Chatting with a bot is becoming an increasingly common part of our daily lives, involving interaction with an intelligent automated system rather than a human member of staff. Virtual assistants – as these programmes are technically known – now handle the majority of helplines for banks, clinics, energy companies and government offices. Their role is to carry out an initial verification of the caller and assist with simple matters without the need to wait in a queue for a human operator.

However, this is a specific type of dialogue in which the machine – controlled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) – expects us to provide specific, short phrases rather than a free-flowing, lengthy narrative. We often feel confused or frustrated when the voice on the other end doesn’t understand what we’re saying, or asks us to press numbers on the keypad.

Depending on the form of contact, we’ll be talking about voicebots – when we speak over the phone – and chatbots – when we type text messages in pop-up windows on websites. Although this technology can be stressful, it follows simple and logical rules.

The aim of this guide is to explain how these systems work and to teach effective communication methods – such as using key phrases, speaking clearly and being patient – so that you can sort out your matter without getting flustered or efficiently get through to a real person.