In the contact center, achieving high levels of self-service has always been a goal. Customers who can answer their own questions – without the intervention of a live agent – are often highly satisfied customers. No one likes waiting on hold, and most calls are of a basic, routine nature.
In the earliest days of self-service, technology was admittedly very clunky. Interactive voice response (IVR) had its limitations, and the dislike customers had for the technology became fodder for stand-up comedians. Luckily, self-service technology has moved beyond “pressing one.”
Chatbots are increasingly becoming the foundation for self-service. A chatbot is an artificial intelligence-drive virtual assistant who can communicate with customers in natural language via text (or sometimes, using text-to-speech technology). Chatbots can be programmed to anticipate customer needs and present them with routine solutions. In the cases in which the chatbot can’t help, it can gather valuable information before passing the contact off to a live agent.
It’s this latter aspect – establishing background and context – that makes chatbots so ideal for today’s contact center.
“More and more companies are understanding that chatbots have various benefits. They are not just virtual assistants, they are tools that contribute to business growth, since they allow us to know and understand the purchase motivations and the interests of customers based on the interactions they have with them, including the after-sales needs of their purchases,” said Gustavo Parés, CEO of the Mexican AI technology company NDS (News - Alert) Cognitive Labs.
Parés noted that the value of chatbots is that the information they receive is first-hand: it comes directly from the customer, which is extremely useful, since understanding what the consumer is asking for is the first step to providing an exceptional customer experience.
According to Parés, chatbots generate a high degree of customer satisfaction, and this satisfaction increases when people solve problems more quickly as they find the right product, make the purchase and receive information on its shipping status. Customer retention is often predicated on a positive shopping experience, and chatbots can help with this, provided the technology is properly integrated with the overall function of the contact center.
“In such a competitive environment, companies must bet on strategies that allow them to get to know their customers and work to satisfy their needs,” said Parés. “And although chatbots are a key tool in this process, the implementation of these agents must be accompanied by an alignment on the part of the work teams, as well as the openness of the leaders to revise their strategy, as indicated by the data produced by AI.”