2017 was a revelation for the Chatbots, and we’ve only just begun.

With this in mind, I’ve decided to start a series called Chatbot 18, where I’ll take a look at what the future of the industry holds.

In a mobile-moving consumer space, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that six of the top 10 applications across the world are messaging apps. Or that they combine for a total of 4.1 billion users worldwide and will represent 80% of the smartphone using population by 2018. We’re just two years removed from messaging applications beating out social media in terms of usage and it shows. Businesses are acknowledging this transition and are following customers onto messaging platforms. In the wake of this digital revolution, chatbots have implanted themselves as the unquestionable future, Chatbot 18 for the win.

Show Me the Money!

The statistics heading into Chatbots ’18 are nothing short of mindboggling.

1. CONVRG ran a survey via a chatbot experience giving away coupons. The response rate tripled compared to the traditional email survey.
2. Thousands of people have used Just Eat’s chatbot since the launch in September. The average user spent 1.53 minutes interacting with the bot. 13.5% are repeat users – and improved awareness of Just Eat’s 27,600 partner restaurants. Data shows the chatbot drove a 266% higher conversion rate than interacting with an average social ad in November 2016.
3. Tec inStore launched a customer service chatbot. After one month of usage, chatbot had an 80% success rate. More than 1500 people have requested help from the chatbot. It reduced requests to the customer support. Chatbot received more than 1000 “Thank You” messages of 10000 total messages.
4. Original research from DigitasLBi conducted by Harris Poll showed that more than 1 in 3 Americans (37%) would be willing to make a purchase through a chatbot. Consumers would spend an average of $55.80 per purchase.
5. The number of countries that Facebook messengers are using chatbots in reached 200.
6. Average time saved per chatbot inquiry when compared with traditional call centers is 4+ minutes in chatbots for the banking & healthcare sectors. By 2022 $8 billion in cost savings is expected.
7. According to Business Insider report, 80% of businesses want chatbots by 2020. 
8. According to Gartner chatbots will power 85% of all customer service interactions by the year 2020.
9. By 2020, the average person will also have more conversations with bots than with their spouse.

So What Happens in Chatbot 18?

The future is still bright, but it’ll take us and indeed the industry some hard-nosed engineering to get there. Chatbots use Artificial Intelligence to run, and the field of AI is equal parts exciting and equal parts bewildering. Various acronyms and words are thrown around and at first glance, it seems they’re all interchangeable with each other. In my next series of Chatbot 18, I’ll do an in-depth analysis of the technology in and around chatbots and what we can expect from the industry next year.

Click here, to read the next part of the series.

Till then, it’s #rainingchatsandbots