Advantages and Disadvantages of Chatbot Use – Turning Weaknesses into Strengths

In addition to the high added value that a chatbot brings to the company, the user experience aspect is a key success factor for the future use of the digital touchpoint. The experience of a chatbot interaction should be positive so that the chatbot is also used extensively in the long term and its field of application can be expanded. But how exactly do you achieve this?

The goal is to increase the attractiveness of the chatbot and thus its acceptance on different media, such as the website or within an app, so that the company's target group likes to use the digital assistant frequently. In this way, significant reductions in customer inquiries by phone or email can be easily realized, and the chatbot as a business case pays off within a short period of time. The Chatbot Study 2021, which aiaibot conducted and published in collaboration with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), provides exciting insights, especially into users' behavior.

What users find beneficial in chatbot interactions

One of the biggest advantages mentioned by respondents is the speed with which the chatbot offers help to customers. Together with neutrality, i.e. the fact that the chatbot is always in a balanced state of mind, is not subject to mood swings, and is objective, the aspect of speed currently offers the greatest added value according to the survey.

With a well-developed chatbot, problem solving is simple and effortless and offers users significant time savings. The advantage is on both sides. For the companies, self-service brings a reduction in administrative effort and an associated increase in efficiency.

The unlimited accessibility of the digital assistant and the resulting time savings on both sides create great added value for both users and companies.

Chatbots are ideal for solving customer needs directly, uncomplicatedly, simply and reliably, where greater flexibility, accessibility and time savings are sought. The unlimited accessibility of the digital assistant and the resulting time savings on both sides create great added value for both users and companies. 

The respondents very much appreciate these advantages. Customers like the fact that they do not first have to find and reach the person in charge with the right competencies within working hours, but can solve their concerns directly and in a self-service process with the help of the chatbot.

Factors potentially perceived as a disadvantage

Less well received in chatbot interactions are the sometimes poor response quality and comprehension problems. Here it is important to listen to customer feedback and incorporate it in the further development of the chatbot. If the chatbot's responses are too imprecise and insufficient in terms of content, this is also a sign, among other things, that the use case for the chatbot was not selected and defined in a clean and focused manner. The better the use case fits and the better it is optimized and aligned with the needs of the users, the higher the quality of its responses. Another possibility for optimization is the implementation of the aiaibot AI (Artificial Intelligence) Module, which makes the chatbot capable of learning and enables it to understand free-text input and increase the response quality independently. The same applies to the criticism of comprehension problems: The more a chatbot has the ability to access existing data and learn from it, the better it understands the queries and can provide accurate answers. 

Around 70 % of respondents trust that their data is secure when interacting with a chatbot.

While data security is an issue that comes to mind when respondents use the chatbot, they are not very concerned that their information could be misused. Around 70 % of respondents trust that their data is secure when interacting with a chatbot.

Another aspect that contributes to a positive perception of the chatbot interaction is a pleasantly proceeding personal conversation. Therefore, chatbot dialogues should be designed with this goal in mind from the outset. It should be clearly defined in which way the chatbot should communicate with the users. To make conversations even more personal, it is helpful, as already mentioned above, to link the chatbot with third-party systems so that it can access information from past conversations with individual users and also make authentication possible.

Recommended actions

To ensure that the experience with chatbots is consistently positive for customers, the chatbot should meet both functional needs and be affective, i.e. emotionally appealing. 

If the chatbot alone solves the issue, this is not necessarily an experience that customers will remember positively. To achieve this, it is recommended that the purpose and goal of the chatbot be precisely defined, that the bot should be continuously developed, that it should be integrated into third-party systems, and that it should be adapted to the company's communication strategy. The benefits and goal of the chatbot should be clearly defined, and the communication method should also be defined so that the chatbot speaks in the same way as the consultants in the relevant division would in person. Regardless of the department, the bot should be perceived as a professionally competent helper. The company should act quickly if customer feedback suggests that the chatbot's use case is not appropriate or not optimally aligned with customer needs.

Only if the chatbot is constantly and continuously developed further, taking customer feedback into account, can customer concerns be handled quickly, efficiently, and with a positive customer experience by the digital helper in the longer term.