The Institute for Conversational Business at Aalen University, headed by Prof. Dr. Peter Gentsch, conducted the Conversational Commerce Study 2020 together with Martin Sinner from MMC.
Chatbots are an important part of this. The most important contents of the study and everything we learn from it about the use and potential of chatbots is summarized in this article.
The study was based on a representative online survey of consumers (n= 603) and 7 expert interviews (Brenner, Hafner, Harlinghausen, Henn, Hundertmark, Kolm, Mehner).
47% of respondents have already chatted with chatbots. The majority of them several times. Chatbots are therefore no longer completely alien to consumers, but are getting more and more (repeat) users.
Chatbots are primarily used for advice or service purposes. 58% of respondents cited this as the most common reason for using chatbots.
Over half of those surveyed found communication with the chatbot positive. 6% were even very impressed. However, the figures also show that communication with chatbots can still be improved.
14% of the companies surveyed use chatbots or hybrid chats (live chat + chatbot) to support existing customers. It is interesting that the bots are mainly used for existing customers.
Micosoft Teams and Slack are among the most-used messengers in the company. How good that chatbots can also be integrated here to answer the most frequently asked questions from employees. And exactly where the employees communicate anyway.
If we look at the entire customer journey, the study shows that chatbots are best integrated into service. Chatbots are also used to create awareness. This highlights the impression that chatbots are particularly suitable for existing customers.
The degree of automation with chatbots is increasing all the time. The majority of respondents already have chatbots with a relatively high degree of automation (71-80%). Above all, chatbots can help to increase efficiency and relieve employees.
The entire study on Conversational Commerce 2020 can be viewed here.
