3 ms·

You can provide that with a simple HTML form though.

by dgb23 3y ago

mrweasel 3y ago
That honestly never crossed my mind, but I think your right. Anything a chat bot could do or approve could simply be accomplished by an HTML form or some type of self service. Chat bots will take over more and more, but only to save money, not to improve the customer experience. I do get that some people call in with the simplest of question or problems, but for the people who call in with actual issues, I doubt that companies will even grant the bots the freedom they'd need. Customer service people already aren't given the freedom and autonomy needed to help customers, so why should bot get it? Say you call in to an ISP to have your internet connection fixed, is the ISP going to give a bot free-range to make adjustments in backends or dispatching technicians? I doubt it. All this is going to do for the companies that implement it is that they'll save a bit of money and have the bots hide any underlying issues or errors on policies.
- blagie 3y ago
  If you issue everyone a refund, you won't be very successful in business. I think a GPT-powered chatbot (not an old-school one) could screen between: - Genuine issues - Scammers Probably more effectively than a minimum-wage apathetic human being.
  - mrweasel 3y ago
    Isn't that the point of "This could be a form". The chatbot would have certain rules that it would need to follow and I don't see why those rules couldn't be translated into a form. I wouldn't underestimate the mental capacity of scammers, it would only be a matter of time before they would know exactly how to prompt the bot to issue a refund.
  - dgb23 3y ago
    That's orthogonal to whether you use a simple form or not. Filtering out false leads is a hard problem though.
- pornel 3y ago
  Many of them are forms in disguise. I furiously hate Virgin Media's "chatbot", because every conversation with it is "what's your name? Postcode? Account number? Select from these 3 options". This is just a contact form with a slower UI.
bell-cot 3y ago
Yes, - but there are no bragging rights, promotions, or other rewards for the team/manager who put clear, useful HTML forms into production.
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  Depends on the management above them. (And maybe depends on the spin: "We introduced a clear HTML form that reduced customer loathing by 30%...")
  - bell-cot 3y ago
    Point. (And LOL on your "loathing" quip!)
schnable 3y ago
For super simple stuff, sure, but many issues are easier to explain in natural language and a fluent UI (something with a lot of conditionals, well beyond a simple HTML form.
Sylamore 3y ago
NC DMV replaced all of their HTML forms with chatbots and it drives me nuts because I used to be able to pay my taxes and fees in under a minute, but now I have a stupid chat bot interaction that takes closer to 5, because you can no longer just complete the form and submit it but have to answer queries from the bot one at a time with some BS fake typing delay.

You can provide that with a simple HTML form though.

by dgb23 3y ago

You can provide that with a simple HTML form though.

That honestly never crossed my mind, but I think your right. Anything a chat bot could do or approve could simply be accomplished by an HTML form or some type of self service. Chat bots will take over more and more, but only to save money, not to improve the customer experience. I do get that some people call in with the simplest of question or problems, but for the people who call in with actual issues, I doubt that companies will even grant the bots the freedom they'd need. Customer service people already aren't given the freedom and autonomy needed to help customers, so why should bot get it? Say you call in to an ISP to have your internet connection fixed, is the ISP going to give a bot free-range to make adjustments in backends or dispatching technicians? I doubt it. All this is going to do for the companies that implement it is that they'll save a bit of money and have the bots hide any underlying issues or errors on policies.

blagie 3y ago
If you issue everyone a refund, you won't be very successful in business. I think a GPT-powered chatbot (not an old-school one) could screen between: - Genuine issues - Scammers Probably more effectively than a minimum-wage apathetic human being.
- mrweasel 3y ago
  Isn't that the point of "This could be a form". The chatbot would have certain rules that it would need to follow and I don't see why those rules couldn't be translated into a form. I wouldn't underestimate the mental capacity of scammers, it would only be a matter of time before they would know exactly how to prompt the bot to issue a refund.
- dgb23 3y ago
  That's orthogonal to whether you use a simple form or not. Filtering out false leads is a hard problem though.
pornel 3y ago
Many of them are forms in disguise. I furiously hate Virgin Media's "chatbot", because every conversation with it is "what's your name? Postcode? Account number? Select from these 3 options". This is just a contact form with a slower UI.

bell-cot 3y ago

Yes, - but there are no bragging rights, promotions, or other rewards for the team/manager who put clear, useful HTML forms into production.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago
Depends on the management above them. (And maybe depends on the spin: "We introduced a clear HTML form that reduced customer loathing by 30%...")
- bell-cot 3y ago
  Point. (And LOL on your "loathing" quip!)

schnable 3y ago

For super simple stuff, sure, but many issues are easier to explain in natural language and a fluent UI (something with a lot of conditionals, well beyond a simple HTML form.

Sylamore 3y ago

NC DMV replaced all of their HTML forms with chatbots and it drives me nuts because I used to be able to pay my taxes and fees in under a minute, but now I have a stupid chat bot interaction that takes closer to 5, because you can no longer just complete the form and submit it but have to answer queries from the bot one at a time with some BS fake typing delay.