Chatbots are quickly revolutionizing the customer interaction and their experiences onboard. Today, wasting time in unending queues before speaking to a customer care representative is more and more unbearable to customers. Technological advances have contributed to increasing the number of circumstances where an automated, quick and reliable customer service can make the difference against competitors.

How chatbots interact

Can a human being achieve such high efficiency in regular customer service? Customers’ needs change constantly, and brands continually try to meet market requirements. This can pose a real challenge. The solution is in new technology combined with advanced artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, what is missing in an ideal world where customer care achieves perfection is human emotion. There are concerns regarding whether a regular chatbot can emulate human emotions or, better, understand human emotions and react consequently.

Imagine a real example of an AI assistant immersed in a conversation with a disappointed and increasingly angry customer who, having purchased the wrong rail ticket online, requires immediate assistance to replace the wrong ticket with a new one. This specific customer needs to reach the destination at an expected time to meet the CEO of an important client. Time is ticking away and a quick reaction together with an empathic approach is a must.

This may all sound like a sci-fi screenplay, but recent developments have exponentially improved the way chatbots interact with customers. They can increase and optimize emotional analysis, which means that a chatbot can run a sophisticated analysis to detect when a customer is becoming frustrated, indicating that it is time to transfer the case to a contact center representative.

According to a report by Microsoft, ​54 percent of survey respondents​ say that they “have higher customer service expectations now than a year before. Moreover, 72 percent of those interviewed expect customer personnel to know who they are and what they have bought before. As such, your service needs to be fast, personalized, and always available.”

An ​​ AI-powered chatbot​ can access any customer's previous calls to support and analyze the historical data via the CRM database. All these records can be used in association with other variables and at this point, after gathering all the information the bot needs, it can instantaneously predict the customer’s needs and react accordingly. When this information becomes available to a contact center representative, it makes the whole customer experience smoother and easier.

Consider the potential of an AI-powered travel assistant, which would be capable of providing fully automated customer care with complete support ​pre-journey, on-board, and post-journey​. This would help in nurturing communication channels and, ultimately, relationships with passengers as well as facilitating new business opportunities. It would also enable cost-cutting by providing extensive, automated, real-time customer care and integrating promotion of new services as an always-ready sales representative. It would also assist with communication about safety measures, emergency situations, and enable live connection to a human operator when need be. In addition, integrative functionality with widely used communication apps like

Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, telegram and other apps represents a valuable advantage to transport operators to easily reach any customers, regardless of their devices or preferences. The chatbot could therefore act as a real travel assistant and be involved in different phases of the journey, from ticket purchasing, through the onboard travel guide to sharing passengers' travel experiences with others.

This innovation is ultimately about the bottom line, too. A ​study conducted by Salesforce​ discovered a direct connection between the increase in sales and purchase recommendations. Using a chatbot to personalize travel experiences results in increased customer loyalty and revenue. The relationships between passengers and transport operators have suddenly entered a completely new world. Clients expect to experience a completely new interaction with companies. They need to build trust and relate to transport operators in the same way they relate with family members, friends or colleagues. Taking advantage of the ​latest technology​, brands can now offer this kind of experience through the most widely used communication channels, including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, messages, voice or chat.

Today’s customer experience has literally revolutionized the way companies develop and organize their customer care. Chatbot technology keeps evolving and improving the customer experience step by step, without setting any limits to its potential. This new world has already had an impact on the way companies and clients interact. The horizon represents a new future where AI can ensure stronger, long-term and trustworthy customer relations.