20 essential chatbot statistics to explore in 2024

Overview:

Since the popularization of AI technology over the past couple of decades, chatbots have been one of its most utilized capabilities when applied to customer service. Chatbots are designed to simulate conversation with users and can be trained to answer FAQs, assist with troubleshooting, and perform other specific tasks relevant to your company’s needs. There are many benefits to deploying chatbots as part of your customer service blueprint, including their round-the-clock availability, cost-effectiveness, and data-analysis capacity.

Today, we’ll examine chatbot statistics that showcase how important they’ve become in the modern customer service landscape.

Importance of understanding and monitoring chatbot statistics

Keeping track of chatbot statistics is important for organizations looking to optimize their customer engagement strategies. These statistics provide insights into how consumers interact with AI-driven services, enabling businesses to fine-tune their chatbots for better performance, engagement, and satisfaction. By analyzing patterns in usage, response times, and resolution rates, companies can identify areas of success and opportunities for improvement. 

Monitoring chatbot analytics helps organizations stay ahead of competitors. As chatbots evolve with AI and machine learning advancements, keeping a close eye on these metrics becomes even more critical. It enables businesses to adapt quickly, introduce innovations, and maintain a leading edge in delivering exceptional customer service.

Chatbot usage statistics

1. 74% of users prefer interacting with chatbots when seeking answers to FAQs. 

This may surprise readers who hold preconceived notions that AI customer service needs to be more practical and capable of providing sufficient support. Businesses can customize chatbots with relevant knowledge concerning their operations, and AI is constantly utilizing machine learning to learn from past interactions.

2. 47% of customers would buy items through a chatbot. 

This highlights that chatbots are strengthening their capability to engage users from lead generation through the actual purchase. This exciting development in customer acceptance shows promise for chatbots to be able to drive even more conversions in the future.

3. 40% of millennials interact with chatbots on a daily basis. 

Chatbots’ potential for future use is promising, as younger customers are interacting with them and doing so with surprising frequency. As AI technology becomes more normalized, we anticipate its use will rise significantly in future generations.

4. 39% of all B2C chats involve a chatbot. 

Business-to-consumer communications are evolving to more frequently involve AI-driven chat in at least some aspects of their interactions. This can be attributed to customers’ increased willingness to attempt to solve their issues through a chatbot before requesting a live agent. 

5. Chatbots will handle up to 90% of healthcare and financial inquiries by this year. 

This staggering statistic is hard to believe at first, but it makes more sense when considering the potential for automation in these industries. There’s a high ratio of FAQs compared to complex queries in both industries, making deploying AI customer support even more beneficial.

6. Chatbots have experienced a 92% increase in usage since 2019. 

This is likely due to increasing customer confidence and the always-improving capacity of AI technology. With AI still in its relative infancy, we anticipate this number to grow exponentially.

7. It’s predicted that, by 2027, digital assistants will become the main channel for customer service in 25% of all businesses.

As more businesses adopt AI technology and its capabilities constantly expand, it’s not hard to imagine a future in which chatbots and virtual assistants are handling a bulk of total interaction volume. 

8. Retail customers are anticipated to spend over $142 billion through chatbots this year. 

This is a massive increase over the $2.8 billion that was spent in 2019, showcasing the astronomical growth that chatbot usage has experienced over the past half-decade. Chatbots’ ability to lead customers to conversion can be a significant tool for businesses struggling to drive customers to purchases.

9. 71% of customers would prefer to interact with a chatbot when checking the status of their order.

The instantaneous response time and efficiency that chatbots offer make them ideal for FAQs and routine inquiries. Customers increasingly prefer them over human interaction for these purposes, while deploying them in this manner will save your organization time and resources.

10. 73% of customers expect websites to feature digital assistants. 

Automated service is no longer a rare accommodation reserved for more tech-savvy organizations, but rather an expectation of most customers. As customers continue to emphasize convenience, chatbots’ prowess to quickly resolve most basic issues will become an even more sought-after feature. 

11. 47% of users believe they may have mistaken a chatbot for a real person. 

This demonstrates chatbots’ ever-increasing capabilities to simulate human-like conversation through continuous machine learning. When combining their unparalleled speed with the personalization of a real-world conversation, businesses can anticipate a notable rise in customer satisfaction rates. 

12. Only 9% of customers think companies shouldn’t use chatbots. 

This indicates a growing acceptance of AI-driven chat as a capable customer service tool in today’s digital world. While customers will sometimes still need to escalate their inquiries to human agents, this shows the vast majority at least prefer to have chatbots as an option.

13. On average, it takes 39 seconds for a human to respond through live chat, whereas a chatbot’s average response time is 9.3 seconds. 

This isn’t necessarily a case of “one is better than the other,” but it strengthens the argument that deploying a combination of both is best practice. Users can quickly deduce whether a chatbot can resolve their issue, and if not, can transfer over to a live chat. Working synergistically, the two channels can resolve problems efficiently to boost overall customer satisfaction. 

14. When chatbots and live chat are offered together, 33% will choose live chat and 67% prefer chatbots. 

This likely has to do with chatbots’ efficiency and consistency in response. As mentioned before, chatbots often provide quicker resolutions and offer uniformity in their responses; when utilizing live chat, you may get different information depending on which support agent you connect with.

15. 90% of customers consider an immediate response to be “important or very important.” 

Chatbots are objectively top of the game in terms of speed – their instantaneous access to companies’ knowledge bases can provide an entire library’s worth of information in seconds. Issues deflected by chatbots are resolved within 42 seconds on average.

16. Interactions handled by chatbots (87.58%) receive marginally higher satisfaction ratings than those transferred to a real-world agent (85.8%). 

This speaks to the capacity of chatbots to not only excel in their speed but also effectively answer customer queries. This percentage should continue to rise as chatbots continue to refine their ability to understand user needs. 

17. 57% of businesses report that chatbots deliver large ROI on minimal investment. 

Chatbots essentially pay for themselves – most companies find that the benefits they experience after chatbot implementation greatly outweigh the initial costs. Chalk this up to quicker resolutions, less strain on human representatives, and higher satisfaction rates. 

18. Chatbots can increase sales by 67% on average. 

This is largely due to chatbots’ lead-generation abilities and growing capacity to complete conversions. Organizations struggling to generate revenue should consider chatbot deployment to assist their efforts in this department.

19.  Businesses experienced a 30% reduction in customer service expenses when utilizing chatbots. 

A significant increase in sales combined with a substantial decrease in expenses is an enticing prospect for all companies and the stats indicate that chatbots are capable of both. 

20.  Chatbots can lead to a 70% decrease in call, chat, and email inquiries. 

This exhibits the propensity of chatbots to effectively answer customer inquiries without the need for real-world intervention. Your human representatives will appreciate the help with the workload and customers will enjoy prompt resolutions to their issues.

How to learn from these statistics

So what can your business do with this information? 

These statistics show that chatbots are being deployed with increasing regularity, are often preferred to human interaction, and customers are increasingly confident in their abilities. Successful businesses listen to their customers, and it seems that the customers are saying that, at the very least, they appreciate the option of utilizing a chatbot for their support needs.

The chatbot-live-chat model shows tremendous promise as, together, they can deflect a high number of total support queries in an efficient and effective manner. Resolving most issues at the online chat level can free up organizational resources and significantly cut down on operational costs.

These results are also antithetical to the belief that customers dislike communicating with AI support or that interacting with them is a cumbersome experience. While human agents are certainly still necessary for a robust customer service blueprint, it seems that most customers prefer the ability to engage with a chatbot before escalating to real-world representatives.

Freshworks provides businesses with the capacity to deploy chatbots across various channels and give their customers what they want.

Which industry uses chatbots the most?

As previously mentioned, it’s anticipated that up to 90% of healthcare interactions will be handled via chatbots by this year. Chatbots are particularly useful in the healthcare industry thanks to abilities such as assessing symptoms and sending medication reminders. Chatbots’ symptom-checking capabilities can assist users by providing recommendations on whether to seek medical attention, which can help direct patients to the appropriate level of care. Chatbots can also provide medication reminders and dosing instructions which is particularly beneficial for patients with chronic conditions who require frequent medication management. 

Travel and hospitality is another sector where chatbots can be particularly helpful. Just think about how many times you’ve required basic assistance with a hotel reservation, plane ticket, or rental car issue -- we’re guessing a lot! In addition to providing assistance with any issues you may experience, chatbots can also offer personalized travel recommendations based on preferences. The volume of routine queries in the travel and hospitality industry combined with the proactive engagement capabilities of chatbots make the two a match made in heaven.

Disadvantages of not adapting to chatbot technology

The statistics show that many customers already expect businesses to offer chatbot support, and if they don’t, they likely will in the future. Organizations that are reluctant to adapt to new technologies can quickly fall behind competitors; innovations like chatbots allow competitors to expose their message to a wider audience and serve their current customers with improved efficiency and accuracy.

Chatbots can be integrated across multiple channels such as websites, social media, and messaging apps. Companies not utilizing chatbots are missing opportunities to engage in real-time communication with their customers to quickly resolve issues on their preferred platforms. Customers can often silently switch over to competitors if their needs aren’t being conveniently served, and often by the time this is recognized, it’s already too late. 

Additionally, human agents simply cannot replicate the speed and consistency that chatbots provide. Real-world representatives can sometimes offer varying responses to the same inquiry, creating a lack of cohesion in a business’s customer support system. Chatbots utilize knowledge bases to provide consistent answers instantaneously.

The advantages gained by businesses open to chatbot usage compound over time. They’re able to connect with a significantly higher number of customers and potential customers every day, resulting in thousands or even millions of more interactions over the course of a year.

What does the future hold for chatbots in customer service? 

We’re excited about the future potential of chatbots and the statistics indicate that customers are too.

Future chatbots are likely to have more sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, allowing them to recognize context, sentiment, and nuances in conversations. This will lead to more natural and human-like interactions. NLP allows chatbots to understand customer inquiries even with varied expressions and possible misspellings while enabling them to ask clarifying questions to gather missing information. NLP’s continued evolution will result in chatbots’ ability to answer increasingly complex inquiries without having to redirect to a human agent.

Additionally, enhanced multimodal interaction holds great promise as chatbots gain the capability to connect with customers beyond text-based conversations. Chatbots may integrate with various modalities such as images, videos, and voice to provide a more interactive user experience. Multimodal communication is currently in its infancy, but we anticipate it will become a major feature of chatbot customer service in the future. 

Chatbots’ capacity for predictive analysis will also continue to improve, resulting in proactive assistance for customers before they even reach out for support. To do this, AI analyzes user behavior, and historical data, and utilizes algorithms to identify likely scenarios where a customer may need help. Chatbots’ predictive analysis abilities will continue to be refined in the future, leading to higher satisfaction scores and reduced strain on human representatives.

Should your business be using a chatbot system?

The benefits that chatbots can offer you will depend significantly on what your company aims to achieve with them. Here are some of the factors you should consider when evaluating how chat support can improve your customer service functions:

1. Volume of customer interactions: If you’re currently experiencing or are anticipating growing to experience vast amounts of customer inquiries, chatbots can save your business significant time and money. Chatbots were forecasted to retain up to 2.5 billion hours of time for businesses in 2023, which means human agents were afforded 2.5 billion additional hours to handle more nuanced customer inquiries. These substantial time savings ultimately result in lower operational costs for your organization and higher satisfaction rates among your customer base. 

2. 24/7 Availability: Organizations that maintain a following across different time zones will surely appreciate the round-the-clock availability of chatbots, enabling them to connect with customers at any time of day. Perpetual assistance can lead to improved retention rates, as customers are generally more likely to stick with a company that’s always available to meet their needs. Moreover, if your human agents are experiencing excessive support requests, 24/7 availability can assist in freeing up time for them during normal business hours. 

3. Scalability: Handling major growth or changes in infrastructure is no problem for chatbots, as scalability scores as one of their most useful capabilities. With chatbots, experiencing a sudden surge in interaction volume is handled with ease, as they’re capable of deflecting an unlimited number of communications simultaneously. They also help in reducing any downtime – even if certain components of your organizational infrastructure are undergoing updates, chatbots will usually continue to operate smoothly.

4. Lead generation: In addition to assisting current customers in navigating your products or services, chatbots can proactively engage potential customers who may be visiting your website just to browse. By initiating conversations with visitors, they can encourage them to interact with your brand, increasing the likelihood of lead generation. Even after these initial interactions, chatbots can send follow-up communications, including personalized messages and updates about your businesses to further attract these potential leads.

Steps to introducing chatbots into your customer service system

Incorporating chatbots into your customer service plan requires careful planning and execution. Here are a few factors to consider to help you successfully integrate chatbots into your strategy:

1. Understand your audience: Utilizing general chatbot statistics and personalized feedback from your own company’s data, identify your audience and their preferences. Understanding your customers’ and potential customers’ needs will allow you to design your chatbot interactions to maximize the possibility of conversions. 

2. Channel selection: Choose the platforms where you want to deploy your chatbots. This could include your website, social media channels, messaging apps, and more. Ensure that the selected platforms align with your audience's communication preferences. 72% of customers say they prefer to connect with businesses on multiple channels, making a healthy combination of several platforms a preferable approach.

3. Define chatbot functionality: Clearly specify the scope and functionality of your chatbot. Determine what tasks it will handle, the level of complexity it should support, and how it will interact with users. For example, financial institutions will want to provide their chatbots with a knowledge base that enables them to provide account information, assist with transactions, locate ATMs, and assist with other routine financial queries.

4. Integrate with existing systems: Integrate your chatbot with existing customer service systems, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools, and other relevant databases. This enhances chatbot capabilities by allowing for better personalization through access to customer data and improves feedback management by allowing chatbots to directly integrate information gained through its interactions into your CRM.

Conclusion

What are the key takeaways that we can gather from examining recent chatbot statistics? 

Customers now, more often than not, expect companies to offer a chatbot option and actually prefer them over human agents when seeking answers to routine questions. This signifies a notable upward trend in public perception after customers were hesitant to get on board in AI’s infancy. For businesses, chatbots can provide a significant boost in sales and simultaneously reduce costs, while lessening workload for human agents. With only a negligible number of customers reporting that they don’t think businesses should use chatbots, there seems to be very little risk and substantial possible rewards when implementing chatbots as part of your customer service strategy.