Keep Britain Tidy has become the first environmental charity to work with AI technology provider Futr, to launch a new automated chatbot system. The chatbot, Tidybot, sits on the charity's website and is designed to answer a range of visitor queries 24/7 in just a few clicks, thereby freeing up time for the team to handle more complex queries.
Keep Britain Tidy was receiving high volumes of enquiries from the public - many of which were repetitive. These were time-consuming and costly for the team to deal with so Keep Britain Tidy worked with AI technology provider Futr to find a solution to the challenge.
Since its adoption, Tidybot has significantly helped to manage demand, and improve visitor engagement and access to information in several different languages - within the first few days users had accessed information in English, Afrikaans and Welsh. Within the first two weeks of launching Tidybot —without any promotion— the bot engaged with 122 new users and answered 395 questions.
Helen Bingham, Director of Communications for Keep Britain Tidy said: "Tidybot has enabled us to engage with supporters, volunteers and visitors to our website and get them the answers they need quickly. It's important to us that all our website visitors have a positive experience."
"As an inclusive charity we strive to ensure our content and advice is accessible to all. Tidybot is multilingual, which has meant we can give support and information to users in their native language."
Andy Wilkins Co-Founder and CEO at Futr said: "The chatbot has been purposely tailored to respond to challenging yet repetitive questions and to use supportive, accessible language for the charity's customers.
"As the first environmental charity to pioneer an automated system, Keep Britain Tidy's commitment to making their services accessible to its users is exemplary, and we are honoured to be able to support this vital work. By adopting Futr's AI-powered solutions, Keep Britain Tidy is democratising services and freeing up employee time to focus on bigger challenges."
The chatbot, which will be available 365 days a year, in more than 100 languages, has been designed to enable the charity to manage demand while ensuring people receive the correct information most appropriate for their enquiry.