Chatbots (also called "virtual characters" or "conversational agents") are programmes that can converse in natural text or speech with your customers - creating a more natural dialogue between the customer and your on-line presence, building trust and empathy, and increasing usage and sales.
Chatbots can provide your visitors with not only a different and distinctive experience, but also help them find key information quicker and help reduce the load on your human staff. Chatbots can also help you gather information about your visitors, and even help you sell. They also have significant applications in the area of e-learning and improving accessibility.
Research in the US (where chatbot use is more advanced) has shown that the average cost-per-contact using a chatbot is less than 60p, compared to over £3.50 for live text-chat or over £4 for a telephone contact.
Indeed leading analysts Forrester reported in 2010 that chatbots "offer compelling business benefits, including enhancing customer experiences, reducing live help costs, and driving cross-sells."
Combining leading edge avatar and text-to-speech technology with our own Discourse conversational engine we can offer you and your customers a variety of new ways of interacting with your information and services.
Key features of our chatbots include:
- Web hosted by us, so minimal set up
- Web based management screens, so simple to manage
- Form based editing for knowledge entry, so easy to learn
- Multi-lingual support
- Presented as a web-service, so the user interface can be whatever you want - from simple text box to a Flash animated character
- Can access web services to answer questions with live data from your or public systems
- Can ask questions and run surveys to collect data
- All conversations stored for analysis and to help improve the chatbot
To talk to a chatbot just click on the link at left to Abi, our virtual receptionist, or for a more wide-ranging bot try talking to Halo, our R&D bot.
Single language chatbot projects can cost anywhere from £5k to £50k, depending on scope and how work is shared between Daden and the client. Use Daden's Chatbot Calculator to help you understand the potential savings that using an interactive virtual agent - or chatbot - can deliver.
For more information on our chatbots and virtual characters please contact us, download a copy of our virtual characters flyer, or read more about the chatbot technology.
Our chatbots can also be used to drive avatars in virtual worlds. Rather than being represented by a head and shoulders image on a web page the bot can now be a full body avatar with the ability to move around and interact with the environment. The automated avatars can act as virtual greeters & receptionists, sales & customer service staff, or as characters & mentors in training and learning exercises. Read more about our Automated Avatars in virtual worlds.
