Will chatbots ever replace human interactions?

Ever felt like you're talking to a brick wall when trying to resolve your issues with a chatbot? You’re definitely not alone. In fact, more than 60% of customers would prefer to wait in a queue to speak with a human agent then talk with a chatbot immediately. Ultimately, we all know that AI based conversational agents found on Whatsapp, Facebook and co. fail to meet the customer’s expectations of human interactions.

To make matters worse, chatbot conversations are largely jammed with rants and foul language. A study by Freshworks showed that 92% of chatbot interactions in Germany include curse words. Fundamentally undermining the constructiveness and integrity of any conversational agent. Name a more toxic environment for building customer relationships, we’ll wait.

The simple truth is that chatbots will never be able to replace empathy, offer a lending ear and make the customer feel understood and valued. Exactly these elements are crucial for personal interactions and building relationships. To put the importance into perspective, 84% of customers are more likely to become a loyal customer if they are treated as a person by an expert, rather than a figure by a conversational agent. 

Even the internet giant Facebook came to the same conclusion. Facebook’s AI-bot initiative in 2017, showed AI chatbots failed to help with 70% of customer requests. Demonstrating the ineffectiveness of chatbots in fulfilling customer needs. While chatbots can resolve easier problems, they fail to support when complex issues arise. Essentially, conversational agents lack the agility necessary to handle new situations. 

What do we take away from this? Not only do humans seek human interactions, refuse to put up with anything less and retaliate with cursing, chatbots also fail to convey empathy and meet their needs in the majority of situations. 

How can human interactions be facilitated in an online environment?

Human interaction remains a necessity in the age of eCommerce. Adopt the following 5 solutions to facilitate human interaction in an online environment: 

1. Build trustworthy and human long-term customer relationships for future interactions through open communication feeds. Support your customers throughout the entire customer journey with endless texting and (video) calling potential. Customer loyalty and cross-selling guaranteed!
2. Expert selection lists enable your customers to build a trusting relationship with your experts from the get-go. By allowing them to determine the fitting expert based on their needs, interactions are off to a constructive and content start. 
3. Leverage your experienced experts and provide them with a platform to educate your customers and formulate excellent product recommendations. Offer your customers personal product advice and save them from chatbot frustrations. 
4. Video calls provide the perfect setting for trusted, personal and empathetic conversations. Enable your customers to schedule appointments at their convenience to ask all questions in a 1:1 expert video call. 
5. Allow your experts and customers to share videos, photos and documents for engaging conversations. This will enable your expert to receive the full picture of the situation and resolve the inquiry to your customer’s satisfaction. 

These easy-to-implement solutions for human interactions between your customers and your in-house experts will outshine any chatbot solution out there. Connect your customers directly with experts, create a trusting environment for engaging conversations, show empathy, and solve complex issues with AMAZD’s conversational storefront. 

To discover how AMAZD solves many of today’s eCommerce challenges and how it can play a key role in the success of your customer experience strategy, get your free AMAZD demo today.