Chatbots have long been a powerful addition to an organization’s customer support suite and are widely considered to have revolutionized this incredibly vital aspect of their business process. But as chatbots became more common, their shortcomings became more apparent, many of which centered around their static nature. However, with the help of AI, making chatbots capable of intelligent and human-like conversations is now a reality that any business can achieve to further enhance its customer experience.
Below, we look at the benefits, challenges, and best practices involved in harnessing AI to enhance the capabilities of your chatbot solutions.
1. Speedy, 24/7 support
AI-powered chatbots are essentially always available “employees” ready to help your customer base at any time of the day, ensuring your customers around the globe will not be left hanging whenever they reach out for support. Apart from automated responses, these smarter chatbots are also capable of interactive conversations that they can learn from, which helps them evolve and become better at solving similar queries in future interactions.
2. Offer better customer assurance
One of the greatest strengths of modern AI is its ability to replicate human behaviors and hold natural, human-like conversations with users. Compared to regular chatbots, conversational AI chatbots can help make customers feel more at ease since they are less likely to become irritated at talking to a machine that can only provide static responses.
In addition, AI chatbots also keep a history of each customer’s interaction. Besides serving as learning input, this history can also benefit human agents to serve each customer better since they have access to more context.
3. Time and financial savings
Chatbots became instantly popular among brands since they are a cost-effective customer support solution. From automating tasks to reducing the need to involve human agents, chatbots can take on the workload normally handled by several employees. Thus, by investing in a high-quality chatbot technology solutions/service, organizations can save much on labor costs in the long run.
4. Improve brand reputation
A satisfied customer base gives rise to brand advocates that will promote your business far and wide. Thus, if you receive a large volume of customer messages that you cannot address on time, getting an AI-powered chatbot can help you see them all. The speedy support is something that your customers are sure to appreciate, which directly influences your brand reputation for the better.
Challenges of Conversational Chatbots in Customer Service
In the pursuit of enhancing customer experience via AI-powered chatbots, it is important to note not just the benefits that await but also the challenges involved in attaining them. The most prominent of these obstacles include:
1. High optimization and maintenance costs
Implementing a smart chatbot entails many costs that are often not clear upfront, and some organizations may find that the time, financial, and manpower resources required to implement and maintain such technology outweigh their initial investment. Therefore, before investing in any AI-based solution, make sure that it can be sufficiently improved over time at minimal costs without sacrificing quality.
2. Small chance of making mistakes
Even the best AI technologies today still make mistakes, often by providing inaccurate or wholly incorrect information, which may cause misunderstandings and other technical errors during customer interactions. Therefore, it is recommended to be transparent about the limitations of your chatbot and make it easy for customers to request a human agent should they think something is amiss with the chatbot’s responses. However, with proper training and constant monitoring, this issue will become far less likely in the long run as the AI learns and improves.
3. Inability to determine and redirect high-value customer conversations to human agents
Last year, a Consumer Study on Chatbots discovered that seamlessly transferring consumers from chatbots to human agents made them 60% more likely to continue supporting a brand. In other words, being able to identify and route these conversations has now become a business necessity. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, as many organizations continue to struggle to route high-value conversations effectively.
Best Practices When Designing and Implementing Your Own Chatbot Solution
Harnessing the power of AI while retaining the human touch that underpins the essence of customer support is no easy feat. While different organizations will have different approaches to programming their chatbot support, many best practices ensure this technology becomes as effective as possible, no matter your industry.
1. Strike the right balance between the robotic and human nature of your chatbots
Although it may sound like giving your chatbots as many human characteristics as possible is a good idea, making them resonate too well with users may cause the latter to think that they are talking to a real human. As such, find the right balance by making your chatbot sound human and informing users upfront that they are interacting with a bot.
2. Choose a specific goal or problem that your chatbot can help with
Maximizing your chatbot implementation involves finding a specific goal or problem they can help with. Thus, look into your users’ most critical problems and design your chatbot around them. For instance, if customers need quick answers only to be met with long wait times, consider automating answers for the most commonly requested inquiries. While it may not seem much at first glance, leveraging your chatbots to handle such achievable goals will reflect positively on your customer satisfaction.
3. Integrate with messaging platforms that your customers use
It is known that messaging is more popular on social media and mobile apps. Hence, use this opportunity to meet where your users are and integrate your chatbots into the popular messaging platforms used today. From sending updates to facilitating customer support requests, this integration approach is an easy way to engage your leads and turn them into customers.
Conclusion
By enabling intelligent conversations, AI chatbots have plenty to offer when it comes to customer support. With so much untapped potential waiting to be discovered, organizations need only look for new possibilities to communicate with their customers and then leverage their upgraded chatbots to make the most of these opportunities.
Remego is the business partner you can trust for the latest and greatest technology solutions services. Whether you need cutting-edge products like the Novomind iAgent and ALVARIA Customer Experience (CX) Suite or a more customized solution, our team of experts are committed to delivering the solutions you need to succeed.
For more information on our premier products and services, do not hesitate to reach out to us at (+65) 9299 6814 or sales@remego.com.
