Improve customer service by using conversational artificial intelligence
The customer experience with a brand begins with the first interaction and each subsequent point of contact influences the perception of the brand. One of the key points of contact with the consumer is customer care, which is supported by call centers or customer support. Most call centers still operate in the traditional way with most communication taking place through incoming calls, and few companies have implemented so-called self-service using conversational marketing.
Call center managers face multiple challenges on a daily basis - from how to reduce contact center costs and use data to increase and improve customer service to how to create a more agile contact center that provides a great customer experience and boosts revenue using conversational business and conversational artificial intelligence resources for the company.
Challenge # 1: Transforming contact centers into profit centers
While contact centers are crucial to providing a great user experience, many brands see traditional contact centers as a cost of doing business instead of a profit center. Therefore, in a time of increased digitalization and, above all, an increasing number of incoming calls, companies are evaluating the work of call centers. Customers have grown tired of waiting in queues and are frustrated by Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems which are no longer enough to satisfy their needs.
Rather than rely on voice systems and IVRs, chat tools and conversational artificial intelligence leverage the channels that consumers use every day to communicate with friends and family. These include Apple Business Chat, Google Business Messaging, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. These channels are gradually replacing calls and can be used to communicate with customers.
What is crucial here is that conversational commerce can run synchronously and asynchronously. In practice, this means that, unlike with voice or synchronous chat, agents can take on multiple conversations at once. While waiting for a response from one customer, they can continue to help others.
Real-world data shows that the introduction of a call center solution that guides customers through a call to a message-based chat (i.e., a Call-to-Text solution) automatically reduces the number of calls to call centers by 15 to 20 percent in the first four to six months. If the solution is properly presented to users and then integrated with back-office customer management systems, the number of calls to the call center will be effectively reduced by 40 to 60 percent within nine to 16 months.
With a combination of chat bots and agents, repeat sales, opportunities for upselling, renewal of subscriptions and others multiply. Among other things, LivePerson data shows that up to 77 percent of consumers would be more likely to make a purchase if they could browse or get answers via messages.
Transform your contact centres into a profit centre
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Conversational channels are replacing traditional voice calls as customer communication channels.
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Asynchronous conversational engagement allows agents to handle multiple conversations at the same time.
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The combination of chat bots and agents multiplies opportunities for repeat sales.
Challenge # 2: Increase call center capacity with a great experience
Many brands are thinking about how to expand their call center capacities, but often overlook the fact that their efforts to serve more customers could result in a worse user experience. Extending the reach of call center agents is a great place to start when it comes to increased responsiveness. However, you also need to provide a quality customer experience. In practice, overextending your agents means that your employees are engaged in more than ten simultaneous conversations via chat and call tools. Even in the case of conversational commerce, such volume means that you need the support of a chat bot for seamless interaction. Only then will you truly reduce the volume and improve customer service. By fully automating frequently asked questions, checking the status of orders and bill payments, and other routine queries, your agents will be free to help solve more complex queries.
The data shows that in many cases customers actually prefer to chat with a bot rather than a human agent. The use case of checking the account balance is one such example (60%). Customer satisfaction (CSAT) typically increases by 10 to 20 percent when conversational solutions are integrated in the call center, and the work productivity of agents is as much as six to nine times higher compared to the exclusive use of call services.
It is worth noting that today's chat bots are far more advanced and sophisticated. Conversational artificial intelligence can identify customer intent, which is the reason customers seek help from a call center. Best intent analysis is also a great way to automate conversations. If you understand why customers contact the call center, then you can partially or completely automate communication for these objectives.
Increase call centre capacity while delivering a great experience
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Customers prefer to communicate with a bot rather than a human agent, for example when checking their account balance (60%).
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The introduction of chat bots into a call centre normally improves customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores by 10 to 20%.
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Agents are between six and nine times more efficient.
Challenge # 3: Upgrade your call center IT equipment with as little effort as possible and in the shortest time possible
When introducing new technologies to the call center, consider how much time, effort and additional resources your IT team will need to integrate and manage the solution. Without the right plan in place to integrate existing processes and systems and without the support of experts, this process can be quite time-consuming and complex.
When evaluating a new solution for your contact center and user experience, ask yourself, above all, whether the new technology solution can be easily integrated into your existing systems, such as your CRM system. Make sure that any new technology you introduce has pre-built integrations that benefit your business. Find integrations that will help you get the most out of your technology by seamlessly transferring information and combining analytics on a single platform.
Look for a solution with low-code structures in place that can be implemented without the need for a developer. This is also one of the key advantages offered by LivePerson that 2Mobile has successfully implemented in the most successful Slovenian companies (including A1 Slovenia, Telemach, Mastercard, Pro Plus).
If you are concerned that you lack the internal resources to implement technology solutions in your IT department, then I definitely recommend that you look for a technology partners offering managed service solutions such as the 2Mobile team.
Upgrade your call centre IT equipment with minimum effort and as quickly as possible
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Find a low-code solution that can be implemented without developers.
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Integrate the technology solution with your CRM system.
Challenge # 4: Effective use of data to improve customer service
Analyzing customer intent data is key to understanding your customers’ needs and optimizing processes and work in support services. Above all, customer data helps you personalize communication and solve real customer challenges.
Consumers are increasingly concerned about data privacy and security - especially when it comes to how brands use their data to influence them. Experts predict third-party identifiers, such as cookies, will be phased out by 2023. The so-called cookie-free world, on the other hand, will challenge brands to rethink their personalization strategies. The value of first party data will be further enhanced, and consumers will be responsible for making sure companies collect and use this data in compliance with the law.
We expect consumers will continue to be willing to share their data in exchange for experiences they consider valuable, with brands taking responsibility for clarifying how the data will be used and crafting experiences that back up these promises.
Messaging and conversational artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly important in communicating with your customer. After all, they allow for two-way conversation, which can also serve as your own source of contextual data. More customer information allows you to identify different intents and create a great experience using conversational artificial intelligence solutions. Conversational artificial intelligence and conversational commerce enable the most technologically advanced companies to engage with a large number of customers in real time without increasing costs.
They bring greater efficiency, scope and improved satisfaction of agents and customers to the company's operations. All this is supported by numerous examples of good practice, where we have assisted companies in using conversational commerce to increase revenue.
Effectively leverage data to enhance customer service
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Year 2023 will see a cookieless world which will make proprietary data much more valuable.
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A two-way conversation between a chat bot and a customer can become your own source of contextual data.
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Conversational marketing boosts revenue and improves agent and customer satisfaction.
