Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

By Aura Hita, 01/21/2020

 

The difference between ClickBots and NLP assistants

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. The thing is, there are so many differences when we talking about Chatbots. And so few people that actually know about it. That makes it very hard to settle this in a short and comprehensive way.

But let’s give it a shot.

Generally speaking, we have been hearing and talking about Chatbots for a few years now. I remember when Facebook first announce them on Messenger. My CEO at the time came to me super excited and said we would pivot towards Chatbot building. (To give a little bit of context here, we had an online platform to build websites).

That hype only lasted for a couple of weeks. After that everything went back to normal, but there was something there. A spark. And it was so that I actually ended up co-founding a chat marketing agency! (thing, of course, I had no idea at the time).

That was somewhere around 2016, the tip of the iceberg. And here we are now, after 5 years of “Chatbots yes, Chatbots no”. There is still a big controversy around the topic, should we or shouldn’t we?

Are Chatbots changing the way we communicate with brands? Are they making us speak like robots? Are they useful? Are they trouble? Should we use AI?

The answer is YES, yes, and yes! And here is why:

Chatbots are, definitely, changing the way we communicate with brands. We need to understand though, that like with any new technology, its application takes time. Time for us to adapt.

When it comes to chatbots, the excitement built by Facebook was such that lots of brands decided to be innovative and jump right on it from the very beginning (Like my previous CEO wanted to do). And as always, with early adoption comes lots of failing and lots of learning.

The Chatbot world has been shaping over the last 5 years and, currently, we are getting to a point where we start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

So what can we see?

A path. A double path actually.

One goes for what we, from now on, will call CLICKBOTS. And the other one for what we are gonna call NLP ASSISTANTS. Stick to these names because it is gonna be very important to remember them.

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

 
 

What is a Clickbot?

Remember one of the questions we stated at the beginning.

- Are chatbots changing the way we communicate? Are they making us speak like a robot?

Well, that is the key to the definition of a CLICKBOT. Let’s see why.

Clickbots are designed to fulfill a very specific mission. Usually a small part within the sales, or the customer service funnel.

And that’s the beauty of it. They are incredibly useful to automate part, and please mind the incision in this term, PART, of our flows. Why? Because they mainly present the users with options where they can click on.

These options will lead the user through the funnel we desire (either for sales or troubleshooting) towards a goal. Common examples of these goals are collecting contact information, subscribe to a webinar, etc).

Easy right? Yeah, it is! So why so much fuss around them?

Well, let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, Clickbots are the new normal for ... wait for it... Forms!

Yes, forms!

We hate forms, don’t we? ugh, fill this up again...

Well, clickbots are awesome to walk you through a series of questions, so that we, as a Brand, can save all that information and give you a tailored response.

Sounds familiar? Exactly, that is what a form does too.

So the mistake here comes when we try to use these forms as a chat, to TALK to our customers.

They generate a lot of frustration because Clickbots won’t be able to understand what the customer says outside the options that have been given.

 

Ok, once we’ve clear out what a Clickbot is, comes the next question...

What are NLP (Natural Language Processing) assistants then?

Aren’t they also a Chatbot? Maybe a fancy one?

Well yes, in fact, they are. The difference here is that they LISTEN to the customer. They are like the perfect partner, they actually listen!

To simplify, let’s pick up on the theory of the forms again.

Remember those multiple-choice questions with the “other” tick box? *If selected please specify below.

Good, hold on to that thought.

So, this “other” tick box from the form, is what a good NLP Assistant does.

As any other (and I mean human) assistant, they will walk you through a funnel, but adding the opportunity of letting you add "other" options. Basically allowing you to talk to them.

Go ahead and ask freely anything you want at any time.

If an NLP Assistant is built in a clever way, it will almost always understand you.

(I say almost because we all love challenges and some of us like to challenge these bots until we break them...)

But with the exception of these occasions, a good NLP Assistant should be able to convert user input and give an appropriate reply.

Note here:

I say built in a clever way, not referring to how much training or how complex the neural network is, but how good the conversation architecture has been designed to actually lead the user through a good experience.

“It's more than the obvious answers to the expected questions. It's about being able to anticipate and wow your audience.”

An experience where they feel like they are being listened to.

- A little secret here, it will actually be us, as a brand, guiding them towards what we want them to ask. In a very subtle way, no buttons, no clues... just pure human psychology. (Just like that amazing partner for sure does too) . -

So that’s it, folks!

Of course, there are a million technical differences between these two systems, but in practice, that is it.

Just remember that “other” tick box, and you are good.

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