Assessing Chatbot Interaction as a Means of Driving Customer Engagement
Thompson, Christopher (2018)
Lataukset:
Thompson, Christopher
Haaga-Helia ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018121321406
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018121321406
Tiivistelmä
Digital and mobile platforms are extensively used by customers in their interactions with companies in 2018. Messenger services and real time chat applications allow the basis for conversations to be held between customer and company acting as a direct line to individuals, in the way that personal selling in the past was able to build engagement and loyalty.
The digital consumer has high demands and expectations from what is delivered by companies online. With messengers surpassing social media in usage, customers are turning to a medium of interaction that companies may seize as a means of gathering massively usable, personally identifiable customer data, to generate the kinds of one to one customer service previously unprecedented.
It is observed that chatbots are a largely unrecognized and underestimated part of companies’ routes to developing advanced digitally engaging relationships with their audiences. Too much uncertainty surrounding the platform has led to many contradictory voices, and a need for some clarity to piece together the many bodies of current research on such a novel subject. This is one of the aims of this thesis.
Deliverable characteristics of chatbots have been assessed in their relation to the current digital marketing challenges, namely offering a platform for personalized, advanced customer experiences that can leverage data whilst being rewarding and engaging for consumers. The key deliverable of customer engagement is observed as through the means of conversational marketing, personalization, and enhanced customer experience, all provided through chatbots as a unified solution to a multi-faceted problem.
It was found that chatbots are readily capable of providing this solution through all the identified channels, however, their effectiveness in the short term will depend on their ability to compensate for several limitations that are presented and discussed. The conclusion is drawn that chatbots are presently a powerful digital marketing tool and excellent facilitator to customer engagement, and will become even more prominent in years to come.
Secondary research has been compiled and reflected upon in this body of work in order to obtain a more balanced and realistic perspective on the genuine capabilities of chatbots. Caution has been observed with respect to considerations of ethics and privacy, which are identified as potential stumbling blocks, as ultimately, despite being high quality replicators of human to human interaction, and offering many of the associated benefits to companies, chatbots, like any user experience platform, are ultimately dependent on the behavior of their users.
The digital consumer has high demands and expectations from what is delivered by companies online. With messengers surpassing social media in usage, customers are turning to a medium of interaction that companies may seize as a means of gathering massively usable, personally identifiable customer data, to generate the kinds of one to one customer service previously unprecedented.
It is observed that chatbots are a largely unrecognized and underestimated part of companies’ routes to developing advanced digitally engaging relationships with their audiences. Too much uncertainty surrounding the platform has led to many contradictory voices, and a need for some clarity to piece together the many bodies of current research on such a novel subject. This is one of the aims of this thesis.
Deliverable characteristics of chatbots have been assessed in their relation to the current digital marketing challenges, namely offering a platform for personalized, advanced customer experiences that can leverage data whilst being rewarding and engaging for consumers. The key deliverable of customer engagement is observed as through the means of conversational marketing, personalization, and enhanced customer experience, all provided through chatbots as a unified solution to a multi-faceted problem.
It was found that chatbots are readily capable of providing this solution through all the identified channels, however, their effectiveness in the short term will depend on their ability to compensate for several limitations that are presented and discussed. The conclusion is drawn that chatbots are presently a powerful digital marketing tool and excellent facilitator to customer engagement, and will become even more prominent in years to come.
Secondary research has been compiled and reflected upon in this body of work in order to obtain a more balanced and realistic perspective on the genuine capabilities of chatbots. Caution has been observed with respect to considerations of ethics and privacy, which are identified as potential stumbling blocks, as ultimately, despite being high quality replicators of human to human interaction, and offering many of the associated benefits to companies, chatbots, like any user experience platform, are ultimately dependent on the behavior of their users.