Hello Sophie
Thank you for answering our questions about chatbots today.
Simply explained, what are chatbots?
Simply explained, a chatbot, or digital assistant, is a software system that can interact or "chat" with a human user in natural language. For the user, it should feel as if they are chatting with a human. Fast, simple, and straightforward - just as we are used to from WhatsApp, for example.
However, it is VERY important that it should feel to the user a bit like chatting with a human, but the chatbot should absolutely out itself as a robot or digital assistant, so that the user really knows who the other person is.
Why do we so often read about AI when it comes to chatbots?
First of all, it is important to understand that there are two types of chatbots. One distinguishes between rule-based chatbots and AI-based chatbots, which - as the name suggests - work with artificial intelligence.
The following video nicely illustrates the differences between the two types. First a rule-based chatbot is shown and then a ki-based bot.
AI-based bots, or intent-based chatbots, require AI to understand the user's input and then respond appropriately.
Where are chatbots most commonly used?
The fact that chatbots can primarily answer simple, predictable questions means that bots are primarily used in customer service to answer the most common customer queries. Of course, since chatbots are software, they need to be "trained" in advance on all possible questions customers may have. I think by now, regardless of the industry, chatbots are used whenever there are a lot of repetitive questions. This can even be internal to the company, for example, when employees always ask the same questions to the HR department.
What do you think are the biggest advantages of chatbots?
Certainly, the simplicity of chat communication overall and the great scalability. Chatbots, like any software, are infinitely scalable. So they can handle several 1000 different customer requests at the same time. Customers then don't have to wait for their answer or hang in a phone queue.
Further, chatting has now become one of the most used forms of communication. You could almost say that almost everyone can chat with WhatsApp and therefore everyone can use a chatbot.
Are there also disadvantages of chatbots?
Of course, there are! Whereby I believe that it is rather the companies that use chatbots incorrectly. A chatbot is not just there to automate customer service. A chatbot has to be thoroughly thought through and then, above all, developed further. Many companies forget this and then chatbots are online giving sketchy answers and annoying users instead of helping them.
Can chatbots develop their own personality?
In theory, AI could go so far as to allow chatbots to evolve themselves. In practice, however, it is still the companies that give the chatbot a name and also define a personality. Not every company does that. But I would strongly recommend that during the concept phase, you also think about what personality you want the chatbot to have and what tone you want it to chat with later.
Where do you think chatbots could be used at Cashare?
I already have a lot of ideas! But I think one of the first possibilities would be either a chatbot directly on the Cashare site, which answers the first questions of new website visitors and takes away their "fear" of crowdlending and at the same time also shows what Cashare (hopefully) does better than the other platforms.
Further, a chatbot at Cashare could also be used well within the platform to answer inquiries from existing customers there. For example, when I first logged in, I wasn't entirely clear on the difference between primary and secondary markets. A chatbot might have been able to answer this for me.
Should Cashare customers then be afraid that they will only be served by robots in the future?
No, absolutely not! I think a chatbot would be more for those who - like me - browse around Cashare's website for the first time on Sunday afternoon and suddenly have questions. And then so that we don't have to wait until the next business day for customer service to be available again, we could use a chatbot. But there will still be those customer inquiries for which humans are indispensable. And that's certainly a good thing!
Thank you for this exciting insight into the world of chatbots. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more on this topic.
Sophie is one of the first master’s students to explore and research the topic of chatbots and actively support companies in their implementation. Since 2021, she has been a research assistant at the Institute of Financial Services at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (IFZ). There, she is driving the field of “Insurance” and researching the area of Conversational Banking and Insurance in more depth.
