Back to: Making the sale

Read the text and answer the questions below.

Robots Are More Efficient than Human Salespeople

A recent study conducted by Conversica, a company that sells Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based software for sales, marketing and online leads, shows that robots can be better salespeople than humans in tasks ranging from simple to complex ones.

The research features a case study on how well a human and a robot can perform multiple and difficult tasks in a prompt and efficient manner. Conversica got in touch with 548 websites and sent inquiries via online chat, online form, and email.

The results are staggering with Conversica not receiving responses from over a third of contacted human agents. Of the two-thirds that did reply, which account to 66 percent, the company only received acknowledgement responses. Subsequent questions were not answered.

AI-powered robots, on the other hand, reached up to 5 to 11 times more productivity than human agents. This means that just one robot was able to achieve what took 5 to 11 humans. One of the main reasons for this is because of AI’s ability to automatically guess what should be answered based on inquiry leads. Conversica’s technology uses scripted conversations to respond to incoming emails and messages from a company’s website, mobile app, or other lead-gathering campaigns. Prompts are regularly updated, and robots are able to readily gather information that would otherwise need some time for humans to properly curate.

A Conversica spokesperson says AI-powered robot agents offer big advantages over humans as they focus on tasks, without the cajoling of emotions. With a robot, gone are the sick days, busy days, and other reasons to leave work. The spokesperson says, “An AI automated assistant will happily engage with prospects as often and as long as is required.”

It turns out more and more companies are turning to AI-powered robot agents. As of today, there are 15,000 live robot sales representatives under Conversica’s wing, with clients from seven industries: automotive, education, finance and mortgage, insurance, real estate, technology, and membership services. Even Mercedes-Benz now uses robot agents to manage inquiries for its website. Other big clients include IBM and Sysco. So far, the system has sent and received more than 180 million emails and text messages. The response rate for those communications is approximately 35%, far greater than standard marketing emails.

But AI also has its limitations. A percentage of messages may be confusing for a robot, so a human team needs to take over when the AI is not confident and needs to forward a case to the sales person to do whatever is necessary to move the lead forward, close the deal and increase revenue.
It seems the best team-up is for AI-powered robots in terms of efficiency and speed, and humans for logic. Prompts for Conversica robots are still growing so the more inquiries the robots receive, the more data these virtual agents can pull out from the information pool. Currently, the AI assistant is only available in English, but new languages will be forthcoming as the demand is significant.