Contextual & Meaningful – How Conversational AI Resolves Queries
Tags: ai, machinelearning, news, productivity
Published: 2022-11-30 05:58:08

## Introduction
In today’s world, User Experience has become the epicenter of all marketing and sales initiatives. Amidst the cut-throat competition today, the worst nightmare of any organization’s growth leader is anything that negatively affects their user experience. Brands strive to provide the best user experience through every interaction with their prospects to retain them within the sales funnel. Customer expectations are skyrocketing with growing digital trends. Users are no longer ready to wait to get their issues resolved, and they expect brands to be available to them 24/7, making it an uphill battle for brands to win over customers’ expectations.

## Modern-day challenges in providing a seamless user experience
Digitalization has become a double-edged sword for businesses.

> A [study done by Oracle states](https://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/cust-exp-impact-report-epss-1560493.pdf) that 86% of customers are willing to spend more for a seamless user experience.

Despite the benefits it brings to the customers, creating a positive UX comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some of the common issues that most businesses face:

- Customers expect better and more personalized experiences than ever before. They’re also becoming more informed about their options and looking for information when they need it most — on demand rather than at set times or days of the week.
- Customers expect brands to be available 24/7, through any platform that they are comfortable interacting with.
-Customers want the ability to self-serve, which means they don’t want brands to hard sell their products or services. They rather want to experience it and then make a decision. They want the brands to step in only when they have confusion or issues.
- Customers want a seamless, personalized experience that doesn’t require them to go through multiple iterations or wait in the queue. They expect brands to anticipate their needs and provide the right information at the right time.

## How vital is every interaction for a remarkable impression on the customers
In the modern world, digital natives expect their overall buying experience to be highly satisfying, and positive. Customers expect brands to deliver precisely what they want, nothing more, nothing less. Personalization from the first interaction impresses users and keeps the customers engaged, further leading them to conversion.

Personalized content based on each user’s unique interests helps the customers relate directly to their life events (e.g., birthdays), hobbies/activities (e.g., sports teams), or lifestyle preferences (e.g., food). This personalization helps the customer feel valued and ultimately allows them to communicate with a company or brand in a way that feels authentic and meaningful.

Supporting customers with their momentary needs instantly is crucial to provide a more intuitive experience. For instance “when is the next flight to London”, “when is my insurance policy up for renewal”, “What’s new in the store” etc., are a few questions to which customers expect immediate answers.

## Why is it hard for traditional chatbots to have meaningful conversations?
Traditional chatbots follow a rule-based approach. They are not designed to understand the intent of a conversation, they are rather designed to respond to keywords. They lack contextual understanding, which makes them incompetent to resolve queries spontaneously and augment a human experience. Preset conversations make users fall in a loop too, so it’s evident that you’re talking to a chatbot.

Chatbots have limited capabilities to handle complex questions and queries. They are designed to answer simple questions that can be easily resolved with pre-written responses. Meaningful conversations can never be initiated by chatbots because they lack in-depth knowledge about their user and hence cannot comprehend the intent or context behind a query.

## What do we mean by humanized interactions with conversational AI?
Conversational AI is all about language as an interface. It follows a learning-based approach where every interaction is an opportunity to build a better bot that can understand complex queries and take action accordingly. Conversational AI uses Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand user query as it is spoken or written, break down sentences into their component parts, identify different entities like people and places, understand relationships between them, and makes sense of it all!

Conversational AI engages users in a meaningful conversation and does not follow a preset conversation loop the way how normal chatbots or voice assistants function. It is capable of resolving customer issues and queries by understanding the intent and context of conversations. It also remembers past conversations to learn from and constantly evolves for deeper personalization.

Conversational AI is the first step towards a more humanized digital experience.

> It’s not just about building a conversational bot or integrating voice assistants to your product but building an experience that feels real, natural, and most importantly human.

Conversational AI is the future of delivering customer service and support. It provides a more personalized experience for users and reduces costs associated with traditional call centers.

## What is the future of businesses with Conversational AI
AI-powered messaging applications and speech-based applications are rapidly uprooting traditional web and mobile apps and are expected to evolve into a new mode of communication in the near future.

> With its rising adoption around the globe, the conversational AI market is [forecasted](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/conversational-ai-market-size-worth-41-39-billion-by-2030-grand-view-research-inc-301568674.html) to reach USD 41.39 billion by 2030.

Conversational AI will help businesses in improving customer experience by making automated conversations more meaningful and contextual. As a result, customers will be able to resolve queries spontaneously without having to wait for support staff or call centers. They will enable businesses to stay in touch with their customers 24/7 and provide personalized answers based on previous interactions with the same individual or group of people, thereby enabling instant responses and meaningful interactions at scale.

With the help of conversational AI, businesses can collect data on their customer’s needs and preferences and use it to design products and services that are more relevant to their customers. This will help them in improving the quality of interactions with their customers while also increasing customer satisfaction.

The future of conversational AI is bright. It is a game changer in the world of business and it will be beneficial for any industry to adopt this technology. Today, conversational AI is instrumental in helping many organizations stay ahead of the curve — in a world where engaging customers in meaningful interactions and making them feel valued has become the ultimate determinant.

Originally posted: [Contextual & Meaningful — How Conversational AI Resolves Queries](https://www.purpleslate.com/thoughts/how-conversational-ai-resolves-queries/)