Chatbot for SMEs in the customer service sector: An overview of the literature

In an era where chatbots are becoming indispensable across diverse sectors—particularly in retail customer service—the integration of artificial and emotional intelligence presents the potential to redefine the customer support landscape. Businesses are strongly encouraged to leverage chatbots to enhance customer experiences and drive revenue growth through tools such as website-based FAQs and AI-powered conversational agents. Despite the growing prominence of chatbots, limited research has examined the factors that have initiated and shaped their evolution. This study aims to fill that gap by providing a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary trajectory of customer service chatbots. Through a literature review, we identified the antecedents and implications of this evolution, uncovering a three-phase timeline: basic rule-based chatbots, conversational chatbots, and generative chatbots. Additionally, we developed an integrative research framework to pinpoint the factors that trigger and shape this progression. We also provide a roadmap for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking to adopt the most suitable chatbot solutions at different stages of development. Our study not only presents significant findings on the evolution of customer service chatbots but also outlines potential avenues for future research. Ultimately, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between AI and emotional intelligence, offering insights into how these advancements will reshape the future of customer service, particularly within the retail sector.