Ask HN: How do I pick a Chatbot vendor?

[notoriousjpg]

They seem to all pitch the same features (or very similar) and the actual NLP / intent recognition bits are a black box.

Running experiments consistently across them would be quite resource intensive but may be the only option.

I'm wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and any insights around how they did it.

[version_five]

Whatever your use case, a chatbot is not the answer. Please reconsider what you are doing and make an FAQ for easy questions then pay for real support for interactions that need it. Chatbots solve nothing, and are about as hostile as you can get toward your users. If you're trying to build a system that closes the blinds or plays music on command, fine. But any kind of pawning of actual support on a chatbot is basically just saying fuck you to your customers.

[notoriousjpg]

Thats a gross oversimplification of the options. Real support is incredibly expensive, and there is a lot of it already in the business i'm working in. This demand spike is also largely COVID driven and the time it takes to get an agent up to speed is 3-6 months minimum. FAQ content is also being worked on but there is a huge amount of it, and most customers arent keen on sifting through it. So chatbot is being explored.

I think terrible chatbots are also a function of poor product decisions being made in the first place. I believe there is a time and place for them.

[version_five]

> the time it takes to get an agent up to speed is 3-6 months minimum.

And you believe there is a computer program that can bypass that and somehow address your customers' problems without having to expend the effort

If you want to make a business decision to treat your customers poorly and calculate that attrition will be below the cost savings, fine, you can probably do that without a chatbot at just make a longer support queue. But don't pretend you're doing anything for your customers.

Edit: dont believe me, look at the metrics you get from vendors: "deflection" or whatever they call it, how often can you prevent someone from getting real support from a person. Don't kid yourself, chatbots are just a bad guardian of an FAQ. Intent resolution is not the same as helping solve someone's problem.

Also, blaming your shitty customer service on Covid... I guess it's not surprising you care about your customers so little that you'd rather tangle them up with a computer program than actually try and help them. I'm assuming you're relatively senior, it's hard to imagine someone lower level being so out of touch. If so, please at least consider, the reason I'm spending time replying is that vendors are out to trick you into thinking there is technology that can help your customers. It can't, you are being swindled and your customers are being treated like shit. Don't buy chatbot software, dont make covid excuses, do what it takes to support the people buying from you.

[notoriousjpg]

Jesus christ you are so incredibly arrogant whilst lacking any consideration for a scenario different from what you've experienced yourself.

You've clearly got no idea and just have an axe to grind. I never once implied a chatbot would be a silver bullet that equates to an experienced agent, did i?

There are several ways a chatbot can work with chat and voice channels. Several companies have done it effectively. To suggest a chatbot is completely useless is baseless and completely ignorant.

Have you considered that in industries such as travel, a snap border closure triggers such an immense spike of enquiries for issues that are being fixed through short term hacks because systems are built on stacks on stacks of legacy applications and covid has broken core assumptions the business logic is built off? And that your company is now so cash poor you cant afford the incredibly expensive market rates that the shut borders have created?

Spare me a response with your naive solutions and accusations that basically amount to 'just fix it' with no tether to reality. You've literally offered no solutions, just misinformed rants.

[abhilashmurthy]

If you want better transparency and control over the NLP/intent recognition bits and you still prefer a rapid-prototyping no-code vendor, I'd recommend BotDistrikt.