PCT Poll Finds AI Has Yet to Take Off in Pest Control Industry

CLEVELAND — Those who responded to this week’s PCT Reader Poll indicated artificial intelligence (AI), like the use of virtual assistants, is receiving a slow adoption into the pest control industry despite its rather fast amplification in other sectors.

Eighty-four percent of respondents said they do not use any type of AI software on their pest control websites, whereas 16 percent of respondents said they currently do use some form of AI system.

According to a 2023 PCT and National Pest Management Association industry survey, 19 percent of respondents said they plan to implement AI and data analytics to help improve customer service and sales processes.

William Davis, owner of D&D Pest Control, Greenville, N.C., is one of the respondents willing to try AI to better customer engagement experience and have more efficient, high-tech business processes.

Davis recently implemented PestBot.AI, a ChatGPT software and AI-powered pest control assistant, on his company’s website and said one of the key benefits of PestBot is its ability to analyze and interpret complex data sets to provide accurate and actionable insights.

Since the company started using PestBot.AI in January, customer engagement and website traffic have increased 72 percent, Davis said.

“It has managed to keep customers on the website longer by reducing click-through traffic and creating an engaging and interactive user experience,” he said. “Not only is this beneficial for customers, but it is also beneficial for companies that can benefit from increased website visits and improved customer loyalty.”

Long-term, the software will be able to generate business proposals, save technicians time in the field and provide content that is tailored to the needs of the customer with the help of machine learning algorithms, Davis said.

“PestBot can recognize patterns and trends in pest behavior, helping technicians identify the most effective treatment methods for each unique situation,” he said.

Mike Givlin, former CEO of Certus Pest, believes AI technology will soon make its footprint in the field, helping technicians have more productive service calls.

Givlin said one way AI could be helpful is when checking multiple traps at commercial accounts. Instead of doing manual inspections of each trap, add in artificial intelligence, and technicians will know in advance when rodent activity will hit.

“If you were to replace all your current interior and exterior traps with digital traps, you could collect information on what traps are having activity, the date and time of activity,” he said. “This would allow the technician to spend their regular service time focusing on resolving issues and not checking inactive traps.”

Givlin said this new digital model will change how pest companies monitor and service customers, improve labor efficiency, reduce product use and improve customer satisfaction. 

“Having interior and exterior sensors in place will allow pest control operators to monitor customers’ homes for issues, then respond when issues are detected,” he said. “How all this technology will ultimately change our industry is impossible to predict, but that new technology will eventually disrupt how we do pest control is inevitable.”

Participate in our current reader poll: Do you offer your employees the option of a 4-day work week (by working four 10-hour days)?