According to Grand View Research, the chatbot market will grow to $1.23 billion by 2025. That’s a compound growth rate of around 24.3%. It’s clear that chatbots are set to take off big time, but not everyone fully understands what they are and what that means for consumers.
Let’s start off with what a chatbot is. It is essentially a piece of software that has been programmed to react to text or voice queries posed by clients. These bots are programmed to be able to understand the real language that clients may use.
So, if you speak in really good English, for example, that’s great, but not entirely necessary for the bot to be able to understand it. It will have subroutines that allow it to interpret different accents and spellings.
Chatbots are something that large companies like TJ Maxx have used to great effect for a few years now. They can be used to provide a more than adequate shopping solution, or simply be an extension of a company’s customer service division.
At Nordstrom, for example, a bot was released to help shoppers pick out the perfect gift. Naturally, the gifts were all chosen from stock available through the store, but it did help to narrow down the choices for clients.
So, if your Uncle Joe is impossible to buy for, you could ask the chatbot for advice. By asking you pertinent questions, the bot will be able to come up with a range of selections that should suit your budget and lifestyle.
But that is really only a small part of what bots are capable of. Their uses are as varied as the number of programs that can be written for them. That makes them an extremely valuable tool for businesses and consumers alike.
No wonder interest in these little bots has soared the way it has.
