> If I'm talking to support, it's because I already have some sort of problem.
You and I may wait until then, but plenty of customers don't bother, and will open the chatbot because they can't be bothered to read the navigation. Companies then realize their customers are idiots wasting employee's time and throw them behind a chatbot to attempt to filter them out.
Not GP, but this is a good point that I honestly hadn't thought of. There are a lot of people who at the first sign of difficulty IMMEDIATELY reach out to support. The end calculus might become how worth it applying human labor to a low-intent lead is from an ROI basis. You want to make sure customers with high intent have the most help in getting to the end state (buying a good, returning something successfully, etc.), but you also want to filter out the people who are very low intent / can get their issue solved on their own.
Tough challenge as the chatbot helps them avoid chewing into their profitability but also hurts helping customers who need real help and are high value.
You and I may wait until then, but plenty of customers don't bother, and will open the chatbot because they can't be bothered to read the navigation. Companies then realize their customers are idiots wasting employee's time and throw them behind a chatbot to attempt to filter them out.
It's frustrating.