We’re looking at another year 2021 of chatbot dominating many aspects of our lives.
“Hi! Have any questions about our product & service? I’m here to help.”
Sound familiar? You’ve probably interacted with a chatbot whether you know it or not. For example, you’re shopping online for a product, and a window pops up on your screen asking if you need help.
At the most basic level, a chatbot is a computer program that simulates and processes human conversation, allowing humans to interact with digital devices as if they were communicating with a real person.
It’s the fact that chatbots are increasing in popularity among businesses and consumers alike, and many famous messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Slack, etc. have offered tools for merchants to make or integrate bots to engage with customers.
With that in mind, let’s welcome the year 2021 with new trends and forecasts about chatbots.
Key Chatbot Statistics to Know in 2021
Chatbots are transforming the ways businesses connect with current and prospective customers. Anything can be purchased, any time, with a click of the button.
In many industries now, customer experience is perhaps the single most important differentiator, and it is clear that something must change to keep pace with the changing demands of customers.
These are statistics for the current chatbot trends in business:
- The finance, healthcare, education, travel, and real estate industries are profiting the most from chatbots.
- 80% of businesses are projected to integrate some form of chatbot system by 2021. (Outgrow, 2018)
- Chatbots can help businesses save as much as 30% of customer support costs. (Invesp, 2017)
- The market value of chatbots was $703 million in 2016. (Outgrow, 2018)
- More than 50% of customers anticipate that businesses are open 24/7. (Oracle, 2016)
- Chatbots are popular among both millennials and baby boomers. (Chatbots Magazine, 2019)
- There are more than 300,000 active chatbots on Facebook. (Venture Beat, 2018)
Statistics about chatbot users
Consumers are demanding round-the-clock service for assistance. It’s the challenge that most organizations, ranging from banking and finance, to health and wellness, have to deal with. When people experience friction — unnecessary steps, delays or barriers — they are more likely to abandon their shopping journeys, making chatbot becomes even more impactful.
Check out these statistics about chatbot users.
- 69% of consumers prefer chatbots because of their ability to provide quick replies to simple questions. (Chatbots Magazine, 2018).
- 95% of consumers believe that ‘customer service’ will benefit the most from chatbots. (Drift, 2018)
- 56% of consumers prefer to message a business for help rather than call customer support. (Outgrow, 2016)
- 67% of customers globally reported using a chatbot for customer support in the past year. (Invesp, 2017)
- 37% of consumers expect to receive quick responses during emergencies. (Drift, 2018)
- 33% of consumers would like to use chatbots to make reservations, place online orders, and other functions. (Drift, 2018)
According to Forbes, 62% Of US Consumers Like Using Chatbots To Interact With Businesses. With messaging businesses being the new normal and chatbots at the frontline, customers can expect an easier and faster way to interact with business and get the service level they deserve.
To be more specific, digital commercers can use chatbots to answer customers’ questions, and when the bots can’t help, a person can hop in to take over. Doing this may increasingly boost customer satisfaction, which leads to better business results. With customers spending less than 10 minutes per year communicating with utility providers, we should try our best to make these 10 minutes as painless as possible.
Chatbot trends in 2021
In the NICE inContact and Forrester Consulting online survey of 307 organizations in the US, the UK, and Australia, 64% of surveyed organizations plan to increase their AI investment over the coming year; 77% agree that while AI increasingly peels off simpler customer service requests, it also increases the need for agents to develop additional skills to deal with more complex and higher-value customer inquiries; 74% of respondents state that the number of agents will either grow or stay the same this year; 79% believe that AI would enable contact centers to deliver consistent, timely and contextually relevant experiences.
Check out the following trends in chatbots for 2021.
Chatbots are expected to become more human-like.
The simplest answer is a computer software program that is able to intelligently communicate with humans through artificial intelligence.
Messaging platforms will be a driver for the growth of chatbots.
People’s use of mobile messaging apps has been on a meteoric rise. By the end of 2018, 78% of the world’s smartphone users will message every month. And the growth is only expected to continue: By 2021, it’s predicted that the global user base for mobile messaging apps will have risen by a further 23%. (Report of Facebook)
With the fact that many famous messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Slack, etc. have offered tools for merchants to make or integrate bots to engage with customers, business messaging offers clear paths to the rise of chatbot in 2021 and the years to come.
Chatbots are having a significant impact on the way businesses connect with their customers, manage their sales & marketing activities.
94% of marketers believe that personalization of the digital experience is critical to current
and future success.
A deeper integration of AI and chatbots is needed to truly assess user behaviours and their experiences. Chatbots can collect, process data to help businesses provide a high level of personalized messages. It plays a huge part in gathering customers data to acquire insights, qualify leads and convert customers, send custom marketing messages at scale.
“This is the rich world of conversations that we envision, people to people, people to personal digital assistants, people to bots, and even personal digital assistants calling on bots on your behalf. That’s the world that you’re going to get to see in the years to come” Satya Nadella said (Microsoft CEO)
Chatbots can streamline internal workflows.
Chatbot automation can considerably reduce the time invested in doing a repetitive task, or tasks that usually require human touch, such as pulling leads or passing data to internal CRM, and processing data. With chatbots, you can streamline a variety of business processes across all your teams. Instead of your staff spending hours completing routine yet essential tasks, chatbot can do it, and can even do it better. Your employees will have more time to focus on activities that truly generate benefits for businesses. Put simply, many activities your employees complete on a daily basis can be handled by a chatbot.
AI chatbot trends are supposed to transform the processes across several core business parts.
These processes include:
- Automating business processes
- Predicting consumer behavior
- Recommending products and services
- Streamlining customer support experiences (QATC, 2015)
Chatbots will become a larger part of our daily lives.
Increasingly, people want in-person shopping to be efficient — 44% of in-store shoppers in the US say that a fast/express checkout would significantly improve the experience — and they want e-commerce to be immersive, with 63% of online shoppers globally agreeing with the statement, “I want to virtually try on products from the comfort of my own home.”
“Buy everything on your sofa” has become a new normal. Which means customers can also place orders and pick up purchases without stepping outside of their house.
In addition, health care and banking, industries which manage large volumes of human interaction, are set to benefit most from the new technology.
The Future of Chatbots unfold.
Where is the evolution of chatbots headed? Chatbots will continue to be revolutionary. Like other AI tools, they will be used to further enhance human capabilities and free human resources.
In the near future, when AI chatbots are combined with the development of the rise of technology, businesses, employees, and customers are likely to enjoy enhanced chatbot features such as faster recommendations and predictions within a conversation. Eventually, every person can have a fully functional personal assistant right in their pocket, making our world a more efficient and connected place to live and work.
