Does fun matter? Using chatbots for customer services

Abstract

Chatbots are widely used in customer services contexts today. People using chatbots have their pragmatic reasons, like checking delivery status and refund policies. The purpose of the paper is to investigate what are those factors that affect user experience and a chatbot’s service quality which influence user satisfaction and electronic word-of-mouth. A survey was conducted in July 2024 to collect responses in Hong Kong about users’ perceptions of chatbots. Contrary to previous literature, entertainment and warmth perception were not associated with user experience and service quality. Social presence was associated with user experience, but not service quality. Competence was relevant to user experience and service quality, which reveals important implications for digital marketers and brands of adopting chatbots to enhance their service quality.