Live data from Hacker News

My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

azumbrunnen.me

131–140 of 169 posts

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very sluggish on a large monitor

Doesn't seem to be about resolution — it works fine on my 5120 x 2880 monitor (macOS Catalina). I'd guess it's probably to do with hardware acceleration not being used, or something like that.

Rather, no software re-implementation of a cursor will ever feel as fluid as the "hardware cursor". Might also be related to my screen refresh rate of 120 Hz in this case.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#132
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I despise these interfaces. It’s not “chat,” I’m being provided with option prompts and everything. Why squash it all into a linear, 1D chat dialog instead of just a regular web form to do a simple task like increase your withdraw limit?

Because the ChatBot squashes all those different pages and forms into one location. It takes the time and mental load of trying to locate features on the site or app off of me. Instead of navigating through 3 links to reach the form, having to search the newly loaded page each time, I answer 3 questions. In truth, I just type “ATM withdrawal limit” and the form begins, because it’s so obvious what I’m trying to do.

Once you’ve got something down to muscle memory it really doesn’t matter how it works so long as it stays the same, I guess. I feel like these things are a speed bump when I run into them though. I recently canceled a my service with a utility. Instead of a simple form to select a date to shut off service, provide a new mailing address, and a submit button, I had to go through this artificial “dialog” with a robot. What if I made a typo in the date? How do I go back and fix it? Restart the whole thing? Try magical NLP strings like “change cancelation date” and see what happens? It just feels like a step backward to funnel interactions that used to be carried out using a rich UI through a chat dialog. I wonder how this affects usability for blind or mobility impaired people too. It might be better for them, idk.

Chat dialog interfaces can be cool as a way to piggyback a service through existing chat services. I used to love goog411 back in the SMS era. But I don’t want everything I do with a computer reduced down to a fake chat with a robot.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a data analyst I have evaluated the performance of chatbots in particular and modals in general for several clients. And I can agree with you. There is actually nearly always a customer segment that finds chatbots and popups totally annoying. This usually ends up in this segment leaving the site disproportionately due to the modals, which leads to a loss of revenue. At the same time there is a segment (usually muc…

> And on the question of GDPR modals, I'm afraid I have to say that they are an absolute legal necessity. They absolutely are not a legal necessity if you don't do things you shouldn't be doing. That's the point of GDPR :). But of course doing these things, putting up the popups, and then trying to direct users' anger at Brussels is empirically the revenue-maximizing strategy, so here we are.

This is exactly right. The GDPR only says that you have to ask users for their consent if you want to use their data in a way that is not strictly required for the service they request from you. If you stop tracking your users, then you don't need to have stupid popups and modals, most of which are probably illegal anyway, since the default action tends to be the one that allows all the tracking cookies. The problem with GDPR is that it's not really being enforced much.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#134
post #4

I'm not sure why it took so long for people to recognize this. An overwhelming majority of chatbots I've used are utter rubbish and are better served through a regular interface (search, directory listing, etc). Everyone dreads call menus / phone trees - chatbots are largely the same except there are easier & better UX alternatives in an online medium.

I had to call UPS because of a wrong delivery state a few weeks ago. I ended about in their automated phone system where you don‘t anymore press numbers but rather say what you would like. There‘s never an option to talk to a human. I ended up googling and found out a secret keyword to talk to an agent who one can directly say after choosing a language. I never have been connected faster to a human when calling a lar…

I always start those off by trying "Human" or "Operator". One of them will work >90% of the time. Same with customer service text bots.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are the worst... it's like entering a store, only to have your way virtually blocked by a pushy salesman.

Except the salesman turns out to be a bot with the IQ of a three year old.

Kind of like this? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p083mv25

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#136
post #83
post #8

I absolutely despise those pop-up "Can I help you" boxes on product websites (usually Intercom). It completely disrupts my flow as a reader in trying to understand the product. That attention disruption got so bad I blocked Intercom and their ilk via injected CSS rules. I really want to take it a step further and write a plug in to interface a chat bot with the human on the other end and waste their time so sites beg…

The real-life equivalent of this is one of the main reasons why I prefer to shop online (except for groceries). It's just not possible to study the products without a "Can I help you?" salesperson popping up next to you after a minute.

I'd counter with nearly everyone goes away if you say "no thank you, just looking" and there is a non trivial amount of time that I actually do need help, the person is fairly helpful, especially at my local hardware store and smaller stores.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#137
post #8

I absolutely despise those pop-up "Can I help you" boxes on product websites (usually Intercom). It completely disrupts my flow as a reader in trying to understand the product. That attention disruption got so bad I blocked Intercom and their ilk via injected CSS rules. I really want to take it a step further and write a plug in to interface a chat bot with the human on the other end and waste their time so sites beg…

I hate them too, specially the annoying ones with a sound and an animation, but they seem to work. At least in the last company I worked it was the main way for customers to contact CS and support.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#138
post #3

I'd just like to point out how absolutely terrible that simulated mouse cursor on that site is. Feels very sluggish and weird. Please don't do this.

I agree. Feels super invasive. I just stopped reading after noticing this.

It's almost as bad as websites customizing the CSS or scroll bars. Don't do that.

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to call UPS because of a wrong delivery state a few weeks ago. I ended about in their automated phone system where you don‘t anymore press numbers but rather say what you would like. There‘s never an option to talk to a human. I ended up googling and found out a secret keyword to talk to an agent who one can directly say after choosing a language. I never have been connected faster to a human when calling a lar…

Just say shibboleet (jk)

https://xkcd.com/806/

Re: My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

#140
post #51
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find those chat boxes to be completely irritating. The supermajority here does, or so I would guess. We aren’t representative, and that’s important to remember when designing user interfaces.

There is a chance of survivorship bias. You get a bunch of messages through the chat interface and all of a sudden you believe it adds value, when in reality you're potentially annoying a whole bunch of users that aren't necessarily telling you that they're annoyed. A favourite story[1] (and I can't remember where I read it first) is the WWII bombers that the US military were trying to understand how to protect by an…

The organization can’t do anything about visitors who are testing them with secret little rules about when they will withhold business. More typical power users are able to just ignore support options they don’t want to use and use the product.

I like the WW2 story as well, but when chat increases total interactions and conversions, it’s hard to make a case for survivorship bias.

Post reply on HN