How Do Chatbots Work?

They’re a hot topic, and every business wants one. But what is a chatbot? And how do chatbots work?

Here we’ll explain exactly what chatbots are, how they work and, importantly, how to make them work really well for your organization.

What is a Chatbot?

Put simply, a chatbot is a service that customers or members of the public interact with via a chat interface that’s powered by certain rules and artificial intelligence.

They can be used for customer enquiries, FAQs, product queries, delivery tracking, table reservations, criteria checking hotel bookings, ticket sales and any number of other services.

They can be designed so that they’re very bespoke to your organization and its customers’ needs.

Many businesses already use phone trees, which are effective but people do get annoyed by them and the valuable time they take up. Text-based response trees, which is what chatbots basically are, are much faster and much easier to engage with, which is why customers – and therefore businesses – like them.

People spend so much time on phones and other devices these days, that it makes perfect sense for businesses and other organizations to ‘hang out’ online like this, where the customers are!

Here are some very short answers to the FAQ ‘what is a chatbot’:

A computer programme that performs automatic tasks
A piece of software that communicates with human users online
A programme that can have real-time conversations with humans
An automated response system that uses pre-defined scripts and machine learning applications
An automated responder that grows in scope and relevance because it ‘learns’ from every interaction featuring new wording

Say you’re looking for a bouquet of flowers for a friend.

In the offline world, you’d walk into a florist’s shop, be asked what you’re looking for, and explain. The assistant would then point you in the right direction and offer a suitable choice.

Online, a chatbot that ‘sits’ on the florist’s website would much more quickly determine what you’re looking for, within which price range, as well as any other specifics, and you’d get to an appropriate choice of flowers that you can order there and then, wherever you happen to be.

You’ve already used plenty of chatbots. Guaranteed. Does this scenario sound familiar?:

Online, you type a question into a supermarket’s website help box to ask their opening times. The answer comes back within a second. (The tool has responded, based on what you’ve said, as it’s been pre-programmed to serve up opening times when a customer asks, whether they’ve typed ‘opening times’ / ‘opening hours’ / ‘hours of business’ and so on).

But the Opportunities are Endless!

But chatbots can be used for an almost infinite range of products and services!

Chatbots can be used for people asking about the weather, ordering groceries, getting the latest sports news, making hair and beauty appointments, scheduling a meeting with their accountant, or even for friendship – Microsoft’s Xiaoice bot in China speaks to over 20 million people!

Chatbots can be used for:

Booking dental appointments
Choosing flowers for a special occasion
Reserving hotel rooms (hotels were early adopters of chatbots)
Arranging to take delivery of parcels
Making restaurant reservations
Ordering weekly food shopping
Checking your bank balance
Renting a removal van
Giving feedback about products and services
Checking whether a store is open in the evenings
… You name it!

Why are Chatbots So Popular?

The way they work is closely connected to the reason they’re so popular now – this technology has come at a time when people love to communicate quickly with brands via hand-held devices and via voice commands.

Companies that operate call centres see a natural requirement for chatbots, as they’re an obvious and efficient choice for customer service operations where frequently-asked questions are the norm
Alexa, Google Home and other voice recognition systems have meant that consumers have become used to voice-commanded customer service

What Do I Need to Know About Chatbot Technology?

If you’re a business owner looking to use chatbots to increase sales, the great news is that you don’t really need to know anything about chatbot technology!

Good bot providers will be able to take a brief from you and build a bespoke plug-and-play chatbot that will then sit on your website and work its magic.

But if you’re really itching for some tech detail, here are a few pointers:

Chatbots are automated programmes offering immediate responses to enquiries
They feature an application layer, a database and APIs to call external services
Bots are ‘trained’ with required data before they ever ‘meet’ a customer!
Training chatbots can involve using data logs from human-on-human customer enquiries to establish FAQs
Well-designed chatbots can analyse differently phrased customer questions and understand that they basically mean the same thing
Using smart feedback loops where necessary can ensure exactly the right answers are given to the right questions! (‘Did you mean A, B or C?’)

For the very technically-minded, you might also want to take a look at Vishnu Elupula’s article giving a simple overview of chatbot architecture.