Chatbot Trends
Chatbots, known by many other names like AI assistant, AI chatbot, conversational AI bot, conversational agent, conversational interface, intelligent virtual assistant, digital assistant, virtual agent, virtual customer assistant and more, are increasingly being widely adopted across all types of professions and companies, and this is just the start of the story.
Why the Rising Popularity?
In recent years, the Internet of things (IoT), smartphones, and wearables have completely changed the technology landscape. As digital devices become smaller in size, their computing power becomes greater.
Heavy-duty activities and mobile apps are not compatible with businesses in this digital age. How can businesses propose to provide customers with fast and seamless user experience when they are being made to wade through complicated menus?
Also, consumers want the freedom to interface with technology across a wide range of channels rather than being limited to the communication methods selected by an organization.
Chatbots solve these issues by creating a situation where customers can simply ask for whatever they need across many channels, wherever they are, and at any time. This convenience, speed, and intuitiveness have led to increased number of chatbot use cases. This was why 74% of consumers in 2020 say they used conversational assistants to research or buy products and services. (Capgemini)
Below are stats to demonstrate that business and chatbots are a match made in heaven.
Chatbot Usage and Adoption Statistics
- 27% of consumers today are interested in AI (artificial intelligence) support tools. (Tidio)
- 4 billion people are using chatbots. (Acquire)
- Chatbots can answer 80% of standard questions. (IBM)
- Nearly 65% of business respondents say that chatbots made it possible to provide customers with a more personalized service experience in 2019. (Statista)
- By 2022, 70% of white-collar workers will interact with conversational platforms daily. (Gartner)
- Almost two-thirds of people say 24-hour service is the best feature of chatbots. (Drift)
Chatbot Implementation Statistics
Chatbots had come a long way from when the first machine capable of speech, ELIZA, was developed in 1966 by an MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum. 6 years later, using the principles behind ELIZA, a more advanced PARRY was developed by a psychiatrist.
Today, developers are building more advanced and improved versions with the capacity to help businesses strengthen their digital presence and improve efficiencies and customer experience.
Below are examples of chatbots’ increasing global adoption.
- The global Chatbot market valued at $1.17 Billion in 2018 is projected to climb to $10.08 Billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 30.9%. (Globe News Wire)
- In terms of chatbot use, the top 5 countries are the USA (36%), India (11%), Germany (4%), the UK (3%), and Brazil (2%). (Giva)
- It’s estimated that by the end of 2019, nearly 25% of the world’s population will be using chatbots. (Chatbots Magazine).
Adoption and Statistics Across Industries
In the health sector, health management platforms are increasingly using digital assistants and mobile apps to provide personalized recommendations to patients. Fitness brands and gyms are also using it to provide people with virtual classes, nutritional information, and personalized workouts.
According to Juniper Research, global cost savings from using chatbots in the banking sector will rise to $7.3 billion by 2023 from $209 million in 2019. The global pandemic may have expedited the need for financial houses to provide customers with new digital solutions but they are now able to offer a superior user experience through the use of advanced conversational AI.
The telecommunication industry has turned to AI and machine learning to make their practices more customer-centric. They use conversational AI to resolve technical issues, increase workforce productivity, and prevent fraudulent activities. As a result of chatbots’ ability to learn about customers, telecoms are better able to tailor their future interactions and so provide better-personalized services.
The insurance industry will also be saving as much as $1.3 billion in 2023 as against just $300 million 3 years ago. Just like the banking sector, insurance firms, retail and e-commerce industry, with their diverse sectors, are increasingly relying on chatbots to handle their huge data volume, act as back-up for human agents, guide customers going through self-service, and assist in resolving repetitive processes.
It’s clear from the above statistics that chatbots are not only here to stay but are the future of improved customer experience, cost savings, and better ROI for serious businesses. No wonder 57% of businesses believe chatbots deliver large ROI with minimal effort. (Accenture Digital).
Future Chatbot Predictions
- It is projected that by 2025, AI will power 95% of all customer interactions, including online conversations and live telephone to the point that customers will not be able to tell it’s a bot. (Finance Digest)
- $8 billion is projected as business cost savings through chatbot use by 2022. (Juniper Research)
- Chatbots can reduce the eCommerce $1.3 trillion operational costs by up to 30%. (Chatbots Life).
- Up to 90% of banks’ customer interactions will be automated using chatbots by 2022. (Chatbots Magazine)
- By the end of 2023, companies, through the use of chatbots, will save 2.5 billion customer service hours. (Juniper Research)
Trend Conclusion
Smart bots are the way forward, and when combined with the growing popularity of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing, it can have benefits beyond belief.
If businesses or establishments want to keep up in this technologically evolving environment and improve brand experience, raise customer engagement, and deliver actionable insight, they must adapt to using chatbots.