Conversational AI Trends 2020: Roadmap and Strategy

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more human with cognitive conversational abilities. What commenced as online chatbots, turned into essential AI-powered assistants for businesses, households, and users worldwide. Conversational AI and chatbot development services are all set to become more agile with expected market size  of USD 15.7 billion by 2024. From domain-specific solutions to intelligent retail chatbots, check out the most exciting Conversational AI trends for the new year 2020.

1) Extensively Narrow or Domain-specific Results

For a long time, providers of AI development services used a rule-based or decision tree approach to run online chatbots. Although rule-based chatbots provide accurate customer responses, their intelligence is limited to pre-defined FAQs and common user queries.

The advent of data-driven machine learning intelligence is empowering chatbots and conversational AI applications to facilitate domain-specific user interactions. The new year will witness notable progress in the development of domain-specific conversational AI applications with the following business benefits-

a) Self-learning Conversational AI

Unlike decision-tree bots, conversational AI is trained using rich consumer data to augment a system’s self-learning capabilities. Self-learning chatbots will enable businesses to train models with consumer data, product details, social media interactions, and other valuable troves of data.

b) Domain-specific solutions

Conversational AI is predicted to upskill its algorithms in 2020 for a deeper understanding of customers’ intent and context. It leads users to fulfill highly specific requests such as booking a restaurant table, a haircut appointment, a car service, and whatnot.

2) Rise in Conversational AI Marketing

Building an emotional and long-lasting connection with the target audience is the core essence of any marketing strategy. However, the ever-increasing shift in the structure, location, and size of end-users is challenging businesses to evolve their marketing strategies.

AI development services hold the potential to transform the global marketing landscape with cognitive and conversational applications. The year 2020 is projected to experience a paradigm shift in chatbot applications from customer support to sales and marketing efforts.

Here’s how AI-powered conversational AI trends will boost marketing strategies in 2020-

a) Capturing potential leads and automating follow-ups and lead scoring efforts. Chatbots may even completely alternate the need for lengthy lead generation forms with engaging dialogue-based lead conversations.

b) Responding to client queries in real-time and schedule sales meetings automatically

c) Making personalized recommendations across social media channels.

The AI team at Oodles build conversational chatbots integrated with Fb Messenger to augment social media marketing efforts of multiple industry businesses. 

3) Conversational AI Trends for everyday Retail Customers

While chatbots are showing significant results for eCommerce businesses, conversational AI is yet to become a mainstream adoption for the retail sector. IoT technology has already entered brick and mortar stores through touch-screen devices, automated checkouts, RFID-enabled shelves, and more. AI applications are the next step forward to use IoT data for enhanced customer services and experience.

In 2020, the retail customers are set to experience interactive shopping experience with the following innovative conversation AI trends-

a) Finding the right product

Navigation in retail stores is an omnipresent challenge for customers. AI-powered chatbots can assist customers in locating their products and guide through the floor plan.

b) Resolving customer queries

Multiple surveys have confirmed that the millennial generation is more likely to interact with a chatbot for customer support. Customer services through chatbots deliver a less administrative and more engaging experience.

Exploring the potential of Conversational AI with Oodles

Global industries are evolving their conversational practices with artificial intelligence technologies. At Oodles, we harness IoT and AI capabilities to build highly intelligent and intuitive experiences for businesses and their customers. With hands-on experience in Natural Language Processing algorithms, we empower eCommerce, healthcare, banking, and other businesses to augment their customer outreach efforts.

Our NLP services extend to the extraction of customer behavior and preferences with the application of sentiment analytics technology across portals and social media channels. We deploy various tools and bot frameworks such as IBM Watson, Dialogflow, Azure, and other platforms to match the ever-expanding customer requirements.