Chatbots now play a significant role in how people make their purchases online, from how they make their purchase decisions to how they perceive company customer support. Moreover, chatbots have become prevalent in people’s lives, as they can also be found on mobile devices in the form of Google Assistant or Siri. On the business side, the type of chatbot a company uses can determine how customers perceive its brand and products.
Thus, in this article, we will explore how chatbots work and their different classifications, ranging from the simple to the advanced versions of it. We will also discuss their strengths, their pitfalls, and which of the chatbots is more secure than the rest. Let’s dive in!
Understanding What Chatbots Are
Chatbots are a product of advanced software engineering that engages users in a conversation and makes them feel like they are speaking to an actual human. This software is a conversational tool that tries to understand customers’ queries and then provides solutions to them in either written or spoken form.
Some of these chatbots are very basic, offering predefined answers to customer queries. On the other hand, some of them are very advanced, possessing the ability to understand users’ or customers’ questions, provide personalized responses, and adapt to different users. Nevertheless, chatbot security risks do exist, and both organizations and individuals need to apply stringent security measures while deploying or interacting with chatbots.
Types of Chatbots
There are different types of chatbot, from the basic to the advanced versions, and we will discuss them below:
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Menu/Button-based Chatbots
Menu-based chatbots are the most common type, and customers interact with them by clicking on already programmed buttons with predefined answers. The menu is scripted and has a decision tree logic, which means a user can continue to click on the menu until they reach their specific need. While going through the list of menu buttons, a user can then decide to select the one that best represents their needs.
This type of chatbot is best for answering simple customer FAQs, and they appear to underperform if a user needs a very detailed answer to a question. Apparently, this chatbot takes longer to answer customers’ questions as they might have to go through several menus before arriving at their questions. Also, the chatbot offers no use whenever a customer’s query is not included in the list of menus/buttons.
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Rules-based Chatbots
Rule-based chatbots are also known as linguistic bots, and they perform on the principle of if-then logic, which helps them create conversations with inquisitive users. Apparently, this type of chatbot is also built from the decision tree type of logic of menu chatbots, only that it uses keyword recognition to perform. However, menu-based chatbots also struggle to handle complex questions from users, and they may often misunderstand users’ requests.
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NLP/Machine Learning Chatbots
NLP or machine learning chatbots are one of the most advanced classifications of chatbots, unlike rule-based or menu chatbots. By integrating natural language processing (NLP) technology, these chatbots can interpret what users ask them and provide the most helpful response.
Machine learning chatbots, which are also known as contextual chatbots, use a combination of AI and ML and can memorize past conversations they have had with users. This way, they continuously improve since they try to hold on to a lot of data for personalization.
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Voice Chatbots
This is a conversational chatbot that employs voiced communication instead of typing, which more chatbots use. Voice chatbots appear to be more rudimentary, as they are often problematic, especially when they can’t retrieve information from their pre-programmed menu options. Nevertheless, this type of chatbot is constantly evolving due to the introduction of artificial intelligence. This allows them to analyze most spoken questions from users and provide the best possible response conversationally.
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AI Chatbots
AI chatbots are programmed in a way that they are able to understand what a user is asking for, no matter how the questions are framed. Infusing AI and natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities allows chatbots under this classification to self-learn. There’s also another sub-classification of AI chatbots called generative AI bots, which provides even more improved functionality. These types of chatbots can adapt to any style of conversion employed by a user, summarizing and translating queries.
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Hybrid Chatbots
Hybrid chatbots combine rule-based and AI bots and deploy the two technologies depending on the user’s needs or query. Nevertheless, this type of chatbot can’t handle complex questions, and it might redirect a user to a service agent if that happens.
Which Chatbot is More Secure?
Chatbots are very important to many businesses and organizations as they help with many functions, such as improving customer engagement and satisfaction. Nevertheless, there are concerns about chatbot security, both on the organizational and customer sides. There have been cases of chatbots being used for data theft and leaks, either through breaches from their database or the model responses. Thus, the use of cyber security tools like LayerX might be necessary, especially for users who want to protect themselves from security vulnerabilities.
As regards the most secure chatbot, there’s no major difference between all the classifications in terms of the tendency of security breaches. Thus, users should equip themselves with security measures and tools while interacting with chatbots, no matter their classification. This way, they won’t fall victim to malicious attacks such as phishing or information theft/leak.
Wrapping Up
Above, we discussed what chatbots are and how they help organizations respond to customers’ questions. Apparently, there are different classifications of chatbots, including menu-based, rule-based, machine learning/NLP, voice-based, hybrid, and AI chatbots. Each of them comes with different capabilities, but they all have the same objective of resolving issues a customer or user might have. Nevertheless, there are often questions regarding the security of chatbots and the most secure options for users. Thus, it is very important to point out that users should employ stringent cybersecurity measures and tools while interacting with these chatbots to avoid malicious attacks.
