Hey there,

Let’s be honest – chatbots haven’t historically made the best impression. They can be clunky and frustrating to interact with, and more often than not, we find ourselves frantically clicking whatever option will take us to a human.

Now that AI chatbots are on the scene, is that negative perception starting to change? Our user research says “yes.” We spoke to a lot of customers while building our AI chatbot, Fin, to find out more about user attitudes towards these bots and examine their reactions to a next-generation bot experience.

The results revealed a rapidly shifting outlook on chatbots. Here are the top takeaways:

People are much more confident that an AI chatbot will understand their question and be able to help them.
Some people are worried AI chatbots will make it even harder to reach human support reps, emphasizing the importance of clear customer communication around these new bots.
The linguistic naturalness of generative AI has changed the customer-bot dynamic, making it more fluid and pleasant.

It’s still early days, but this is an interesting sign of what's to come. One thing’s for sure: AI is set to transform the customer experience, and we’re excited to be part of the change.

This could be the beginning of a bot-iful friendship,

What’s been happening

liam geraghty

Becoming Fin: The story behind the name of our AI chatbot

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to give our AI chatbot a proper name. But as we pored over hundreds of options the question was, what sort of name would work best? What were we trying to convey? What associations did we want people to make?

Naming a product can take months, but with AI progressing at its current rate, we didn’t have the luxury of taking our time. We aimed for a short, easy-to-pronounce, gender-neutral name that was friendly and approachable. After trying out what seemed like hundreds of options, we finally settled on “Fin.” Find out more about some of the factors that influenced our decision.

Meanwhile, on TikTok...

It's July, otherwise known as Oppenheimer release month.

Meanwhile at Intercom, we're discussing this generation's potential Manhattan project. Emmet Connolly, VP of Product Design at Intercom, sat down with Fergal Reid, Senior Director of Machine Learning, for a frank conversation about the massive opportunities – and potentially colossal risks – presented by the AI revolution. Catch the conversation on the Intercom TikTok channel.

Dive in

Response Time: Vol. 10

This week, we caught up with another support leader for our Response Time series, where we chat with customer service leaders to find out what they think about support, their top book recommendations, and the emoji they couldn't do without.

Read on to find out the most valuable lesson working in support has taught Rune Rødbro, Chief Success Officer at iPaper.

Download our latest report

What's going on in customer service?

Does your brand downplay the voice of the customer? CX expert Annette Franz explores what it really means to be customer-centric, and offers her take on infusing the customer voice into everything your company does.
The power of a customer's name: Using your customer's name while providing support can create a sense of familiarity and improve their experience with your business. Here are some of the dos and don'ts.
How great customer service writing improves retention: Friend of the Intercom podcast Leslie O'Flahavan has worked with Help Scout to put together a guide to email, chat, and social media writing that helps you hold on to customers.