Person chatting with a chatbot on his phone

Human vs. Chatbot in the customer service game

Advance
4 minute read

Advance

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More and more companies are offering ‘chat with us’ options on their web pages, supplying immediate support as customers browse. It’s not always easy to know whether you’re texting with a human or a robot, which is why we’ve compiled a few hints to help you tell the difference.

1. The chatbot won’t ask ‘what’s the occasion?’ when you inquire about dress sizes

When engaging with a chatbot, it doesn’t care that you are about to get married or moving to a new home. The only thing you’ll gain by giving context to your question is a very confused chatbot. Most customer service bots simply aren’t trained to process your long explanations or life-changing events. They are designed to fix your problems or answer your questions, fast and efficiently minus the pleasantries.


2. The chatbot doesn’t care if you were just made CEO

There won’t be any favoritism or preferential treatment when chatting with the bot. No matter who you are, the chatbot will answer your questions and give you the same information as the next person. And since chatbots treat everyone equally, you won’t be able to bargain your way out of a situation.

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3. The human knows that ‘yeah right …’ isn’t actually a positive reply

Chatbots require simple, straightforward language. They won’t understand nuance, sarcasm, or more colloquial ways of wording your requests. If you need to give a bit more flavor to your interaction, you may want to opt for a human customer service agent instead.

Man browsing on his phone

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4. The human doesn’t have a trainer ready to fix every mistake

We humans are fortunate to learn from our own mistakes. A bot, on the other hand, needs a human touch to improve itself. When mistakes are made, AI trainers are quick to respond with important training data so that the bot is better next time around.


5. The chatbot will always answer your texts – immediately

If only we could get our human counterparts to be so prompt! The bot agent is fast and queue-less, giving you immediate and straightforward answers to sometimes information-heavy questions. Want to know all the models of Samsung phones in stock? The bot is the best option. However, want to know which color phone would best match your eyes? Perhaps you’d better connect to a ‘live’ agent.

News from Telenor Research: Groundbreaking 5G solution paves the way for new digital services

Did you know that Telenor is also developing chatbots? In fact, Telenor Norway’s chatbot Telmi has handled more than one million customer inquiries since it started operating in 2019. In this story, you can read more about how our AI trainers constantly develop Telmi in partnership with experts from Telenor Research.