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Essential chatbot terms for beginners

At times, technical jargons can intimidate people as they are left googling every word to find their meanings and make sense of the topic. Chatbot technology is one such field where people often come across articles that are filled with programming language terms they are unfamiliar with. In order to get you well versed with essential chatbot terminology, here are 14 terms that make up most part of the discussion about chatbots.

So let’s start from the beginning.

Chatbot 

A chatbot is an AI-based software program that mimics human-like discussion with customers. They can also be called digital assistants that understand humans like conversation. They can interpret and process requests and queries made by the users and give quick and relevant answers. 

Chatbots can communicate through voice as well as through text and can be used across various websites, apps, and conversational channels such as Facebook Messenger, Twitter or Whatsapp. 

Conversational channel 

As it can be interpreted from the name itself, these are the platforms used for communication and hence the name Conversational channels. These channels can be apps as well as sites. Applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter and many more sites, for example, Dominos uses chatbots to engage with its customers on through various channels. 

Chatbot developer 

For successfully utilising a chatbot, one must come up with its own bots that can further be put into use. A chatbot developer does exactly that, it creates bots for you that can automate customer service and communication processes. Some platforms allow you to develop a chatbot with practically zero knowledge of coding. 

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is basically technology which tries to simulate and copy human behaviours in machines. On a more theoretical level, AI is part of software science, which permits chatbots to work on tasks  that would typically require human intelligence, similar to dynamic, language interpretation, or speech recognition. 

Natural Language Processing

Natural language processing or just NLP is a part of computer science and sub-part of artificial intelligence. It makes understanding of human conversations and emotions easier, and responds to user’s queries with more relevant answers regardless of whether the customer commits a spelling error. 

Machine Learning

Machine learning is a part of AI that permits chatbots to distinguish patterns and sentiments  in human language and gain leads from past conversations with the users. Because of this, customised AI chatbots can improve on their own without the assistance of a human, in the long run. 

Source: Stream Creative

Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis uses NLP and AI to judge the tone of the customer and come up with the most appropriate response. For example if a customer is angry then with the help of sentiment analysis chatbots can come up with “sorry for the inconvenience …” message as a response. 

API

It is the abbreviation for Application Programming interface. It’s a toolset that lets applications integrate new applications into existing programming. It also allows transmission between one software to another.

Webhooks 

Webhooks, likewise called a web callback, are computerized API reactions that help in altering the behaviours of the webpages. They recover data from chatbot discussions, similar to email locations or phone numbers, and pass them naturally to web services. For instance, You can use a webhook to connect an ecommerce site with your email marketing software so that a user gets an email whenever a order is placed and confirmed

Software Integration 

Software integration is the cycle of at least two applications being attached. Microsoft Office is one example of software integration. 

Attributes 

With attributes one can personalise a chatbot conversation with a chatbot. Following is an example of an attribute.

Bot: What’s your name? 

User: My name is Rishi 

Bot: Thanks! How might I help you, Rishi? 

Greeting 

Source: Tidio

A hello is a short message that invites site clients and urges them to start the conversation. It’s shown directly over the minimised chat widget

Chat Widget

Whenever you visit a site with an automatic chatbot installed, you’ll see a minimised talk window on the corner of the page, sometimes with some crop up messages like, “Hey! Welcome back. How may I help you?”. It’s through this chat window a user starts the conversation with a chatbot.

Story 

In Chatbot, a Story is a situation or a type of a discussion that the chatbot has with clients. Every story can lead to different results. To make a Story, you need to utilize conversational components like bot reactions, client input, credits, elements, and so on 

There are so many more words that you might want to add to your vocabulary but here we have covered some of the basic and most common chatbot terms that will help beginners to know more and easily navigate through the world of chatbots.  

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