Excellent customer support is part of the cost of doing business in today’s world. In order to truly stand out among the competition, companies must provide stellar service that is unexpected and surprising in an environment where customers’ expectations are climbing every day. Chatbot software that’s powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is one effective means to do just that.
Within the contact center industry, AI chatbots are increasingly being used. According to the 2022 Benchmark Report, roughly 95 percent of contact center leaders have either already adopted, are implementing now, or are planning to begin automation within the next year. Why? Because today’s contact center automation and AI chatbot software can now allow contact centers to resolve 100 percent of their Tier One calls, chats, and texts using automation. This means that live agents can focus on more complex calls that require urgent human help, empathy, and creativity.
What Is A Customer Service Chatbot?
A customer service chatbot is an automated solution that can respond immediately to a customer’s question or inquiry. Although original chatbots were extremely limited in their capabilities, drawing from very few frequently asked questions, today’s AI chatbot software can understand natural language and multiple customer intents, resolving a vast number of inquiries with zero wait time or human intervention.
How Can Chatbots Improve The Customer Experience?
Chatbots can improve the customer experience by answering an unlimited number of simultaneous customer inquiries quickly and immediately. The vast majority of customer questions are repetitive and can easily be automated, which means a customer can call, text or chat and resolve their concern without waiting or repeating information.
How To Use Chatbots To Increase Customer Service?
Contact centers can use chatbots to boost customer satisfaction by selecting a leading conversational AI solution provider like Replicant. Replicant’s Thinking Machine saves contact centers money, improves their CSAT scores, lowers average handle times, and increases their readiness for unpredictable spikes in call volumes.
What Industries Benefit Most From AI Chatbot Software?
Industries that receive high volumes of repetitive calls from customers are great candidates for the best chatbot software. These businesses will get the greatest return on their investment. Here are some common applications:
- Travel and Hospitality: In this industry, customers are constantly calling to make, change, or cancel reservations. These inquiries are simple to automate but can often cause a backlog and result in poor user experience. AI chatbots can handle an unlimited number of these requests simultaneously.
- Financial Services: In banking and investment areas, customers often need to check account balances, make transactions, or ask informational questions. AI chatbots can manage all of these inquiries without human intervention.
- Healthcare: Having a HIPAA-compliant system that allows healthcare organizations to manage appointment scheduling, bill payment, and inquiry, or triage activity can free live agents to handle more urgent or sensitive questions and concerns.
- Insurance: Similar to financial services, insurance companies deal with a vast number of customer inquiries that are similar to one another. Customers need policy information, coverage data, or account updating services. All of these can be communicated by the customer speaking naturally and AI chatbots can often resolve these issues immediately.
- eCommerce: Customers often contact online eCommerce companies to order products or services, check on existing orders, cancel or update orders, change account information, or track shipments. Returns, exchanges, and FAQs can often be easily automated as well.
How Do AI Chatbots Help Agents?
Not only does chatbot technology improve the customer experience, but it also improves the employee experience. According to Forbes, “the problem is, the call center experience, or ‘customer service’ more generally, is not only the most stressful part of the customer experience there is, but it is also the most stressful part of the employee experience.” When the employee experience is improved, an even better customer experience follows.
Live agents dislike answering repetitive questions all day long. When these tasks can be bumped into an AI chatbot, they can work at a higher level, helping customers resolve more complex problems that require creativity and empathy. This boosts employee satisfaction and retention.
Try Replicant
If you’re ready to learn more about customer service automation, reach out today. Our experienced team would love to help your contact center boost customer satisfaction to stellar levels.