Study explores chatbot–human collaboration

New research from University of Auckland explores the impact of chatbot–human collaboration and customer perceptions of this new digital relationship.

In a paper, titled The Future Of Work: Creating an Effective Collaboration Between Human and Digital Employees in Service, researchers examine the impact of dual frontline service on the customer experience and how these technologies can best be deployed. The key, according to Associate Professor (Marketing) Laszlo Sajtos, is to see chatbots as collaborators and team members, rather than just tools.

“Doing so can foster customer recognition of a positive alliance and effortless human–bot teamwork through their awareness of the team’s joint efforts in handling service requests,” he said.

In their article, Sajtos, former Business School doctorate student Khanh Bao Quang Le and Associate Professor Karen Fernandez detail five experimental studies they undertook with 1403 participants.

One scenario saw participants play the role of a prospective student looking online for a data science program. Another placed them within a finance consulting setting.

“We found that making the human–digital employee collaboration visible to customers during their service encounter can reinforce their perception of a cohesive team and a fluent service process and that this drives satisfaction,” Sajtos said.

“The key word here is transparency. When human and digital employees work together, it’s critical to provide clear communication to and in front of the customer about what happens during the service provision — who takes care of which task and what information is transferred between entities. It’s important to demonstrate a cohesive team through communicating a joint goal.”

The research shows that having a human employee in a supervisory role increases customer satisfaction. Additionally, the study suggests that the human employee’s effectiveness as a supervisor lies in improving the customer’s perception of a cohesive team.

Sajtos said businesses will be well served if they move towards building human–digital employee teams that represent their brand and business as a dual frontline.

“We recommend that firms train their digital and human employees to work as a cohesive team in front of customers. This could be achieved by coding the chatbot to notify customers about task handovers and instructing human employees to acknowledge the transfer in front of the customer.”

According to Sajtos, explaining the process to the customer and setting expectations at the beginning of the experience can enable businesses to create a seamless customer experience and the impression of a cohesive team.

Image credit: iStock.com/Tippapatt