The pandemic has changed how we shop and interact with brands, increasing the usage of digital channels. It is, therefore, more important than ever that organisations provide exceptional service regardless of a customer’s channel preference.
Email remains one of the top communication channels with organisations, with an average of 65% of customers selecting this as their preference. However, it is notable that when communicating, millennials prefer to begin their service interactions online (Microsoft), driving the popularity of mobile and social media channels. These channels, seem to be where most investment is being made by brands as the influence and buying power of this demographic increases.
In addition, the increase in the popularity of online channels has started to create more self-sufficiency, with 66% of customers being happy to try and find answers before contacting a service team (CCSI). On the surface, this statistic should delight organisations because of its ability to deflect the volume of queries received by service teams.
However, it can create a whole host of problems when it comes to ensuring customers find the information they need and receive the experience they expect.
66%
of customers are happy to try and find answers before contacting a service team. (CCSI)
Chatbots
Chatbots are one of the channels that organisations are increasingly relying on to support this ‘self-service’ demand. The primary benefit of a chatbot is to reduce the number of calls and emails needing to be dealt with by contact centres and customer service teams.
However, when a user needs to find information about a complex issue or perform a task (such as updating personal details), they are still required to contact support teams, as many chatbots are limited to performing more simple and scripted interactions. This leads to frustration from customers – created by the wasted time when they are not able to get the outcome needed within the chatbot leading to poor experiences.
Personalisation is also key to delivering a great experience for customers. Accenture recently reported that 33% of customers who abandoned a business relationship last year did so because personalisation was lacking. The scripted and pre-programmed nature of chatbots means that the level of personalisation available within them is often limited, particularly when it comes to enabling customers to perform actions relating to them, such as updating an order.
Conversational AI
Conversational AI Assistants could help to solve this challenge for organisations, enhancing the capabilities of chatbots through enabling more personalised and intuitive interactions. Delivering improved experiences through the ability to self-serve more effectively, improving an organisation’s reputation and retention, and delivering increased time savings to contact centre teams – freeing them up to focus on more sensitive and critical queries and tasks.
33%
of customers abandoned a business relationship because personalisation was lacking. (Accenture)
Conversational AI Assistants are the next evolution of chatbots. Conversational AI Assistants can respond to a far greater variety of and complexity of customer requests, deploying AI to understand the true meaning and intent of an interaction, delivering personalised and meaningful interactions in seconds. Secure integrations mean that Assistants can interact with systems to support the retrieval and update of information live in a conversation enabling users to perform the tasks that they need – when they need it.
Crucially, Conversational Assistants can be deployed to a wide variety of communication channels from mobile and voice to social media platforms, meaning organisations can support their customers regardless of how they choose to interact with them.
If you would like to find out how to get started with Conversational AI Assistants or how to enhance your existing chatbot application, get in touch today