Do people actually use chats/chatbots on business websites?
I think most of us have encountered something like the following while browing any service website:
Now to me, personally, these are always just an annoyance in my visual field of view that I have to spend an extra second on to close. The reason being that they just seem fake or superficial, where I would waste my time just to receive some broad, pre-written response.
But is that the case for "normal" users as well (those not too familiar with tech & UX)?
Does anyone here have real life examples or experiences of how such a feature has brought their users/customers any real value?
Now in terms of statistics, chatbotsmagazine.com claims:
According to Drift, 27% of adult clients in the United States are ready to purchase basic goods through a chatbot, 13% of adults in the US have at least once bought expensive items using chatbots.
superoffice.com says that customers even prefer to go this route, rather than other forms contact:
In fact, live chat is expected to continue to grow by as much as 87% in the next 12-18 months. (In some industries, chat growth has increased by as much as 150%).
The reason for this increased adoption is because more than half of all customers prefer to chat with someone in real-time and online, rather than call a company for support.
So the numbers seem to be on the chat's side, but it just seems hard to believe from a qualitative standpoint, if you can call it that. Maybe it's just too much scepticism from my side?