Discussing the world where we're conversing with computers

Chat with Paul Sweeney of Webio.

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In 2016, Alibaba introduced an AI-powered chatbot to help field customer queries. It is different from the mechanical service providers familiar to most people that are programmed to match customer queries with answers in their repertoire. Alibaba’s chatbots are “trained” by experienced representatives of Taobao merchants. They know all about the products in their categories and are well versed in the mechanics of Alibaba’s platforms—return policies, delivery costs, how to make changes to an order—and other common questions customers ask. Using a variety of machine-learning technologies, such as semantic comprehension, context dialogues, knowledge graphs, data mining, and deep learning, the chatbots rapidly improve their ability to diagnose and fix customer issues automatically, rather than simply return static responses that prompt the consumer to take further action. They confirm with the customer that the solution presented is acceptable and then execute it. No human action by Alibaba or the merchant occurs.

Chatbots can also make a significant contribution to a seller’s top line. Apparel brand Senma, for example, started using one a year ago and found that the bot’s sales were 26 times higher than the merchant’s top human sales associate.

There will always be a need for human customer representatives to deal with complicated or personal issues, but the ability to handle routine queries via a chatbot is very useful, especially on days of high volume or special promotions. Previously, most large sellers on our platform would hire temp workers to handle consumer inquiries during big events. Not anymore. During Alibaba’s biggest sales day in 2017, the chatbot handled more than 95% of customer questions, responding to some 3.5 million consumers."

https://hbr.org/2018/09/alibaba-and-the-future-of-business