Chatbots gaining quick momentum in India

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Chatbots seem to be winning the heart of consumers already in India. A recent survey found that some 90 per cent of online shoppers were happy talking to machines compared to human executives.

A chatbot is a computer programme designed to simulate conversation with human callers. Modern day, Artificial Intelligence-driven chatbots often excel humans in performance and communication skills. Therefore, chatbots are fast emerging as ideal customer interfaces across industry verticals.

Overall, 90 per cent consumers are satisfied while interacting with chatbots and find it useful for future.   To order food online, 51 per cent prefer chatbots while shopping online, 47 per cent of customers prefer chatbots.  To interact with customer care, 59 per cent prefer phone and 41 per cent prefer chatbots. Some 45 per cent of customers are unable to differentiate between chatbot and human, revealed the study titled “Efficacy of AI” conducted by a digital marketing solution firm iCubesWire.

Customers trust chatbots with respect to small ticket purchases. That means while negotiating a high-value purchase most customers still prefer a human factor over the machine talk. The survey was carried out among 4,000 working professionals with digital proficiency (age group 25 – 45) who live in Tier I cities in the country.

iCubesWire founder and CEO Sahil Chopra said, the highlight of the survey was: high rate of accuracy and instant response imparted by chatbots compared to human customer interface executives.

“The data is very encouraging and clearly show the preference today’s world has. Consumers are short of time and want accurate solutions instantly. With AI bots, the data and information provided is 100 per cent accurate and instant with no need for users to be on hold.”

However, a lot of people (59 per cent) still prefer to dial a customer care phone line and talk to a call agent to ensure human touch and comfort. “This data will surely reverse with time and we can expect to see a lot more people preferring bots. This also indicates that marketers need to do a lot more work with AI,” Chopra added.

Interestingly, almost half of the audience could not differentiate whether they have interacted with a bot or a human. This evidently points out that the level of service and accuracy is far more important than who the consumers speak with, revealed the study.