Released in April 2020 and created by Facebook, BlenderBot makes a super-chatbot. In other words, it is able to speak on open questions
Recently, version 2 has been released but this article remains on version 1 for simplicity
Our goal, create a server with Flask that will allow to have an API to communicate with the chatbot
1. We will be able to reset the conversation (remove the context) 2. Put a first context, which would allow to give a personality to the chatbot 3. Send a message and get the chatbot’s answer
Prerequisites
Have Python 3 and Pip installed on your machine
Have some knowledge of the Python language
Note that a good computer is necessary. The worse your machine’s capabilities are, the slower the chatbot will respond.
Installation
1. Create a file named main.py
2. Go ahead, install the packages
pip install flask transfomers torch
Remember to create a virtual environment to initialize a Python project
Get Started
We import the library:
1. transformers and classes for the conversation 2. flask for the server and jsonify because we will return the JSON format to the client
We get the pre-trained model (line 5) and the tokenizer (line 6)
A tokenizer is a tool based on an algorithm based on a set of rules or on learning from a manually tagged corpus. It allows to split the text into words.
The model will be downloaded at the first start of our application
We take the model with 400M parameters because the results are rather correct. You can take larger models but it will consume more resources on your machine
We create a variable “nlp” which will allow, later, to have a generated text.
Our enpoint will be /add_input which we can call with the POST method
* (Line 3) We retrieve the text in the corpt of the request * (Line 4) Add the user’s input to the conversation * (Line 5) Process the message to get a response from the chatbot * (Line 7 to 11) We browse the result to form a list of messages (and form our dictionary to return)
Just with the two code blocks above, you can already test:
1. Start the server:
By default, the server runs on port 5000
2. Test
On my end, here is the return:
Fun 🙂
Endpoint to reboot
Why? Because if you continue the conversation, it will keep the context. Ideally, we’d like to start from scratch.
We add an endpoint for that, which I call /reset:
Endpoint to give a personality
What can be interesting is to give a personality. How, by adding our own context.
* (Line 4) — We add a default text (we deduce that the user says hello at the beginning) * (Line 5) — We give a default text, which represents the personality of the chatbot * (Line 7) — We “archive” the previous messages and consider them as a context * And if we test with the commands
Here is the return
Bonus
Now that we have the API, we can create the frontend.
I’m not going to explain it here (because I focus on BlenderBot) but if you want to have the explanation, tell me in comment
Whitelabel Chatbot Partnership — How to invest in automation?
It’s the start of a new decade bringing on a multitude of changes in the way our daily lives function. One major aspect that has been evolving at a rapid pace is the way we communicate with each other. Be it B2B, B2C, or C2C, all our conversations are evolving into a newer dimension of AI.
So, before we talk about the benefits of a white label chatbot and live chat platform, let’s look at some of the ways in which AI and chatbot technology is transforming the way we work and live.
First, what is Conversational AI all about?
Conversational AI refers to the use of messaging apps, speech-based assistants, and chatbots to automate communication and create personalized customer experiences at scale.
Chatbot tech, a division in conversational AI, is also rising into popularity swiftly. To an extent where it’s predicted that 80% of the businesses will incorporate chatbots into their functional system to carry out seamless conversations across various channels.
Businesses are using Conversational AI to automate customer-facing touchpoints everywhere. They are targeting social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc, and are introducing voice assistants like Google Home.
Conversational AI systems offer a more straightforward and direct pipeline for customers. The technology helps them sort out their problems, address concerns and provide seamless support.
The future of AI tech
Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and so are chatbots. These are not only convenient tools used to distribute mundane tasks and cut costs, but they are also an abundant multiplier creating new quality. Whether it’s a virtual assistant like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant, or a charming chatbot assistant like Enbo, an AI-powered chatbot, they support us in all kinds of situations, answering any of our questions instantly.
Chatbots are here to stay. While we’re bound by gradual biological evolution, the sky is the limit with artificial intelligence. Chatbots have fewer limitations on what they can accomplish as AI technology gets stronger and more powerful each year. As a result, people will communicate with chatbots presently, as they would interact with people.
Most companies are very close to integrating AI chatbots into their day-to-day operations but have not made the transition yet. On average, three out of four executives believe that artificial intelligence will allow them to open up new business ventures, and 85 percent believe that applying AI technology offers a competitive market advantage. The same survey discovers that just one out of 20 companies has integrated chatbots in its processes or offerings.
Moreover, artificial intelligence has made its way into many homes. Technology will soon be indispensable in most households. With more technical advancements, AI and related applications will fulfill the promise that computers would make our lives easier. AI technology will help us live happier and healthier life. In many ways, it will also help us conserve time, energy, and money.
Build your chatbot brand on our platform
What is white labeling?
White labeling is what happens when a company creates a product or service, removes its own branding from it, and adds the branding of the reseller.
The product appears to be made by the reseller. Essentially, one company makes the product and allows other companies to sell it under their brand names.
It allows the purchasing company to get into the industry without having the capacity to make the product in the first place. It also saves them a lot of time and resources that they’d otherwise send making the product.
Another benefit to the purchasing company is that they can expand their current offerings with white label products. They could offer their customers a more comprehensive experience in this manner.
Why invest in a white label chatbot and live chat solution?
As of 2018, the global chatbot market was valued at USD 1.17 billion. By 2026, it is expected to go up to USD 10.08 billion.
But, with the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdowns, the demand for conversational intelligence is going up. Businesses are investing heavily in conversational intelligence. They’re looking for ways to engage their customers well, without endangering the health of their employees.
Businesses know that they can’t handle all their customers’ queries over the phone, because their customer service representatives are working from home. They realize that chatbots are a great initial point of contact. They understand that bots improve the agents’ productivity and efficiency by handling monotonous queries and only sending the complicated ones their way.
They’re also starting to realize that customers are now spoilt. Customers have no intention of waiting on hold for a human agent to pick up their call. They want to be served fast and then go about their day.
Hubspot reported that around 80% of their respondents in a study stopped doing business with a company because of subpar customer experience. A chatbot reduces the average waiting time to be served. It drops the waiting time from 11 minutes (on a call) to a few seconds, thus increasing customer satisfaction.
1. White labeling can scale your services
First and foremost, as mentioned above, the benefit of using the services of white labeling is to expand your current offerings. You don’t have to specialize in every service you’re providing. And by outsourcing them to a white label service provider, you can provide your customer base with a wide range of services. Here’s an article on why outsourcing software development could be a better choice!
2. It can help you reduce expenditure
If you’re a small-scale firm on a tight budget and want to include a chatbot platform in your service line, white labeling a chatbot platform provider would be ideal. By outsourcing services to a white label chatbot and live chat platform, you can escape from maintaining a full-time team of specialists. You can avoid or reduce expenses such as salaries for full-time employees, overhead costs, training costs, development costs, licensing, and much more.
3. Add another revenue source to your business
Each additional service you provide to your customers will create an added income stream for your business. The key, of course, is to resell these services at a profit margin in order to maintain healthy profitability of revenue.
4. Expand your customer base
By increasing your service line, you will also attract a new set of audiences. White labeling will enable you to have a customer base belonging to a multitude of sectors of the industries. The more service offerings that you have, the more clients you can pitch your services to. If you have an industry reputation for providing high-quality service, it will be easier for you to attract clients.
5.It improves your brand value
Using white label chatbot services, you can ensure that you deliver on your promises to your clients and build a good reputation in the AI industry. By being able to provide a broad range of services, you can position yourself to be the go-to agency for all sorts of services.
How do I get started with a white label chatbot and live chat partnership?
You’d get to build your brand with a strong, reliable platform that has proved itself and is used in 186 different countries (for context, there are 193 member countries in the United Nations).
You also get access to Engati’s Bot Experts. The experts will train your entire team extensively on the platform and even help you out with customizations and bot-building at a negligible cost.
Your customers would have a smooth experience, building intelligent and multilingual chatbots that run on our powerful NLP engine, with minimal effort. They won’t even need to code their bots thanks to our conversation builder.
You’ll be in a position to offer them the best of both worlds; combining Artificial Intelligence and human efforts to create better experiences for their customers. With live chat, the bots will be able to handle the repetitive queries and only pass the complicated ones over to the live agents.
And to make it better, you’ll be able to monitor interactions through the admin portal and assign trials to your clients, among many other things.
Essentially, you’ll be able to build and strengthen your business on the back of a powerful platform that has been used to build over 30,000 chatbots across 186 countries, in pretty much every domain and use case.
Preferred partnership
There is also the preferred partnership model. It helps you ride the automation wave with hassle-free flexibility. It’s like becoming a White Label partner- no profit-sharing arrangements, and you still have control over your pricing model. You’ll also reap the same features, like omnichannel support, all 54 languages, and our powerful e.Sense proprietary NLP engines, but with an Engati Partner portal instead.
You’ll receive the same extensive training from the same bot experts. We’ll also provide you with comprehensive pre-sales support to help you pitch our services to your clients. In addition, as a strategic partner, you’ll also have access to our lead directory thus powering you to become a strategic solution expert in your region. Get featured in our partnership directly, and our leads will come flying to you.
Along with a lighter monthly subscription fee, you’ll get access to Engati’s plans where you can upsell at a price of your choice. What’s more? You’ll get 1 free WhatsApp number, and an additional discount on the first 3 subscriptions you sell to your customers. Interested?
Our solutions allow you to make the chatbot and live chat market more accessible to your local market, so get in on the action, and register with Engati to get started.
Why choose Engati?
Engati was built to make personalized conversations at scale easy. Our focus? Power and ease of use.
With the Engati white label chatbot and live chat partnership, you get access to this entire platform along with focused training, exclusive help, and bot specialists who have created 1000s of bots for companies of all scales and use cases.
As an extension of your current offerings, Engati provides you the ability to create or expand your company in your local market. As a White Labeled Partner, you also have the ability to control your brand and, most importantly, the ability to make business deals as you find fit for rates accepted in your local market.
The conversational virtual assistants. We have now taken from just instant message to functionality and productivity enhancers. — Graham Chee, Engati White Label partner
Here are some of the fantastic features you get with Engati:
Supports 54 languages
With only 25% of netizens understanding English (and most of them as a second language), we realized that businesses need to provide support in the language their customers are most comfortable with.
So, our AI-powered chatbots can converse with users in 54 languages; including Right-to-Left (RTL) languages like Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Hebrew.
14 deployment channels
An Engati chatbot and live chat solution can be used to serve customers on the channel they prefer. They can be deployed to serve and engage customers over 14 channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Twitter.
Conversation flow builder
We wanted to make it easy to build and deploy intelligent chatbots. So, our no-code chatbot platform has a drag and drop UI that makes building conversation flows a breeze.
Voice support
Customers can even have vocal conversations with Engati chatbots. Now customers can seek support even while multitasking.
DocuSense
We made it easier for customers to train their bots. They don’t need to manually upload FAQs any more. All they have to do is upload a document to their bot and our DocuSense technology will parse through it and pull relevant answers to the questions.
Rich analytics
Our deep analytics help you understand your customers’ needs to a greater extent.
Engati dashboards
Intent & Entity recognition
Our conversational AI pick recognized a variety of standard intents from date, location, time, and more and provides custom entity support
Extensive integrations
Engati has an advanced integration framework for JSON rest APIs with many OOB standard integrations.
Human takeover
You can transition seamlessly from bots to live agents handling conversations.
Here’s what you get by investing in Engati White Label
We built the platform. You get to brand it your way. Your logo, your colours, your name. We replace all our branding elements with yours.
Pricing control
You get to decide the pricing plans for your customers. You decide how much each plan costs and what features you wish to provide under that plan.
Engati White Label platform
Grow your business
Use the Platform that is deployed in over 180 countries and used by many businesses around the globe. With white-label, the product is as much your product as is any other product that you design or build in-house. This product will meet the same specifications and perform tasks as well as your in-house team’s work would. The only difference is that it will go under your own brand name and you will be able to grow your business with more offerings.
Improve customer satisfaction
Deploy to your customer base to better handle customer queries. Use the Partner Portal to manage them. Moreover, with the increasing competition the only differentiating factor today is how well you serve your customers. Therefore, customer satisfaction is one of the major factors that will help you stand out in the market.
Exclusive support
You get exclusive access to our white label chatbot and live chat experts who support and guide you on your journey with Engati White Label.
Here’s what one of our White Label partners has to say about our support:
“Your team that I have been dealing with at Engati has been outstanding. They have made my job so much easier and the ability to think outside of the box in the creation of approaches is outstanding.” — Graham Chee
Personalized training
Our experts even train your entire team on handling the chatbot and live chat platform.
Engati white label chatbot and live chat platform for agencies
Now, you may be an agency with a customer base, a company with a software solution that wants to integrate chatbots and live chat, a start-up, or a working idea individual. Develop a cross-channel communication process with deep CRM and other business systems integration without increasing the technical assistance needed for API upkeep.
Engati has dozens of partners across a variety of firms and industries. Our chatbots in eCommerce, Healthcare, Customer Service, and as part of Marketing Automation Software are ready to help with customer support and CRM systems.
Our platform acts as a foundation for various messaging-based business areas and allows our partners to overcome challenges successfully. Use our innovative technology to provide your customers with state-of-art products and make them market leaders. Our professionals are going to assist you in this whole process.
How financially viable is Engati White Label?
Engati White Label is a powerful and rewarding solution. But numbers speak better than words, so we’ll let you know something we’re particularly proud about.
One of our white label partners just earned a 3403% return on investment within a year of signing up with us.
And here’s the best thing:
Your profits stay with you. We don’t take a cut on them.
Chatbots are digitizing various business processes across industries. To stay ahead in the market competition, it is crucial to adapt technology to speed up business processes. The manufacturing industry is one such industry that can tremendously benefit from AI-enabled digital applications. Workbots can help address and resolve the common challenges faced by the manufacturing industry such as forecasting demand, inventory management, managing labor, improving efficiency, and monitoring daily activities, creating solutions with conversational AI-powered Workbots will ensure workers are free from mundane tasks and focus more on high-volume tasks.
29% of AI implementations in manufacturing are for maintaining machinery and production assets.
Workbots by Botspice, are powered by Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning technologies. They can streamline manufacturing processes by providing information on the go. Deploying Workbots can help overcome the challenges mentioned earlier without any major human intervention, thus paving the way to create greater profits and a competitive edge in the global marketplace.
The manufacturing industry will be able to benefit from AI-powered Workbots in the following ways:
· Streamline and synchronize processes between roles and departments.
Supply chain management systems can now function smartly, thanks to AI. Augmenting Workbots for supply chain management ensures efficiency in the process and also saves a lot of time. Manufacturers are also often faced with aggressive deadlines and inter-communicating between roles and departments becomes pivotal. Workbots can be integrated with existing ERP and CRM solutions, thus making information available to the user in seconds. This not only saves time but also ensures maximum efficiency while reaping greater returns.
· Manage supply chains and improve communication with stakeholders.
Many manufacturers tend to treat every lead in the same way. Prioritizing leads could benefit manufacturers tremendously by improving communication and maintaining a long-term relationship with stakeholders. Workbots can help by creating a system that is easy to manage and track prospect’s information.
For the smooth operation of any manufacturing plant, the workspace environment and processes need to be well organized. Workbots provide real-time insights that help to keep track of targeted processes. If there is a fault in any machine workers can immediately raise a ticket without wasting time instead of going through a formal email channel that could take time and hamper immediate resolution of the problem. Equipment metrics can be accessed and any possible asset failure can also be predicted. This information can be accessed without having to log in to any other software system, thus improving overall efficiency.
A recent study showed that unplanned downtime caused by machinery costs manufacturers an estimated $USD 50 billion annually, and that asset failure is the cause of 42 percent of this unplanned downtime.
· Manage HR activities.
People are a major factor in a manufacturing unit. Managing labor is a task considering the nature of the worker’s jobs. Unlike office environments, factory workers are unionized which means HR in manufacturing units must be experts on union contract issues, such as negotiation and compliance. Workbots can bridge the gap between the union workers and the HR team. This helps to create an amicable manufacturing environment, where workers can raise their issues through intelligent conversations for timely resolution.
· Stay up to date on inventory status.
Workbots powered by AI can predict demand patterns to get accurate forecasting results through the analytics tool. With these analytic tool’s manufacturers can manage their inventory better by preventing “material-in-stock and out-of-stock” scenarios from happening. Inventory management is crucial as it can predict any delays or hiccups in the manufacturing flow.
· Identify demand patterns through customer service Workbots.
Customer service workbots are used widely to understand customer buying behaviour and trend analysis. The manufacturing industry is no different. Manufacturers can predict demand, trends, and customers behaviour to facilitate adjustments in manufacturing processes based on these insights. This would allow manufacturers to make smarter and more informed decisions that can save time and money.
In Conclusion
There is no doubt that Workbots can bring tremendous benefits to the manufacturing sector. We have simply mentioned a few use cases here. With humans and technology working in unison, transparency, and trust, the best time to exploit and explore Artificial Intelligence is now! Workbots by Botspice, provide personalized augmented operations that are easy to implement and cost-effective.
Prepare to rethink manufacturing processes with Botspice!
A logo is the first face of the chatbot. Its main power lies in its visual nature: it is a leading channel of receiving information about the world around them for the vast majority of people. Accordingly, correctly chosen logos create solid images in the mind and form a stable positive associative series with the chatbot.
A stylish and up-to-date logo is an excellent tool for chatbot promotion. Many businesses make a logo for chatbots incorrectly. As a result, people don’t use them because chatbots` logos don’t attract their attention.
Logo allows you to convey to chatbot users everything that you consider necessary. The creation of a chatbot should be approached responsibly and carefully. A well-designed logo will improve the chatbot’s popularity, while a low-quality logo will only harm the chatbot.
The principles of chatbot logo
Is it possible to make a visually impressive and effective logo for the chatbot by yourself? Yes, to design a quality chatbot logo is more than realistic, but for this, you need to know some rules of composition, the choice of shades, and other details.
Uniqueness
A lot has already been invented in today’s world, but this is not an excuse for copying elements used by other chatbots. At the same time, no one forbids to be inspired by successful options and create something of your own: original, exceptional.
Conformity with the direction of the chatbot
Even the most stylish, beautiful, neat, relevant logo will not promote the chatbot if it does not reflect its field of activity. Users may simply not understand what the chatbot does.
As a rule, both of these qualities lie on the same plane. Overly complex and intricate logos are remembered by the users worse than minimalist ones.
Tips for choosing a typeface
There are a huge variety of different fonts that can be used in the chatbot logo. But how do you decide which one to use? To do this, use the top tips for choosing a font for your chatbot logo.
Keep in mind your chatbot’s line of business
Logo font should fit your chatbot. It can be used to convey the chatbot’s strengths and characteristics. For example, for a watch store chatbot, it’s best to use a serif font with smooth lines.
You can also analyze your competitors. Look at what fonts they use in their chatbot logos. You don’t have to choose the same style, but tracing the general direction is a good idea.
Strive for harmony
All elements of the logo, including font style, should blend with each other. For example, a large and heavy inscription will not work for a minimalist knowledge management chatbot logo.
Use 1–2 fonts
When a chatbot logo displays several font styles at once, it looks absurd. It’s important not to go overboard. Optimal to use a chatbot logo of 1–2 different fonts (although it’s better to stop at one type).
Watch for clarity
There should be enough spacing between letters. This will allow the clients to more easily perceive what is written. Merging elements of the inscription should be avoided.
Get creative
Don’t just do what everyone else is doing. You don’t have to choose a font with oriental motifs for a Chinese food restaurant chatbot. You can use a more standard style, and reflect the chatbot’s specialization with icons and colors.
How to choose a logo icon for a chatbot
An icon is an image on a logo. With the help of this element, you can tell clients about the purpose of the chatbot without words. The icon is the first thing customers pay attention to when they see your logo. Therefore, you should take care of the proper selection of images for the emblem.
Below are basic tips for choosing an icon for a chatbot logo of any direction.
Reflect the theme
A themed icon should tell you as clearly as possible about your chatbot’s field of work. For example, for a coffee shop, it is optimal to use images of coffee beans, mugs, coffee machines, etc. on the chatbot logo. Thus, the client, just once looking at the logo, will learn about the purpose of the chatbot.
You can also use an abstract icon. This is quite a bold step. But more and more companies tend to choose such images for their logo.
Watch for compatibility
The icon should be in harmony with the font of the inscription and the color. For a heavy title and dark colors it is better to use a weighty picture. Thus, you will get a seamless brand, made in the same style.
Do not overload the logo
If all the elements of the logo look loaded and worked out, the realistic and large icons will completely overload the design. Therefore, it is important to strive to keep the logo light and simple.
How to choose the color of the chatbot logo
The color of a logo plays an important role in the attractiveness of the user. In addition, colors can tell a lot of information about the chatbot. To choose a color scheme, it is advisable to study the psychology of colors in a logo. Each shade evokes certain associations in customers. And the wrong color can create a false impression of the chatbot.
I have collected the main recommendations on the selection of colors. Based on these tips, it will be easier for you to decide on the color of the chatbot logo.
Study your competitors
It is always useful to analyze the work of your main “competitors” in the market. It allows you to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, so you can use this to the benefit of your brand. The same goes for colors. You should look at what logo colors similar brands are using. You don’t have to use the same colors. But this information will help you move in the right direction.
Stop at one or two colors
In the chatbot logo, it’s important not to go overboard. To make the logo look beautiful and harmonious, it is better not to use more than 2 colors. Optimal to paint in one shade background, and in the second — the main elements. You can use additional tones, but they should be derived from the primary colors. Ready-made color schemes can help in choosing colors.
two Human conversation can be complicated. And that’s why chatbots need NLP (source: unsplash.com)
How NLP changed the abilities of chatbots
A chatbot is a great way to make internet communication more pleasant for both customers and companies. At the beginning of the millennium, people would probably laugh at you for this sentence. But not today. The main reason for this change is Natural Language Processing (NLP). It is this branch of artificial intelligence science, that has transformed the clumsy and cumbersome automata into today’s clever chatbots, which you can hardly tell from people sometimes.
Thanks to NLP, artificial intelligence learns to understand something as complex as human communication. The natural speech that people use to speak to each other is entirely different from the abbreviations, phrases, and slogans spoken by the first chatbots. Thanks to NLP, AI is finally beginning to understand its creators.
A lot is happening behind a chat window with a chatbot (source: unsplashl.com)
The abbreviation NLP covers knowledge from the development of artificial intelligence, linguistics, mathematics, and machine learning. All of this is needed for AI to accept, whether in the form of sound or text, a natural human message, to understand it, and to be able to respond to it correctly. Thanks to NLP, human language moves from entering slogans and weird sentences to a full-fledged conversation when communicating with chatbots.
Before there was NLP
It is the knowledge from NLP that allows chatbots to do more than what programmers directly put into them. A chatbot without NLP cannot leave the programmed tracks, and any received speech that deviates from them will not be processed. The solution simply doesn’t understand it — and the writer has no choice but to communicate in the slogans that the chatbot requires. Thus, any naturalness or pleasantness of communication disappears. And with it, for example, the desire to shop where this chatbot will stand in your way.
NLP frees chatbots (and voicebots) from these tracks and unbinds them from the shackles of preset patterns and slogans. Chatbots with NLP not only perceive the meaning of words but also understand whole sentences or even the context and intentions of the person on the other side of the conversation.
A chatbot is nothing without a proper training (source: unsplash,com)
NLP doesn’t just make life easier for those with whom you can chat. It also helps programmers. If you want to learn a chatbot without NLP, the answer to the question: How much will I pay for this tariff per month? You have to teach him word by word every variant of the question or rely on preset buttons. With NLP, however, the customer doesn’t need to hit the exact combination of words that the chatbot knows. The solution understands everything from the context and eventually asks for the missing information himself.
The chatbot’s ability to learn and improve independently is one of the biggest merits of NLP. From slavish input of words and phrases, the work of developers has changed to the training of true artificial intelligence. And over time, the chatbots began to learn on their own. Not only during their creation but also during operation. Each new conversation brings them new data to better understand the expressions and contexts common in interpersonal communication. A chatbot is gradually improving as if a human operator were in its place.
In addition, a virtual assistant equipped with NLP will not be taken aback by the flaws that are common in written human communication. Thanks to its knowledge and ability to work with context, it can handle typos and grammatical errors, while one customer’s typo eliminated its predecessors from the game.
NLP allows a chatbot not to perceive our words as just a pile of letters (source: unsplash.com)
But even a chatbot equipped with NLP capabilities cannot converse about everything from the latest fashion trends to nuclear physics. But it can chat fluently in the area of specialization of the company that had the solution developed. So if you meet it, for example, on the website of a mobile operator company, it can solve with you the same things that its human colleagues could do in the same place. But don’t ask it, as well as its human colleagues, for advice on what to wear this summer.
Between questions and answers
But what does the NLP chatbot, which just got your message, thought process look like? The path to the response consists of five steps that ideally happen in a flash sequence — tokenizing, normalization, entity recognition, dependency parsing, and generation.
Step 1 — Tokenizing: Chatbot splits the message into small pieces of information
Step 3 — Recognizing Entities: Chatbot determines what the words refer to. Watermelon is determined as the fruit, Mount Everest as the mountain, and 55 as the number.
Step 4 — Dependency Parsing: Chatbot divides words into nouns, verbs, phrases, and other grammatical units
Step 5 — Generation: Chatbot generates possible answers and selects the most suitable one, which it then sends
Human communication centres operators need help. Chatbots deliver it (source: unsplash.com)
Despite the development of NLP, chatbots do not have it easy with human communication. And so, even the best developed and long-trained assistants are not infallible. Synonymous expressions, typos that give new meaning to words, abbreviations, or overly colloquial expressions can be an insurmountable obstacle. Even so, NLP opened the door to chat fields for relevant and desirable virtual helpers.
And it’s no wonder. A well-developed chatbot does a lot of work in almost any company. For example, work that increases sales improves the customer experience or relieves congested human operators.
One of the best things your business can do to help out customers is to answer their queries on an immediate basis. With the ongoing option available between chatbots and live chat software, it’s hard to decide which one will work best for your business. To ease your pain and relieve you from any confusion, we’ve listed some of the ways that will help you decide which chat software is better for your website. Before that, let us know what chatbots and live chat software are.
What Exactly are Chatbots & Live Chat Software?
Chatbots were mainly invented to remove the limitations humans face daily. Prof. Björn Schuller, a computer scientist at the University of Imperial College in London, said, “This will be the next generation of intelligence to be met in daily experience. It’ll probably come out probably sooner and help out humans on the right note”. Even after being quite fast and responsive, chatbots are quite sophisticated to be used and have several limitations.
On the other hand, Live chat software is a basic customer service communication channel that connects a prospect or a customer with the respective customer care executive. Instead of automated replies, real humans are there to provide support toward any customer queries.
Keeping up with the current situation, the business environment is actually changing rapidly. They are unable to decide which one would fit best for them. So, to clear out the bad air, let’s go ahead and compare chatbot and live chat software.
Comparison Between Chatbots and Live Chat Software
Below are the top 5 ways to help you decide which software is better for your website.
1. Human Involvement
If human touch is important for your customers, live chat solutions can help you to boost customer satisfaction with personalized conversations. On the other hand, chatbots delivering humanized touch is difficult in many scenarios. They may fail to understand the complex customer issues, which can be better resolved with the help of human agents.
2. Workability
Chat software overpowers humans in this aspect with quite large numbers. Talking about numbers, a chatbot works 24x7x365, which also enhances the user experience of your website. The most beneficial aspect of having chatbots is their ability to operate with many customers with ease. A chatbot can go around chatting for hours without even asking for breaks, money, and it also saves time on a better note.
Sometimes, the work doesn’t demand you to stay up all the time. Instead, it requires human touch for following up. In such cases, a live chat comes up with a lot of benefits. It helps out with handling the queries in a better way, but the provided solutions are significantly better as well.
To summarize, if your business needs to respond to customers within 30 seconds, a chatbot as the first contact can be an ideal fit for your business. However, if your customers are not very time-sensitive and prefer to talk with a real human, having a live chat is a better choice.
For better support, you can also start conversations with a chatbot for handling repetitive questions and route the complex queries to the live support team.
3. Cost Efficiency
If your business receives more than approx 1000 visitors a day, one live agent could handle all of them. To address all issues of these visitors, you need a huge team of agents and then provide them training for better resolution. This involves a lot of money and time. However, in this situation, chatbots are simple and easy to install. The amount of work delivered by the single chatbot would still be larger than what a team of 20 people could do.
To summarize, if you are a start-up and the cost is a key business factor of your business, a chatbot is the best solution. It will help to automate business operations without hiring resources. On the contrary, live chat can be a better option when the customers look for a detailed explanation of any complex query.
4. Understanding
Understanding the complexity of any issue is not something you can do with an AI-based chatbot. If there’s a human presence on the site, you can be assured that the situation will be handled in a much better way. Chat software on your website is basically filled with automated replies that may not understand what the other person has to say. They work with the help of certain keywords.
If you have got a complex problem and the chatbot isn’t coded for, you’ll get the most random and stupid replies, which can turn off the customers. Humans are accustomed to a conversation that holds a different slang, is short, and feels casual.
5. Emotions
Emotions are the biggest accustomed tool in which humans overpowers every software in the world. When dealing with a client, humans can not only trigger some emotions into them but also empathize with them to rule out certain problems. Apart from being empathetic, humans can easily make a single line humorous, sarcastic, or even fun to read at the same time.
These are some of the things where chatbots can never outperform humans. They’re totally AI-based, which doesn’t have any type of feelings (at least not until now). However, a chatbot may give out smart replies, but it can never outsmart humans in terms of connecting with one.
The best take you can have on this confusion is to use both the chat software together. This will deliver a better customer-based service that may work wonders for your business. By understanding the pros and cons of live chats and chatbots, you must have better insights that are more ideal than what you’ll get by using one of them.
Running an eCommerce business solely over your website or mobile app is not enough anymore, not even if you provide both options.
On average, most eCommerce mobile apps get uninstalled within 11 days of being downloaded. You need to make it possible for customers to do business with you on the apps they already spend the most time on, and WhatsApp chatbots make that possible.
Why do you need to use WhatsApp for eCommerce?
With over 2 billion users, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging application. And these users spend about 28 minutes actively using WhatsApp every day.
Odds are that your customers are already spending a lot of time on WhatsApp. They would prefer to interact with your business and even place orders directly over WhatsApp.
To make it even better, WhatsApp messages have a 70% engagement rate. If you get a message on WhatsApp, you’re going to open it.
This means that using WhatsApp empowers your eCommerce business to engage your customers on the channel they prefer. It can even help you drive sales directly over a new channel that your customers actively use.
The advantages of using eCommerce WhatsApp chatbots
WhatsApp chatbots help you do business on WhatsApp at scale. They automate most of your conversations on WhatsApp, answering customer questions in record time, and allowing your employees to focus on higher-level activities.
1. Lower cart abandonment rate
According to Forrester Research, 53% of online shoppers tend to abandon their cart if they do not get answers to their questions immediately.
WhatsApp chatbots help you answer those questions immediately, aiding you in solving the problem of cart abandonment.
2. Reduced customer effort
These bots help you make online shopping much easier for your customers. They don’t need to download another app or even visit a website. All they need to do is open WhatsApp, send a few messages, and they can make purchases, schedule returns and do much more with minimum effort.
You can make WhatsApp messages even more interactive by using interactive buttons with WhatsApp message templates. These buttons can be used to guide your users to a webpage or to let them call you up.
4. Personalization
WhatsApp chatbots can use data collected about your customers to personalize their entire experience with your eCommerce store and deliver a better customer experience that is more relevant to their needs.
This helps you increase conversions and boost loyalty and advocacy.
How can you use WhatsApp chatbots for eCommerce?
1. Lead generation
When a customer converses with you on WhatsApp, you can request their name and phone number and use our Google Sheets integration to automatically store that information, along with information about the products they are interested in within a spreadsheet.
2. Product recommendation
When your customers interact with your chatbot on WhatsApp and let you know what kind of products they are looking for, you can use that data to share personalized product recommendations from your catalog. You can display a range of products by sending them carousel messages.
3. Sales
Your customers don’t need to visit your website or download your app to place orders on your eCommerce portal. All they need to do is open WhatsApp and send you a message. They can purchase products directly over your chatbot and even make payments if you integrate your WhatsApp bot with Stripe or another payment gateway.
4. Support
Customer support needs to be as convenient as possible, and sending a WhatsApp message is far easier than typing out an email or even calling your support team.
These bots make getting support even easier by eliminating hold time and making sure that customers and leads get answers to their queries without needing to wait at all.
5. Returns & exchanges
WhatsApp chatbots get rid of the effort involved in returning or exchanging purchases. They streamline the process and allow your customers to schedule returns or exchanges directly over the bot.
6. Feedback
WhatsApp chatbots make it easy for you to collect actionable feedback from your customers. This can be used to help you understand your customers’ entire experiences with the brand, but also to understand their experience during individual interactions. Engati allows you to do this using a feedback node.
7. Notifications
You can use the bot to send automated notifications to your customers about orders, payments, returns, updates to account information (like new addresses being added), etc.
8. Product details
If your customers have questions about your products that were not answered on your website, they can get all the answers and information that they need over an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot.
9. Shipping information
You can use WhatsApp message templates to send shipping and delivery information to your customers, easing their anxiety about when their order will be delivered.
Best practices
1. Be transparent
Don’t misguide your customers into thinking that they are conversing with a human. Let customers know that they are talking to a bot. If not, it is possible that they would be disappointed if they asked a complicated question and the bot could not answer it.
2. Use automation along with live agents
Chatbots and live chat work best together. Around 80% of your inbound queries can be answered by your chatbot, but the complex ones need to be handled by a live agent.
Using live chat along with chatbots helps your customers get answers to all their queries in real-time without needing to wait. It’s also better than asking customers to call your support team or send an email if they need to get in contact with a live agent because it allows them to converse with an agent directly over the same platform in a seamless fashion.
Looking to build a WhatsApp bot?
We make it easy. With Engati, you can build an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot in just 5 minutes. Learn how to get your WhatsApp bot.
Most of us have done online learning or teaching at least once in our lives. But with the pandemic, remote working and learning is truly in full force everywhere.
There are many platforms and ways to teach and learn, including lesson-based learning, one-on-one learning, group learning, course-based learning, video-based learning, article-based learning, self-paced learning, app-based learning, and so on.
There are many reasons why online classes fail, so if you’re looking for a way to create online lessons that are similar to in-person classes, keep reading to find out what AI intelligent tutoring systems are all about.
A chatbot is an amazing feature to help handle (temporary) the communication between agents and the users (leads). Especially for the company that doesn’t have enough employe to handle the queue. Using a chatbot, the agent probably has extra breath to life. Perfect!
Unfortunately, replying to the message with a very fast response sometimes doesn’t good. Some people feel scared. When we send them a long text, then they replied with a very fast response with medium-long text. Did they really read our text?
People usually need time to read and reply to the chat. It’s weird when someone replies with very long text more than 100 words just in a second. Are they a typer athlete? Or annoying because it’s spammy?
What I want to emphasize here is the timing for the chatbot to reply to the message. We need to set the delay time for each message to be sent. So the user will feel comfortable chatting with our bot, like chatting with humans.
The delay time really depends on the number of words and the average reading/typing speed. Usually, the average reading speed of adults is 250–300 words per minute or you could say 4–5 words per second. While the typing speed itself is usually 2 seconds per word or it can be longer. For elders, we can add a few seconds longer. Keep in mind, by giving a delay time, we still need to have a wise (agile) response. Remember, there are also some interventions such as a connection issue that can affect the delay time.
The delay time feature can be found in some chatbots such as MessageBird. They have powerful features for this. In addition, technically, the delay time can also help us cope if there is a miss order bubble in our chatbot.
You open Instagram, and you get that little red notification in the corner.
There’s a new message!
Could it be someone asking about a product in your online store?
Is there a question about colours or sizing?
Or maybe they want to know your opening hours…
You feel that rush of potentially landing a new sale.
So you search through your IG inboxes and find a message from someone named Vivivantsplolenta…
Ugh. Another spam message from a bot.
Now, this is what has given Instagram Automation, or chatbots, a bad name.
Along with this…
Click here to watch this video — Medium won’t let me embed it!
These spammy message are likely from a bot account, which is spewing out thousands of messages to accounts directing them to another account, to effectively, “buy their sh**”.
OK, but why should I care about Instagram? Isn’t it just for booty pics?
Firstly, yes… and no. Instagram is more than just booty pics! 🍑
Instagram is an important business platform, with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Many of its users are spending 30 minutes per day (over average) on the app.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said that the platform is no longer just a “square photo-sharing app” but is making moves to become an entertainment app, focusing on video content with IGTV, Reels, messaging, and Stories.
With this is mind, let’s take a look at how automation fits in.
But let’s talk about Instagram Automation for a moment and what that can help your business with.
Instagram Automation can save you hundreds of hours each week through automated replies to potential customers who message you on Instagram.
And so we are on the same page, we’ll use “Instagram Automation”, “chatbot”, and “bot” interchangeably. The only thing you gotta remember is they’re one in the same, and it just means you’ll be automating responses on Instagram.
Now, before you shout, “but Instagram doesn’t allow that! It will get my account banned!”
Instagram Automation, by companies like ManyChat, is 100% backed by Facebook. They are a Facebook-approved developer.
There are rules to its use of course, such as you only have a 24-hour window to respond to customers within Live Chat on ManyChat, and you must obtain proper consent to get customers’ details, such as their phone number or email address for marketing purposes.
But all in all, Instagram Automation will help you:
👉 get more clients 👉 convert more leads into customers 👉 smash your sales goals 👉 and grow your Instagram
What Instagram Automaton features should you be excited about?
There are many Instagram Automation features that will help you save time answering the same FAQs over and over, and help customers get what they want.
A little word to the wise: these features are not natively available in Instagram. You will need a platform like ManyChat to set these up.
Now onto the good stuff! The features business owners will fall in love with are:
1. Instagram comments (aka comment automation).
When someone comments on a post, your Instagram chatbot will be able to respond in their DMs, giving them a free guide or more information related to the post’s content.
2.Quick replies and buttons.
So people can tap an answer instead of type, and buttons can open a website URL so your customers can go directly from a DM conversation, tap a button, and open your website natively in Instagram DMs to buy a product!
3. User inputs.
This is just a fancy way of saying “capture customer data”, like their email address or phone number, and store in ManyChat to market to them via email or SMS.
4. Default reply.
This is a standard reply that fires off when someone types random nonsense in your bot, or a phrase or question your bot doesn’t understand.
5. Keyword trigger.
So you can send an instant message based on a keyword someone types.
👉 Psst… Want to test this out? DM me the word GUIDE on Instagram here, and I’ll send you my free Marketing Master Plan guide!
6. Story automation.
Add an automation trigger to your story, so someone can reply and receive a freebie or offer from your story directly in their DMs. Note: This is also great for Instagram Story Ads!
7. Conversation starters.
A screen that shows customers the 4 burning questions that they can tap on, and receive an answer to instantly.
8. Story mention reply.
You can automate a reply to a story, like “Thanks for the mention! You’re awesome.”
9. Story ‘quick reaction’ replies.
When someone sends a quick reaction, which is one of the emojis as a response to your Instagram Story, you can send an automated response instantly.
10. Showcase new products.
You can also have a gallery of products with images, and direct customers to them on your website, with buttons opening to the direct page on your website to purchase!
Plus, all of your subscribers are added to your ManyChat account and you can market to them from there too! 🤑
OK, I’m in. How can I get started?
Pick one of the options below.
👉If you like to do this yourself:
ManyChat has a free Instagram Automation course for beginners here
👉If you’d like to test out how automation works:
DM me the word GUIDE on Instagram here, and I’ll send you my free Marketing Master Plan guide, which covers 5 things you should be doing to get ahead of your competitors! (Or tap the related Conversations Starter on my Instagram account.)
