Bryan KramerExecutive Strategist & Strategic Advisor at PureMatter

Why You Need to Build Your Own Chatbot

3 Apr 2017 · 3 min

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2:54

In this presentation, Bryan Kramer (as quoted from the transcript) argues that chatbots have become the new app paradigm, enabling people-to-people, people-to-bot, and bot-to-bot conversations on messenger platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram, and Kik. He explains that app fatigue drives consumers toward messenger apps, making chatbots a strategic channel for brands to increase engagement and provide support. The technical operation of chatbots is described: they parse user keywords, apply speech‑pattern analysis, and draw from a database of predefined phrases, with sophistication tied to the quality of those responses. The speaker cites Sprinklr research showing that 74% of consumers dislike contacting a company multiple times and 66% dislike repeating information, underscoring the efficiency gains of chatbots. Prototyping tools like Botframe, Chatfuel, Botsify, and Onseq are recommended for building and testing conversational flows. Finally, the talk stresses that while chatbots can handle simple, repetitive queries and free human agents for creative, emotive work, they cannot fully replicate human spontaneity, humor, and authentic personality, so humans should remain on the front line for complex interactions.

Chapters

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claimed that bots are the new apps, with people-to-people conversations, people-to-digital assistants, people-to-bots, and even digital assistants-to-bots set to become an inventive part of the digital horizon. The potential of chatbots in marketing and customer service strategy is solid, with greater engagement and support being 2 of the most pertinent advantages. One of the chief reasons why chatbots are increasingly popular is because of app fatigue. Consumers don't wanna spend more time installing new apps. They're spending more and more time on messenger platforms instead. So a smart way for brands to connect with consumers is through these messenger apps. Messenger apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram, and Kik. So how do they work? Chatbots have an interface that built— is built to recognize the keywords a user's using that— and they use speech analysis and patterns to determine their next action. They're able to access a compiled database of phrases to give a predefined response, and the sophistication of a chatbot depends on the quality of the predefined response and the ability of a brand to create human-like responses. Creating a chatbot doesn't mean your brand has to become less human. You're using a tool to bring people closer to an actual conversation on the channels they already are on, and chatbots can handle simple queries such support, and allow employees to engage more with emotive subjects and storytelling. Chatbots can help us to scale faster to real conversations. In fact, research from Sprinklr tells us that 74% of consumers dislike contacting companies multiple times for the same reason. 66% dislike repeating exactly the same information to different employees on multiple channels. We've all been there. I'm sure you'll agree that these concerns can become a major annoyance. And make you want to bang your head against your desk. Tools that can help you to mock up a prototype of a bot and test out the language of a conversational capability and tone of your bot are recommended. You can do this with a tool like Botframe, Chatfuel, Botsify, and Onseq. It creates an easy-to-use screenshot of what your chatbot will look like and sound like inside Facebook Messenger. Are chatbots replacing humans? Trying to make your chatbot appear as conversational as possible is a priority, but chatbots can't truly capture the human emotive and off-the-cuff responses that people can provide. With functions and campaigns and interactions that need more creativity, humor, and authentic personality, we should always keep our human companions on the front line, as chatbots can't replicate the spontaneity and ingenuity of human interaction.