Chatbots are “conversational agents” designed to simulate human interaction. With the dramatic advancements in machine learning, chatbots have been able to mimic humans closely for various activities from ordering stuff online, a personal assistant, converting leads and marketing assistance, and a lot of other implementations. As companies discover the benefits of chatbots and as awareness and dexterity of chatbots increases, there has been a rapid growth in their adoption.

A simple understanding of the working of chatbots includes processing the text presented to them by the user, interpret it using a series of complex algorithms employing Natural Language Processing, and then give an appropriate response.

This smart responsiveness has made chatbots at the forefront of many innovations. Here’s a peek into some of the industry innovations involving chatbots:

1. Tailored and refined content by using a conversational AI to talk to the customers and provide them with information that suits them. NBC launched one such chatbot after the 2016 UD presidential elections in order to filter the signal from the noise.
2. Marketing and Lead generation: Chatbots due to their capability to engage with users at extended lengths patiently and unfalteringly, has made them an excellent tool for lead generation tool. Roof.ai was one such chatbot that helped real estate marketers to automate interacting with potential leads.
3. Healthcare and diagnosis: Chatbots have been employed in healthcare diagnosis. Users can pose their questions and these chatbots come up with a diagnosis and probable solutions. There have been a few inspiring implementations here too. One such chatbot, Endurance, helps Alzheimer patients with dementia struggle. It can talk to the patient and help with their social stigma that generally revolves around dementia patients.
4. Entertainment and education: This one sector sure finds too many applications. Disney, toy companies, and education firms have employed chatbots in order to keep children entertained and educated in a virtual world where they can talk to their favorite cartoon characters or a virtual friend.

Chatbots applications for startups and entrepreneurs:

Chatbots have surely found multiple applications in the digital age of young companies and budding entrepreneurs. A significant application of this is through automation. Chatbots can communicate, analyze, and convert potential customers in a consistent and efficient manner. This engagement can drive revenues up with little effort. Additionally, the support team can be eventually paralleled by smart chatbots. Chatbots can walk the customers through the products, helping them understand the product further, assisting in any query or follow-ups, placing orders, and finally checking the customer out after the order has been placed with reviews and after-services.

With all that they offer currently, chatbots are not immune to mistakes. They might misinterpret a customer demand and hence, the whole experience might run amok for the customer. Sometimes, empathy and emotion of human contact might be missing from a bot’s interaction. Hence, careful training and observation are required in the early stages and only then jurisdiction passed if a chatbot is solving your pain point.

But, with the recent advancements, the corner cases are being carefully fixed and bots are becoming smarter than ever. They have been trained not only to pass judgments or prescribe suggestions but also to express sentiments like sympathize, humor, and to relay some specific human experience. Ultimately, managers and entrepreneurs need to take note that chatbots are here to stay and with their tremendous potential, along with innovative implementation methodologies could lead to an increase in customer engagement and better revenue generation for firms.