According to Gartner, in 2021, 15% of all customer service interactions will be completed using Artificial Intelligence—with significant adoption of text or voice customer service bots (chatbots or voicebots).

The consultancy had also projected that, in 2020, Brazilians would talk more with customer service robots than with their spouses and families.

In other words, bots are a trend and will be increasingly used by companies for customer service, being present in all stages of the consumer journey.

If we will talk more and more with bots, let’s address the issue of the bot’s gender. Should your business’s bot always have a female persona? Or a male one? Or both?

Here, you will find tips on how to create the ideal customer service bot, without excluding gender, race, or sexual orientation.

But first, let’s go to the concept!

What is a customer service bot?

Customer service bots are conversational robots, also known as chatbots (for text) and voicebots (for voice), capable of interacting with humans through platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, phone, and others.

Equipped with Artificial Intelligence, these customer service bots can also be integrated into your website’s chat to answer customer questions and resolve simple issues, thereby freeing up your human agents’ time.

Bots can be understood as computer programs, software, or applications developed to perform specific and repetitive tasks in an automated manner. These bots are capable of simulating human behavior but with much faster task execution, such as accessing data, remembering rules, calculating averages, etc.

What gender should you choose for your bot?

You need to optimize your customer service and have decided that a bot can be a good alternative. But when creating your robot, you’re faced with the question: should it have a male, female, or neutral personality?

Perhaps the best option is to create a neutral bot. While most bots are female, your bot can break stereotypes by taking a different approach.

Historically, the female gender has always been associated with roles such as secretary, assistant, etc. However, women have now taken their rightful place—wherever they want to be…

Fortunately, today we have women in leadership roles in politics and major companies. Therefore, it has never really made sense to associate a female voice with a virtual assistant, such as a customer service bot.

Happily, many companies have already realized this, creating male or neutral bots, but most are still female.

This is because bots are developed by humans, ordinary people who often have deep-seated biases, even if unconsciously.

Let’s look at examples from major companies. Apple has Siri, Amazon has Alexa, and Microsoft has Cortana. All are female virtual assistants in their default settings.

However, your company has the opportunity to change this, creating a male or neutral bot.

Some experts suggest the idea of three different personas, one for each type of audience: (1) a “persuasive” bot for sales, (2) an “assertive” bot for support, and (3) an “exciting” bot for investors.

Here, it’s also worth basing your choice on data. Would your male clients prefer to be served by men or women? And your female clients, what gender would they prefer?

It’s important to understand these preferences to define your bot’s gender.

How to create your bot’s personality?

A bot imitates a human being, so it must have a personality. Conduct research and interviews with your clients before defining the ideal gender and voice, and also pay attention to the tone of voice your bot uses during interactions.

Before starting to develop your voice robot, it is essential to know and understand your customers—their desires and needs—and also to know which platforms they prefer.

Do they access the website or app more often? Do they prefer to be served via WhatsApp or phone? Do they interact more on Facebook or Instagram? Answering these questions is crucial to creating your customer service bot.

Remember: talking to your robot should be objective and pleasant at the same time, generating empathy and trust.

Be careful with accents and slang

If your company operates only in the South of the country, for example, it might be worth hiring a scriptwriter from that region. The same applies to other regions.

If your business operates across the entire country, it’s best to choose a voice, in the case of a voicebot, that is easily understood by everyone.

Be cautious with slang, as it can be a positive or negative differentiator depending on how sensibly it is used.

That’s it! Perhaps a neutral gender is the best choice for your customer service bot. But if you decide on a male or female gender, remember to avoid prejudiced phrases or expressions.

Keep in mind that your customer service bot is seen by the public as the face of your company, and despite being a robot, it says a lot about your business.

We hope you enjoyed it. See you next time!

Also read: Chatbots: On Which Platforms Can They Operate?