AI-based chatbots in customer service and their effects on user compliance

Martin Adam,Alexander Benlian,Michael Wessel

doi:10.1007/s12525-020-00414-7

Martin Adam, Alexander Benlian + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-020-00414-7

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Abstract

Communicating with customers through live chat interfaces has become an increasingly popular means to provide real-time customer service in many e-commerce settings. Today, human chat service agents are frequently replaced by conversational software agents or chatbots, which are systems designed to communicate with human users by means of natural language often based on artificial intelligence (AI). Though cost- and time-saving opportunities triggered a widespread implementation of AI-based chatbots, they still frequently fail to meet customer expectations, potentially resulting in users being less inclined to comply with requests made by the chatbot. Drawing on social response and commitment-consistency theory, we empirically examine through a randomized online experiment how verbal anthropomorphic design cues and the foot-in-the-door technique affect user request compliance. Our results demonstrate that both anthropomorphism as well as the need to stay consistent significantly increase the likelihood that users comply with a chatbot’s request for service feedback. Moreover, the results show that social presence mediates the effect of anthropomorphic design cues on user compliance.

Highlights

Communicating with customers through live chat interfaces has become an increasingly popular means to provide realtime customer service in e-commerce settings
The focus should be on employing strategies to achieve greater human likeness through anthropomorphism by indicating, for instance, identity, small-talk, and empathy, which we have shown to have a positive effect on user compliance
We revealed the effects only based on the operationalized manipulations, but other forms of verbal anthropomorphic design cues3 (ADCs) and FITD may be interesting for further investigations in the digital context of artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversational software agents (CAs) and customer self-service

Summary

Introduction

Communicating with customers through live chat interfaces has become an increasingly popular means to provide realtime customer service in e-commerce settings. Customers use these chat services to obtain information (e.g., product details) or assistance (e.g., solving technical problems). We explore what characteristics of the chatbot increase the likelihood that users comply with a chatbot’s request for service feedback through a customer service survey. We have chosen this scenario to test the user’s compliance because a customer’s assessment of service quality is important and a universally applicable predictor for customer retention (Gustafsson et al 2005)

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Conclusion