The world has been moving at a rapid pace when it comes to technology. For instance, a few centuries ago, we were communicating through smoke signals and drum patterns. Today, the globe has become a village accessible from every corner (funny because it’s a globe with corners) with mobile phones and the internet making communication very easy. Now, in the 21st century, tech has been at its peak, with things like conversational AI taking over. Who ever knew that you could talk with a machine and it answers you back like a human? Mind-blowing!
Now, this technology has been integrated into virtual assistants, chatbots, and many more automated communication systems that allow users and machines to interact seamlessly. And by the way, did you know that nowadays, most people prefer using chatbots instead of phone calls? In fact, a report by Statista reveals that in a study made recently, 82% of consumers say that they prefer using chatbots rather than waiting in line for a customer representative to sort them out. As if that’s not enough, 96% of surveyed shoppers said that they would prefer if companies opted for chatbots rather than traditional customer support.
Importance of interactive digital conversations
Now, we are saying that conversational AI has been taking over the tech space. But the question is, what exactly is its importance if it has any at all? What has it done to make life much easier in the past few years? Here are some of the things:
- Improved customer support: The good thing about conversational AI is that it is available for customer support 24/7 without the need for human intervention. This ensures that customers receive prompt attention, therefore, enhancing their experience.
- Personalized customer interactions: Advanced interactive digital conversational systems can analyze vast amounts of data from customers and come up with personalized experiences. Well, with personalized systems, customers have better experiences, increasing their level of loyalty to a brand.
- Operation efficiency: These systems are tasked with the repetitive interactions and routine task., This just means that humans have more time to deal with the more complex things that need human creativity. At the end of it all, productivity goes up.
- Enhanced sales and marketing: A company like easyJet has incorporated a cloud-based conversation interface where customers can interact with like a normal virtual assistant. In fact, the company has refined the interface NLP to improve the digital experience of customers, in that it has launched a chatbot that has a 99.8% accuracy rate on 5 million queries.
Future trends and predictions for interactive digital conversations
The trends in the area of conversational AI depict a great future for this technology. For example, we are seeing an enhancement in Natural Language Processing (NLP), meaning that these systems are becoming very good at processing and generating human language. In fact, its market size is growing really fast, Statista estimating that between 2025 and 2030, it might grow at a CAGR of 26.55%. If you look at that growth, by the end of 2030, the market might be almost four times bigger than it is in 2025.
Another trend is the omnichannel integration, where customers can access these models across various channels. These include websites, messaging apps, voice assistants and social media. Actually, research shows that 66% of customers expect that companies have advanced their technology to manage their queries across all their channels efficiently.
But now, with these trends, what is the future looking like?
Expansion of AI in contact centers
In the next couple of years, more contact centers will be integrating conversational AI into their systems. You see, AI is set to revolutionize operations happening in contact centers by automating repetitive and routine sitees. This will ensure that agent performance is greatly improved as well as the customer experience.
Increase in conversational commerce
Voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant have become very common in the e-commerce sector. Actually, they have become so integral to the consumer that everything in their houses is voice-activated. In fact, a 2023 study by eMarketers suggested that by 2027, 64% of the Gen Z population in the US will be using voice assistants. By 2023, that figure was standing at 51%. eMarketer also states that since the introduction of Siri in 2011, voice assistants have become mainstream in the US tech landscape. This trend does not seem as if it will be going down any time soon.
Now, conversational commerce is being used for:
- Customer service
- Making personalized recommendations
- Live streaming and social shopping platforms
- Search engine result business profiles
Well, it is quite clear that interactive digital conversation systems are the new normal in the tech world. Within the next few years, you can be sure that conversational commerce will be the order of the day. Considering what it is already doing, you can be sure that the race has just begun.
