Today’s consumers insist on a different kind of customer service approach from businesses than before. They want both more availability and personalization, a trend that picked up steam after 2020’s enhanced migration online. Thanks to artificial intelligence, this has become a reality for many companies. As we speak, AI-powered chatbots are taking over the world. Not in a literal sense, or a futuristic-movie kind of scenario, but rather, shouldering some of the customer support burden. We compiled these chatbot statistics to show you just how much this booming industry is shaping customer experience. You will learn more of its benefits to guide you if you are yet to implement chatbots in your business operations.
Chatbot Statistics (Editor’s Choice)
- The chatbot market is forecast to reach $1.25 billion by 2025.
- About 47% of organizations planned to have chatbots for customer support in 2021.
- Over 1.4 billion people use messaging apps and are open to talking to chatbots.
- In the US, 27% of adults are willing to purchase basic goods using a chatbot.
- About 40% of Millennials communicate with chatbots on a daily basis.
- Business leaders claim that chatbots raised the average sales by 67%.
- According to a recent survey, 47% of people would buy items via chatbot.
- Chatbots are expected to save 2.5 billion hours for companies by 2023.
Chatbot Industry Statistics
1. The chatbot market is forecast to reach $1.25 billion by 2025.
Chatbots are AI-powered conversational tools. Using artificial intelligence, these bots are equipped to reply to customers in natural language using voice or text. The size of the chatbot industry has been on the rise, and the $1.25 billion forecast for 2025 will mark a significant surge from 2016’s $190.8 million.
(Statista)
2. Some industries using chatbots save up to $0.70 per interaction.
A recent Juniper’s Research study suggests that some sectors like banking and healthcare are set to reduce resolution times and improve cost-saving by implementing chatbots. The chatbot savings statistics in the study point to savings of up to four minutes per inquiry which translates into $0.50-0.70 per interaction.
(Juniper Research)
3. About 47% of organizations planned to have chatbots for customer support in 2021.
Some predictions about chatbot growth indicate that 70% of white-collar workers might interact with conversational platforms daily by 2022. Since 2018, there has been a 160% increase in interest from firms to implement chatbots. By 2021, besides those companies that planned to have customer support chatbots, 40% are expected to adopt virtual assistants.
(Gartner, L.inchpin)
4. Approximately 50% of companies planned to spend more on chatbots in 2021 than on mobile apps.
According to the chatbot growth statistics, chatbots will kick apps from the throne in the near future. Instead of integrating bots into apps, the latter will be built around them, predictions from Gartner show. Traditional apps might be brought down to just another option for customers.
(CM)
5. Over 1.4 billion people use messaging apps and are open to talking to chatbots.
In line with the latest live chat statistics, people are generally eager to use chatbot services. For instance, 35 million people in the US take advantage of voice-generated assistants at least once per month. These chatbots help them solve problems, send messages, or quickly complete actions. Then, many people use chatbots on a daily basis without even being aware of it.
(Acquire)
6. Two-thirds of financial service companies have added chatbots to their apps.
Chatbots have been gaining traction in the finance industry since the pandemic hit, with some financial services firms also using them for their online banking, as chatbots uses statistics confirm. One-third of financial services companies further have voice-based experiences based on Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, or Google Assistant interfaces.
(Forrester)
7. By 2023, over 70% of chatbots are estimated to be in retail.
Cost benefits, upsell opportunities, marketing, and shopping cart recovery are all driving the rush for chatbots usage in the retail industry which stands to benefit the most from the industry. It’s no wonder then that ecommerce transactions completed using chatbots are projected to generate $112 billion by 2023.
(Juniper Research)
8. With 28%, real estate is the industry that profits from chatbots the most.
Chatbot statistics show that travel comes in next with 16%, followed by education with 14%. Travel is the next in line with 16%, followed by education with 14%. Healthcare and finance round up the top five with 10% and 5%, respectively.
(Chatbot’s Life)
9. The US is a global leader with 15,515 websites with a chatbot.
The US is leading the world in terms of chatbot adoption. If we look at the number of chatbots per 1,000 people — 0.0477 chatbots — it’s not that far ahead of the runner-up Australia which has 1,009 websites with chatbots and a rate of 0.0420 chatbots per 1,000 people. The UK is third based on the number of websites with chatbot technology per 1,000 people (0.0410). However, it has overall more websites with chatbots than Australia, or 2,667.
(Boomtown)
10. The healthcare chatbot market is estimated to reach $340 million by 2027.
Healthcare chatbot statistics point to a CAGR of 20.5% between 2020 and 2027 for the market. The rising demand for virtual health assistance is one of the main factors contributing to the growth of the market. The two most important ones are the adoption of video conferencing software for telemedicine and chatbots.
(FutureWise)
11. Clothes, with 21.5%, are the most popular category sold online using chatbots.
Next in line are health products with 9.2%. Aside from these two, customers like to use chatbots for buying furniture (8.8%), consumer electronics (8.3%), jewelry (7.9%), cosmetics (5.7%), food & drinks (4.4%), and baby products (4.4%).
(Tidio)
Chatbot Adoption Statistics
12. Of all companies using AI chatbots and smart assistants, 46% use them for voice-to-text dictation.
Based on information from recent research, chatbot usage varies. Although the majority of companies use chatbots for voice-to-text dictation, 26% also use them to support team collaboration and 24% opt for employee calendar management. On top of that, 14% of firms use them for customer service, and 13% for IT help desk management.
(Spiceworks)
13. About 37% of people use chatbots to get quick help in an emergency.
Chatbot engagement statistics show that one of the most common uses for this technology is customer support, with 35% of people surveyed turning to chatbot customer service to resolve a complaint or a problem, while 35% also ask for detailed explanations regarding a product or a service. Some 34% of people tend to look for human customer agents using the bot.
(Drift)
14. Nearly one-quarter of customers trust chatbot recommendations for products.
A recent study confirms 69% of respondents prefer chatbots for getting immediate replies, and another 69% of customers claim they would use chatbots for questions regarding the company’s services. According to chatbot stats, 22% actually trust the recommendations they received via chatbots.
(Cognizant)
15. About 40% of millennials communicate with chatbots on a daily basis.
The computer programs behind the bots simulate human interaction and one out of four customers use them each day. Millennials are the most common group to use chatbots for customer service. According to customer service statistics, 83% of people surveyed confirmed they would be more loyal to a brand with a chatbot handling their requests.
(Marketing Dive)
16. The average satisfaction rate of chats with chatbots only is 87.58%.
Customers tend to be happy with chatbot interactions. This result is two percentage points higher than satisfaction rates for chats that also involve a human agent.
(Startup Bonsai)
17. Online retail has a 34% acceptance rate for chatbots by customers.
According to ecommerce chatbot statistics, retail customers are more tolerant to chatbots than those of other industries. For healthcare, this figure is 27% while in telecommunications, the acceptance of chatbots by customers is 25%. The banking and financial advice sectors have 20% each, while in insurance, 15% of customers accept chatbot use. Finally, in government services, it’s 10%.
(Invesp)
18. There are over 300,000 monthly active bots interacting with the customers on Facebook Messenger.
Over eight billion messages go out between businesses and consumers. Many of them go through Messenger bots, Facebook chatbot statistics show. The social network first introduced these bots in 2016 for businesses to use. Since then, the numbers have grown from 100,000 monthly active bots in the first year to 300,000 out there today. Typically, these bots help automate communication between companies and their customers.
(Mashable)
Benefits of Chatbots in Customer Service
19. Business leaders claim chatbots raise their average sales by 67%.
On top of saving money for companies, chatbots increase the number of conversions. According to chatbot conversion statistics, the sales function is the most common use for these robots (41%), with support as a close second (37%), followed by marketing (17%). Apparently, stats show that 26% of the sales start with a chatbot interaction, and 35% of business leaders claim chatbots assisted them in closing the sale.
(Forbes)
20. Nearly 56% of business execs say that conversational bots are causing disruption across their industry.
The changes brought about by chatbots and other intelligent assistants are leading the disruption in many industries. In fact, 43% of those surveyed claim that their competitors are implementing these tools on their website, making them feel the pressure to do so as well. Chatbot usage stats meanwhile suggest that 57% of business executives believe that conversational bots bring a significant portion of ROI for minimal effort.
(Accenture)
21. Around 90% of brands register measurable improvement in complaint resolution thanks to chatbots.
Aside from reducing costs, chatbots contribute to rapid improvement in terms of operations. So, for instance, the chatbot success rate can be measured by speed, at which it fosters complaint resolution. Moreover, 80% of brands surveyed noticed better call volume processing.
(Technology Review)
22. 47% of people would buy items via a chatbot, chatbot statistics show.
The purpose of a survey from HubSpot was to learn if people felt comfortable buying stuff from Facebook and other social sites, rather than a regular company’s website. The survey results further show that 37% would purchase items on social networks instead of the company’s site.
(HubSpot)
23. Using conversational commerce to tackle abandoned carts, stores are increasing revenue by 7-25%.
If a customer adds something in a cart on the company’s store and doesn’t finish the purchase, some stores manage to use chatbot marketing to solve the issue, chatbot marketing stats show. Namely, they send a private message up to four hours later to customers to ask if they would like to complete it, or if they have additional inquiries. Conversational commerce is possible with any ecommerce software that supports chat or voice bots.
(Chatbots Magazine)
Chatbots for Business
24. About 58% of the companies that use chatbots are B2B.
B2B firms are more likely to use chatbots on their website or app, compared to B2C. The main reason behind this is that one of the main chatbot uses is to generate leads which is something B2B firms seem to be keener for.
(Boomtown)
25. Roughly 28% of business executives selected chatbots as the most likely AI-powered tech that will impact their operations.
Business executives see extreme potential in artificial intelligence-powered solutions, AI chatbot stats confirm. Almost a third (31%) think the same of virtual personal assistants, while 29% think automated data analysts are the most likely to impact their operations.
(PwC)
26. Some 53% of organizations use chatbots and other smart assistants in their IT departments.
Different organizations employ chatbot services in different departments depending on which part of the business they want to automate. The majority do it within IT departments, 23% use them for administrative services, and 20% do so to support their customer service departments. Finally, 16% are using them in their sales and marketing departments.
(Spiceworks)
27. Chatbots are expected to save 2.5 billion hours for companies by 2023.
Juniper Research’s chatbot automation stats indicate that the usage of these tools on websites could result in dramatic cuts in terms of time to interact with customers. The resulting cost savings could go as high as $11 billion per year.
(Juniper Research)
28. BlueBot from KLM handled two million messages from over 500,000 customers in its first six months.
The KLM Royal Dutch Airlines launched a chatbot using the Facebook Messenger platform and named it BB. Its main aim was to assist its customer support teams in tackling over 16,000 customer inquiries weekly. BB proved to be more than useful in its first six months alone. Later on, KLM enhanced its abilities by hooking it up to Google Home.
(Convince&Convert)
29. Nearly 90% of businesses and individuals have a particular objective when building a chatbot.
According to chatbot uses statistics, these goals are related to saving the customers time in 59% of cases and the business owner’s time in 43%. 39% of respondents want to make their websites more interactive, while 36% want to generate leads.
(Tidio)
The Bottom Line
The conclusion is simple. Chatbots are here to stay. Although not all companies have become aware of their significance, many do understand the value these robots bring to the business, as these chatbot stats show. Of course, chatbots are not limitless. You still can’t replace the human touch behind your customer experience. These two together, however, make the perfect combo for making your customers happy.
FAQs
-
What are chatbots used for?
A chatbot is an AI-powered tech, a program designed to simulate human interaction through the use of voice, chat, or a combination of the two. Typically, companies embed a chatbot on their websites or mobile applications to interact with customers, provide support, or foster conversion rates. Chatbot usage statistics show that many companies have live chat software which offers instant customer replies and enables brands to collect more data on the users and tailor better, more personalized offers.
-
How effective are chatbots?
Recent research from IBM indicates that the chatbot implementation saves the company a lot of costs. For instance, businesses spend $1.3 trillion on 265 billion customer service calls annually. On the other hand, robots could answer up to 80% of the routine questions. Unlike agents on calls, chatbots could reply to thousands of inquiries at the same time.
-
What do customers think of chatbots?
According to chatbot statistics, 58% of customers confirmed that innovative technologies including voice assistance, or chatbots influenced their perception of brands. In fact, 77% of consumers said that chatbots will change their expectations from companies during the next five years. Another 54% indicate that companies need change so they find new ways to engage with them. Finally, 14% of customers chose a chatbot over filling out the website form.
