Do you know who is on the other end of your message?
It’s harder to tell whether you’re speaking to a real-life customer service provider or a very clever piece of tech. But when your consumers are desperately searching for answers to their queries you need to ensure they’re getting the best service possible.
In the quest for more reliable, frequent customer support, many hospitality businesses are turning to AI-powered chatbots. In fact, according to Persuasion Nation 58% of B2B companies and 42% of B2B companies are now integrating chatbots into their websites. While there are certainly benefits to this application, we’re continuing to witness issues with AI from hallucinations (don’t worry, we’ll explain later – it’s essentially when LLM’s create inaccurate outputs) to public distrust. As personalisation and authenticity continue to be valued by consumers, is this really where we want to hang our hat? Chatbots – are they the future?
What are chatbots?
To really break it down, most chatbots are computer programmes that mimic human conversation. They’re often used by businesses to answer customer queries and provide support by simulation a conversation with an actual person.
In the past, this role of customer support would be provided mainly by a live chat, a call centre, or even an online quiz that takes users through a journey to direct them to the right information. While all of these offerings still exist, chatbots have become more popular as they’re available on demand without the need to employ and pay staff to manage communication 24/7.
Additionally, consumers are more likely to interact with an application that they see as human compared to generic quizzes of a standard bot which can be time-consuming and frustrating.
Chatbots use NLP (natural language processing) which is a form of AI that improves customer experience as it mimics natural human language through providing responses to prompts. There are obviously far more technical explanations and differences between NLP chatbots and rule-based bots but for the purpose of this blog, we’re going to stick to discussions on AI-powered bots!
You can find chatbots pretty much everywhere. Since the very first chatbot (ELIZA, created by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966), they’ve evolved rapidly and while they have unending uses, most people will come across chatbots daily while shopping or seeking support on websites or social media.
How can they be useful tools for your hospitality business?
If you’re looking to reduce boredom, fatigue, and cost within your team then chatbots can be a really great investment! There’s no limit to the amount of queries a chatbot can handle at once, they can work 24/7, and they’ll handle repetitive queries without complaints – a perfect employee, really. The average ROI for chatbots is estimated to be 1,275% for the projected global chatbot market size of $1.34 billion in 2024.
They’re convenient for consumers as well with banking chatbots saving an average of four minutes per inquiry compared to traditional call centres.
When we’re looking at the customer journey in the digital age, retention is super important to make sure the journey remains cyclical and that consumers turn to advocates (as well as helping get people from the awareness stage to the purchase stage in the first place). Great quality, on-demand service from your company is an important part of it.
If you can answer any questions a person has and solve their problems, they’re more likely to have a positive experience with your brand. The more positive the experience, the more likely they are going to become customers and even repeat customers. Chatbots are great for this.
Part of this is that conversation chatbots can help replicate the in-person shopping experience by providing a guide through purchasing. This helps reduce cart abandonment rates with some retailers reporting a 70% increase in conversion rates with the use of chatbots. They can also deliver personalised product recommendations using insights and help the post-purchase experience.
Particularly if a business is trying to target the Gen Z demographic, they should be considering chatbots. North One reported that 20% of Gen Z users prefer starting their customer service experience with a chatbot before switching to a human only if necessary. In fact, Outgrow have shared that if the alternative was to wait 15 minutes for an answer 62% of all consumers would rather chat to a chatbot. Tidio found that 56% of Gen Z think more companies should try chatbot technology. Convenience and ease of access make chatbots an enticing offering.
But what are some of the problems with chatbots?
There are many reasons why businesses and consumers alike are nervous about the technology. Some of the common challenges with chatbots are:
- Language understanding
- System maintenance
- Bugs
- Lack of real-time personalisation
- Misinterpreting messages
- Difficulty understanding complex queries
- Lack of human connection
One of the main issues with utilising AI chatbots is AI hallucinations. Basically, AI can go rogue and give you the wrong information. This can be caused by incorrect prompts, insufficient training data, or biased training.
When you’re relying on your chatbot to provide answers to your customer’s queries, the idea that they could be delivering the wrong information can be horrifying to a business. But that’s not the worst possible consequence of using these chatbots. They’ve even been known to be rude and offensive. It’s worth noting though this is a rare occurrence
Are they a threat to marketing success?
Obviously, an issue like this would become a PR disaster for a company and while these are extremely high-profile cases, companies who use chatbots do more often run into milder issues where the wrong information is given out or a customer abandons their query due to frustration trying to talk to the AI assistant.
But more so than these issues, what marketers should be thinking of is how these chatbots affect the brand’s relationship with the consumer. Relationships are extremely important for marketing. If you don’t have a connection with the customer, then how are you going to spur them into action or retain their loyalty?
Authenticity and trust are extremely important in today’s world of marketing, with consumers looking for transparency in businesses. They want to know that they are valued and they don’t want to be deceived. Placing an artificial assistant between yourself and your customer creates distance and many consumers will be turned off by that distance.
Should we be avoiding AI?
But does this make AI the ‘big bad’ that we should be avoiding as marketers and businesses at all costs? Of course not.
In fact, it really could be the future. With the possibilities of AI being essentially limitless, we can only see this tech progressing as these large language models keep learning. NLP and ML will keep propelling AI further, making chatbots easier to use and more able to mimic human conversations. Falling behind on these trends will only be to your detriment, but relying on them entirely also isn’t a safe bet. It’s about balance and employing the right people to build and manage your chatbots.
If you’re looking for ways to incorporate AI into your hospitality site or utilise chatbots, get in touch today to discuss it with our marketing and web development teams. Drop us a line at 01132557285 or head to our contact form now.
