers with personalized journeys, personalized products/services, support, and assistance, and even offering personalization in tone and style of interactions.
WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots can help build a data-driven personalization strategy as it can analyze customers’ data and their interactions to tailor the bot’s interactions to meet customers’ specific needs.
Offer Multi-lingual Support
As customers engage with brands globally, it is integral to reduce any form of communication barrier. Having English as a default language for a chatbot and offering translation would impact customer experience. When there is a multi-lingual AI chatbot sensitive to the customer’s locale and culture, customers will be more comfortable interacting with the chatbot. WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots are multi-lingual and can offer support through true localization in languages like English, Bahasa, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, German, French, and Portuguese.
Facilitate Multi-channel Support
Customers like to interact with brands, not just through a single channel. They would reach out through multiple channels such as websites, social media, messaging apps, and so on. It can be challenging for businesses to identify which channel would be the preferred medium for customers. Therefore, facilitating multi-channel support via AI bots can help connect these dots and serve customers at the right time. WIZ.AI’s chatbots offer multi-channel support across different platforms such as, but not limited to, Line, WhatsApp, Zalo, Instagram, Viber, and Facebook Messenger.
Prepare for Emerging Trends
In today’s world, it is integral for businesses to prepare themselves for emerging trends. One of the best ways to do so is by leveraging the data-driven capabilities provided by WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots. Through this, businesses can analyze customer feedback, learn from customer behavior patterns, and adjust strategies proactively. This helps them to adapt to any dynamic market changes that might happen.
Improve Customer Retention
As per a recent study from Salesforce, over 90% of customers believe that a positive customer service experience makes them buy from a brand again. Similarly, 61% of participants in a Microsoft study stated that they would switch brands in case of poor customer service. Therefore, as part of retaining customers, businesses have to provide proactive, accurate, and timely customer support. Integrating trained chatbots can help handle these concerns and improve customer experience. These bots can make the purchasing process simpler for your customer, collect feedback to improve further, and offer 24/7 support.
Business Use Cases of AI Chatbots in Customer Service Across Industries
There are different business use cases for AI chatbots across industries. Based on industry, they are as follows:
E-commerce
In e-commerce, AI chatbots can help with order taking, tracking delivery, and providing information about different deals and offers. It can facilitate personalized product recommendations and tips based on customer’s preferences. These bots can also send reminders about abandoned carts to customers.
Through this, bots can enhance user experience, increase conversion rates, improve customers’ shopping experience, and boost sales. In fact, as per Chatbots Magazine integration of chatbots in e-commerce has led to a 7 to 25% revenue increase.
Banking and Finance
A recent research study has found that banking chatbots have helped banks save $7.3 billion in operational costs by 2023. With these AI chatbots, banks can serve their customers via multiple channels in a secure way. These bots can help overcome pain points like long wait times, inconsistencies in information shared, and so on. It can become a self-service resource that provides faster and more accurate support.
Insurance
Integrating an AI-powered chatbot like WIZ.AI’s AI chatbot can help insurers with their queries about different insurance terminologies, payment processes, policy coverage, and so on. These bots could also help with filling claims and even guide customers in selecting insurance plans.
Healthcare
The healthcare sector can make use of chatbots to improve patient engagement and help patients through processes like appointment booking. These bots, trained with relevant data, can also provide patients with an initial assessment of symptoms and offer guidance. They can also send medication reminders with instructions to patients on time.
Hospitality
AI chatbots can act as a 24/7 digital concierge for businesses in the hospitality sector as they can help people with their bookings. These virtual assistants can provide answers based on customer’s queries, encourage direct bookings, and enhance conversion rates. They can also help guests check in or out at hotels.
Final Thoughts
Generative AI-powered chatbots like WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots are game-changers as they help businesses improve their customer service processes. These bots can be fine-tuned based on specific business use cases so as to help businesses gain the best out of these AI bots. Interested in learning more about how WIZ.AI’s AI chatbots can enhance customer experience? Talk to our experts today!
