Chatbots for customer service

Abstract

Companies are increasingly using chatbots to provide customer service. Despite this trend, little in-depth research has been conducted on user experience and user motivation for this important application area of conversational interfaces. To close this research gap, we interviewed 24 users of two chatbots for customer service. Our results demonstrate the importance of such chatbots to efficiently provide adequate answers in response to simple enquiries. However, our results also show that the occasional lack of adequate answers does not necessarily produce a bad experience, as long as the chatbot offers an easy path for follow-up with human customer service representatives. In contrast to what is suggested in the existing literature on users' perceptions of conversational agents, this study's participants demonstrated realistic expectations of the chatbots' capabilities. Furthermore, we found that the human likeness of chatbots for customer service, while potentially of some relevance for user experience, is dwarfed in importance compared to such chatbots' ability to efficiently and adequately handle enquiries. As such, our findings serve to complement and extend current knowledge. On the basis of our findings, we suggest implications for theory and practice and point out avenues for future research.