When Humanizing Customer Service Chatbots Might Backfire

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Hadi, R. (2019). When Humanizing Customer Service Chatbots Might Backfire. NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 11(2), 30-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nimmir-2019-0013

Year

2019

Authors

Rhonda Hadi

Publication title

When Humanizing Customer Service Chatbots Might Backfire

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NIM Marketing Intelligence Review

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Rhonda Hadi

More and more companies are using chatbots in customer service. Customers interact with a machine instead of with a human employee. Many companies give these chatbots human traits through names, human-like appearances, a human voice, or even character descriptions. Intuitively, such a humanization strategy seems to be a good idea.

Studies show, however, that the humanization of chatbots is perceived in a nuanced way and can also backfire. Especially in the context of customer complaints, human-like chatbots can intensify the negative reactions of angry customers because their performance is judged more critically than that of non-humanized chatbot variants. Service managers should therefore consider very carefully whether, and in which situations, they should use humanized service chatbots.

Authors

Rhonda Hadi, Associate Professor of Marketing, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Rhonda.Hadi@sbs.ox.ac.uk

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