Examining Consumer Interaction with Artificial Intelligence Tools Chatbot and Voice Assistants

Abstract

Companies are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to connect with their customers and converse with them like humans. AI-powered chatbots and voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistants are two such conversational tools. These tools benefit companies by providing quick, easy and cost-effective customer service. For customers, these tools are helpful as they provide quick, convenient, and effortless ways to access information and resolve queries. However, the current literature lacks an understanding of the situations in which customers would like to use these AI conversational tools. Thus, the current study looks into the adoption of chatbots and voice assistants for customer service and searching and purchasing products. newlineThese tools are deployed for different purposes; chatbots are used for customer service, and voice assistants are used for searching and purchasing products. These two tools are covered in two individual studies. newlineChatbots help resolve customer queries; however, the types of queries chatbots can resolve have received limited attention. Essay I examines two critical questions: one, which queries lead consumers to prefer chatbots over another channel, and two, when chatbots cannot solve the queries, what is the best way to use human help to improve the adoption of chatbots? Using task-technology fit and decision point theory, the study found that consumers prefer chatbots for non-complex, non-urgent queries. Moreover, reducing decision points when switching to human help increases future chatbot adoption. These insights offer practical strategies for improving chatbot effectiveness in customer service. newlineEssay II - Voice assistants, which can provide information through voice only or voice and visual formats depending on the device, are crucial in helping consumers make purchasing decisions. This study investigates how these presentation formats voice only, visual only, and voice with visual affect consumer search behaviour for low- and high-involvement products. newline