Analysis of user interaction with service oriented chatbot systems

Abstract

Service oriented chatbot systems are designed to help users access information from a website more easily. The system uses natural language responses to deliver the relevant information, acting like a customer service representative. In order to understand what users expect from such a system and how they interact with it we carried out two experiments which highlighted different aspects of interaction. We observed the communication between humans and the chatbots, and then between humans, applying the same methods in both cases. These findings have enabled us to focus on aspects of the system which directly affect the user, meaning that we can further develop a realistic and helpful chatbot. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.