By Ashish Parmar
The mobile technology is gearing up for the future. You will see certain emerging trends helping brands build insightful data that can be used to increase overall experience and engagement. The idea behind adopting some of the trends is to increase the profitability of the business.
Last year, when Pokemon Go was released, we saw how AR was integrated into mobile apps to improve user experience. It was a game that thoroughly saw a rise in user adoption within a few days of the game’s release. The popularity soared, thanks to the way the integration had been done. VR again has been subtly yet impeccably adopted by gaming industry. In fact, both AR and VR are spreading its wings to the other industries as well.
Recently, another technology trend that saw a boost was Artificial Intelligence. It is a deep founded technology that allows businesses to grab data from the deep internet, and develop insights that can help in taking the necessary action. Today, artificial intelligence or AI is slowly making its way into important apps. For example, an app like Facebook uses artificial intelligence and deep learning to offer contextual content to the end user, thus improving engagement for the mobile app.
According to Gartner, 2017 will be the year that will see a rise in intelligent apps. There are various instances that AI has already entered the mobile technology zone. Intelligent assistants for one are recognized AI that help in giving you information based on the past data collected from you. The reference point is always what your users have searched for, and what they are looking for.
When AI combines with Chatbots, you will find an interesting and more intelligent capability available in the mobile solutions. What are chatbots, and how they aim to help the end user?
Chatbots: An Introduction
We shall start with introducing chatbots to you. A chatbot is a messaging app. So, how is it different and intelligent as compared to the normal messaging app? It incorporates AI technology, and other connected services, which enables it to have a better conversations and simple interface. Instead of typing or talking, it holds conversations with the end user. Chatbots are a nascent version of the autobots from Transformers. If you have seen the movie, you would know how these autobots respond to the conversations and learn more about the person through the conversations. The autobots are however an advanced version of what chatbots are likely to be.
Some of the classic examples of chatbots in the real times would be Google Allo, Alexa, Siri etc. They tend to interpret your speech, and give you suggestions personalized to your needs. In a single line, they are AI assisted agents that help you get your work done.
Is there a need for Chatbots?
The second, and very common question that arises for chatbots is whether or not they are needed by businesses. Let’s just say, every business in the near future is going to need a chatbot for their program.
Today, most businesses have their own call-centers, where humans sit and engage in a conversation with other humans. This helps them offer quick feedback to the end customers. Let’s go a bit digitally advanced in this matter. What if instead of humans, there was a way to have autobots performing the same task? You could automate the whole procedure using chatbots. This would make it quite simple and easy.
Second, it makes messaging app solutions complete. Till now, you were having typed conversations but, the bot will talk to you. It will engage you in conversations, just like a human being. This will help boost the business and ensure good engagement and conversions.
Bots are still in the nascent stage but, they will effectively take the business to the next advanced level with its benefits.
Coming to the benefits, why exactly should businesses adopt bots?
Benefits of Bots in Mobile
The very first benefit being customer interaction will be more lively and engaging. The bots will not be your boring live chats but, they will actually know you and your tastes better. Also, you will see that with bots, you won’t need to download an app for a task. Ask Siri, and it tells you everything! That’s how the bots in the future will be like. They will be your calculator, your booking agent as well as your music player. You have a bot, and you have everything. There’s no need to have too many apps on your smartphone, thus saving a lot of space.
The chatbots are your friends. They will actually know you better and keep recommending new things that you can do and listen to. They will personalize everything to suit your tastes. The user will be thrilled with chatbots in their phones.
Developers will identify with the benefits that suggest quicker time-to-market, and seamless deployment of the chatbots for messaging or other instances. You can even integrate your chatbot with other applications easily. With an intelligent chatbot, you can have easy to use features, and additional functionality added to your mobile app.
The mobile app too grows intelligent with chatbots.
Use Cases for Chatbots in Mobile
One of the scenarios where chatbots have been helpful in mobile app solutions is where the apps needed to answer frequently asked questions. The customer support is seldom able to handle the huge number of requests that come their way. This is where chatbots effortlessly handle the load, and help the customer support team.
If you have too many repetitive tasks in your mobile app, instead of getting it handled via humans, you can seek help from chatbots. Planning an itinerary with a short questionnaire can be done using a chatbot. This is yet another use of bots in mobile apps. Sales online, especially cross-selling and up-selling can be handled by chatbots on-the-go.
Summing up
Chatbots are definitely adding quality to your mobile app, especially with the intelligence support it gains from AI. If you want to boost your mobile app, and increase quality engagement, it is time to think smart and different. Adding chatbots to your apps will give it a definitive addition, and will help you increase conversions.
Chatbots are the future of mobile technology, and in many ways the future is starting now! So, are you ready?
Ashish Parmar is the CEO of Prismetric, a top-rated Mobile App Development Company, adds to perspectives about mobile app development, Start-ups, Business Development and Leadership. An entrepreneur by heart, I love to discuss the latest tech especially if it is mobile technology. LinkedIn and @AshishHParmar.
