Chatbots are
getting increasingly sophisticated and capable of mimicking human conversation
behaviors, but what should these bots aim to do and how can brands deploy a
chatbot successfully? The new Are BotsWorth the Bother? Report from EyeforTravel and Travelaer reveals all and is
free to download now.
The good
news for brands is that the cost of implementing a relatively simple chatbot is
not a huge investment and is coming down as more providers move into the space
and natural language processing becomes more sophisticated. The cost of implementing
a bot typically ranges from EUR15,000 to EUR50,000 according to the report.
“These aren’t a significant investment for an airline when they’re spending
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, a year on other digital experience
products,” says Mike Slone, chief experience officer at Travelaer.
However,
travel brands need a foundation of data and the resources to monitor, test and
support the bot. Without this, there is potential for the bot to go astray. Data
is key as brands first need to identify and understand what are the key pain
points for customers first and seek to address these, rather than setting
objectives beforehand.
For luxury
hotel brand Edwardian Hotels they began by creating
apps for staff to record notes on guests, service rooms, check breakfast tables
and monitor their work schedules. Icelandair started with their social
media team and looked through what came up most frequently in their
interactions.
In both
cases, these brands looked at what their customer-facing staff were being asked
most by their customers and then sought to address these queries, freeing up
time for their staff to focus on more complex tasks.
“Instead of
saying ‘we’re going to build an acquisition tool’, we look at the customer
journey, how a customer interfaces with a firm and its existing digital
products,” he says. “We look for a gap where there’s a huge customer need and
maybe a chatbot could help. Then we come up with a strategy to apply the
chatbot to solve it – that way, we know the chatbots will be much more
successful in terms of customer satisfaction and metrics.”
Brands then need
to monitor their bot and make sure that it is learning from each interaction in
the right way. “The first version was built around understanding key words but
had difficulties with the difference between: ‘what’s the luggage allowance for
Europe?’ and ‘I lost my luggage in Europe.’ It’s a delicate situation to handle
a bot telling the customer who has lost his luggage that the luggage allowance
is two bags!” Said Guðmundur Guðnason, director of digital business development
for Icelandair.
The results
speak for themselves as the brands in the report, which include Skyscanner and
KLM, were able to drive bookings, boost ancillary sales and increase customer
service. Customers have even been fooled into thinking they are talking to an
actual person and leaving TripAdvisor reviews or cash tips for their artificial
helpers!
For more on chatbots and to download thereport here and find out:
- How market conditions are creating an environment ripe for chatbots.
- How many chatbots are deployed with travel brands currently and what level of functionality they have.
- How they work, what tasks they can perform, and where their limits are.
- What the costs associated with a chatbot are and how it can help your brand save money.
- How chatbots can improve customer service.
- What effect they are currently having and will have on the travel industry.