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My chatbot is dead – Why yours should probably be too

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

#81

Post by st_goliath »

dheera wrote: 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 absolutely despise those pop-up "Can I help you" boxes on product websites

Agree. Over the last few years, I started running into those more and more often as well. From an UX standpoint I would categorize them somewhere between marque/blink tags and rotating GIF icons.

Actually, that was roughly the time from which I recall first running into those things on corporate websites (IIRC Yello Strom in Germany had one in the early 2000s, widely know for a particular Easter egg).

I find it kind of funny that those are having a revival in recent years, along with animated GIFs (abused as a video format this time round) and annoying overuse of the word "cyber".

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

#82

Post by megablast »

dheera wrote: 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…

Except it’s way better than calling. You can get support without being on the phone.

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

#83

Post by lqet »

dheera wrote: 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.

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

#84

Post by tallanvor »

Ennea wrote: 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.

Yes, a lot of people tend to move the mouse down the screen as they're reading. Having the pointer highlighted and then turn into a cursor and keep following your pointer is extremely distracting. I really don't understand what the appeal is.

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

#85

Post by zikzak »

lqet wrote: post #83
dheera wrote: 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.

"No, thank you, I am just browsing."

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

#87

Post by dirktheman »

GordonS wrote: post #46
dheera wrote: 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 only ones I really despise are the ones that pop open as soon as you open the page - I haven't even read the damned page title yet, so no , I would not like to ask any questions or tell you anything about my requirements! Just.. go away! Actually, the ones I really despise with a burning passion are the ones like above, but which follow you around the whole site like some kind of demented Clippy 2.0 - you close t…

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

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

#88

Post by chrisandchris »

Zaheer wrote: 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 large companys hotline.

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

#90

Post by kdtop »

The problem with chatbots is one of an unfulfilled promise, an unrealistic setting of user expectations. An empty Google search window doesn't pretend to be a human being -- although it is actually very powerful. Clippy, on the other hand, has a human face and pretends to be an intelligent agent, only to fail. So chatbots, when seeming to act like a human via natural language, are held in the user's mind to a higher standard. Siri, in my iPhone, seems to strike a better balance. It takes my spoken input and gives replies (albeit not great replies). But I never get the feeling that it is trying to carry on an extended conversation with me.
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