Blog Post recalling a conversation that Daden’s own chatbot Abi had.

A chatbot or virtual receptionist is a computer-controlled application that has the ability of answering questions about your company, products and services immediately.

Here is the result of a recent conversation that our chatbot Abi, had with someone visiting our website:

User: what are you
Abi: I am chatbot or virtual customer assistant designed to help visitors to find out more about Daden

User: what is daden
Abi: Daden is a virtual worlds and virtual characters solution provider.

User: can you learn
Abi: I can only learn by being programmed at the moment

User: what can you do
Abi: I work at Daden’s offices in central Birmingham and also on our island Daden prime in second life

User: what is second life
Abi: Second life is a virtual world, one that only exists on the servers of linden labs, and in the browsers and minds of its users

User: can i get a chatbot
Abi: If you would like to get a quote for a chatbot for your web site or virtual world presence please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we will discuss your requirements with you

User: thanks
Abi: Good

User: byb
Abi: Sorry, I only have limited knowledge. I can only talk about Daden

User: bye
Abi: Bye. I’d be grateful if you would fill in a short survey on me. Link below.

Daden check Abi’s conversation logs frequently and update her regularly and this conversation is a good example that shows how people do build a rapport with a chatbot and are willing to talk to it - and thank it too!

Daden have given Abi a personality outside of her main duties - which are to talk about Daden and to point people to pages on the website. Here’s an example:

User: i want us to be best friends.
Abi: My best friend is Halo Rossini but I do have other friends

User: can i be your friend too?
Abi: Oh dear. I’m sure we could be but I’m at work I’d rather concentrate on answering questions about Daden’s services and products

User: so you keep saying, but i want to chat about something else.
Abi: I like to talk about what we do at Daden

User: yes i know, but i want to talk about how lovely you are.
Abi: Say again? I only have limited knowledge. I can only talk about Daden

Most organisations we work with choose not to give their chatbots a personality but use their chatbots to act as a virtual assistant available 24hrs a day to guide people around their website or act as an FAQ. Research in the US (where chatbot use is more advanced) has shown that the average cost-per-contact using a chatbot is under 60p compared to over £3.50 for live text-chat or over £4 for a telephone contact. Leading analyst Forrester reported in 2010 that chatbots “offer compelling business benefits, including enhancing customer experience, reducing live help costs, and driving cross-sells”.

Chatbots can be placed on websites, on Facebook and inside virtual worlds. For example, Abi also lives on Daden’s island, Daden Prime in Second Life, where she acts as a virtual receptionist and answers questions. One of our clients has their chatbot answering questions by SMS, email as well as via their website. It’s multi-lingual too answering questions in both English and Arabic!

Daden have a white paper available to download titled: Deploying Chatbots to Customer Advantage from their website.

http://www.daden.co.uk/blog/2011/06/how-many-times-has-your-websit.html