Recent Trends show that Artificial intelligence is the future of technology in our world. AI is gradually being integrated into every aspect of human activities. The applications of AI are vast ranging from self-driving cars, robotics, automation, chatbots, recommendation models to mention but a few.
In this post, we will focus on the chatbot application of Artificial Intelligence, discussing what are chatbots, how they work, and why you need an AI-powered chatbot for your business.
What are Chatbots?
Chatbots are Software agents capable of conversing with humans through an interface or platform in a more human format. AI-powered Chatbots are capable of understanding user intents and providing answers to questions asked through Natural Language Processing, NLP.
Chatbots have been around for quite a while, the first Chatbot, Aliza, was designed in 1957. Although rudimentary, Aliza proved the potential of Chatbots. Thanks to the advent of social media and messaging applications, such as Facebook messenger, slack, telegram, WhatsApp, the demand for Chatbots is on the rise.
Today, Chatbots are seen everywhere on websites, as hardware robot devices or a standalone mobile application.
How Chatbots Work
As mentioned above, Chatbots use Natural Language Processing, NLP, to process user input, usually through a web client or a messaging application. The user input is passed through an algorithm to detect what the user is asking about. Then it will run through a model that provides a reply to the user based on the input provided.
Generally, Chatbot design is problem-specific, ie built to solve a particular prettier eg, customer support, inquiries, or more robust such as building a conversation agent to chat with humans.
Why do you need a Chatbot for your Business?
Imagine you started your small business, and people call you all the time to answer the same question over and over again. Or you’re low on budget and cannot employ the services of a human agent. What happens to tickets from your business then? That’s where Chatbots come in.
They help you answer boring and repetitive questions, saving you a ton of time, which you can use to build your business.
I run a YouTube channel linked to my website, and each time my subscribers ask the same question enquiring where to download tools I use in my videos.
So I designed a Chatbot to handle common queries I receive from my blog and YouTube channel. (BTW, the Chatbot is live and can be assessed through the chat icon located at the bottom left corner of this website).
Don’t get me wrong, Chatbots are not meant to replace human agents entirely, but simply to serve as the first line of defense to attend to more general and common queries, giving human agents more time to attend to other important issues.
Using a Chatbot for your business, cuts down your company budget by a large amount, saving you a ton of money that you can use to build your business. Chatbots are relatively cheap to build and are available all day 24/7 as long as the client application is up and running, your Chatbot will pretty much remain intact.
Need a Chatbot For Your Brand?
Having seen the benefits of having a Chatbot on your website, a lot of you will be curious as to how to get started. If you need a Chatbot for your business, we can set it up for you at a budget-friendly price (I am IBM certified Chatbot builder). The price per Chatbot may vary depending on the complexity of the design and the application you wish to integrate into. However, it still followed a general rule of thumb in terms of design. Interested should indicate through the comment section below or send an email to [email protected] to get started.
Conclusion
Chatbots can help you grow your business more through effective customer relations and ticket handling. It reduces cost on a business budget and provides more time for solo businesses to grow their businesses.
Anyone can use a Chatbot, it is not limited to big companies or small startups alone. Make the right choice for your business today and take advantage of the numerous features offered by a Chatbot. Special thanks to IBM, Favcode54, and Antonio Cangiano for providing the resources and tools that helped me gain the skill of a Chatbot designer.