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Valuing a customer’s time and making sure they feel recognized and supported during a care center or help desk call is one of the most critical factors to consider when developing customer service and experience solutions. According to Forrester, 73% of customers say the most important thing a company can do to provide them with great service is to value their time.
Psychologically, feeling unable to get immediate help, or “not being in control of a situation,” causes fear, frustration, and anger, all of which can mean a brand has lost a customer for life. Regardless of the varying acquisition costs in different companies, customer loss is an expensive affair, especially when it can be prevented through careful customer experience (CX) management.
When we talk about empowerment, control and self-service as factors to win the CX game, organizations immediately look to measuring those needs in time to solve a problem. Time is the most important indicator of the severity of a problem because the longer it takes to fix the problem, the more critical it becomes.
Given the potential to reduce customer wait times and increase the likelihood of reaching the right person the first time — not to mention reducing the time and workload for human employees — the skillful deployment of chatbots offers a winning strategy . While chatbots will never replace the human component of CX, they have been shown to significantly increase customer retention, loyalty, and overall satisfaction.
To understand the key areas where chatbot use is most effective and the impact it can have, customer experiences are segmented into three distinct groups that follow the CX journey: frontline, requires follow-up, and customer critique.
Frontline means first defense
Frontline chatbots provide several unique opportunities for brands to quickly resolve minor issues, collect real-time customer feedback, and even retain/regain customers early. Critical benefits to front-line chatbot deployments can include the ability to answer a question, reset a forgotten password, or resolve a billing issue, all before real frustration sets in.
These are categorized as short-term solutions, essentially any problem that can be solved in less than 15 minutes. According to Tidio, more than half of consumers (62%) prefer to talk to a chatbot over a human agent because of shorter wait times.
Likewise, the choice-your-own-travel resolution allows customers to regain control of the support process, as long as a wide enough range of options is presented in a logical support flow. Some additional forms of first-line solution include after-hours support, mobile multi-screen functionality and guaranteed follow-up, on-the-go solution and quick knowledge hits.
‘Requires follow-up’ adds experiential value
There are instances where instead of answering a question quickly and succinctly for a customer, the chatbot has instead served as a frustration filter in two main categories: shorter wait time for the customer at this point and a guaranteed path to the right person who will answer the question. can solve the problem. the problem at the next touch.
These cases are categorized as “requires follow-up,” with the caveat of specific, not general, care. Simply closing the chat with “someone will be in touch” doesn’t bring clarity or peace of mind that the issue will be picked up properly and instead creates fear in the customer, which can lead to frustration and ultimately dissociation. Whenever a process requiring additional support via chatbot is started, the AI ​​system should provide clear and concise instructions for the next steps and follow them.
As organizations look at how chatbots have radically changed the support process for this category, organizations should evaluate how to tailor follow-up support channels to customer needs, for example alerting the customer to an exact time frame for response, clearly identifying what will are included in the follow-up -up.
In addition, the ability for chatbots to be concise refers to another important element during this phase of solution: customization. In CX, customization can bridge the gap between the perception of good service and its reality. Can the bot address the customer by name?
Can it detect subtle language differences and gather the context of slang? Aside from troubleshooting at this stage, chatbots also need to be able to provide recommendations, accurate answers, and next steps based on user behavior patterns drawn from the interaction. Since follow-up scenarios are often longer interactions, it helps to ensure that the chatbot can communicate in a personalized way, reducing stress and anxiety throughout the process.
Customer criticism is experience necessary
Often including breached accounts, missing products, delivery delays, failed refunds and more, customer-critical scenarios are never a desirable situation for a business and therefore require white-glove care. In these scenarios, the bot journey must be able to quickly move a customer from the chat conversation to a live agent.
Because these events must be frictionless, great emphasis must be placed on learning and developing not only of the human escalation agent, but also the learning AI solution behind the chatbot. A well-orchestrated critical situation for the customer will undoubtedly highlight a brand’s commitment to understanding the AI-to-human synergy, and a poorly orchestrated situation will have the opposite effect.
Strategy + implementation = success
Chatbots personify the ever-evolving synergy between AI and humans. For customers on the receiving end of the chatbot service, control over their solution journey comes in the form of shorter experience times, greater satisfaction with solution results, and longer-term brand loyalty.
As for brands, smart activation of chatbot tools will lead to lower total contact center costs, higher CSAT score and improved operational efficiency.
As an added bonus, showing a well-rounded AI-to-human balance in recruiting efforts can actually lead to better-trained, longer-term contact center agents. Ultimately, the marriage of chatbot tools with traditional human interactions will be the key to revolutionizing CX.
Jamie Kennedy is the director of digital strategy and customer experience solutions at HGS Digital
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This post A revolution in CX with chatbots | VentureBeat
was original published at “https://venturebeat.com/2022/04/21/revolutionizing-cx-with-chatbots/”
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