How often do you become frustrated with poor customer service, the lack of empathy, ill-equipped staff and follow-through, often with little to no resolve? As customers, we have high expectations of organisations, lead busy lives trying to balance our work, personal and social circles, and even less patience for our complaints to be mishandled the first time around.
In today’s digital world however, we have access to a range of tools to voice our complaints and be heard, from social media channels to live chat, messenger apps and email, however more so reluctant to waste time on long arduous phone calls, being placed on hold, all to have the call drop and start the process yet again.
One such technology paving the way for a smoother, more enjoyable customer experience is the use of AI-powered chatbots, and for good reason! Chatbots enable an entirely different level of comfort, simplicity, and engagement with brands, and comes with a host of benefits.
In a recent survey published by Adweek, 65% of respondents said they felt good about themselves and the company at hand when they could handle customer service issues without talking to a live person. The highlight from this survey was an increased demand for self-service, and quite rightly so, which is where chatbots help.
So What Does This Mean for us as Customers?
Without a doubt, the perception we have of a company can change in an instant after a single negative experience, if not made worse when having multiple negative experiences with the same company.
A recent survey conducted by Microsoft revealed a whopping 90% of customers citing they would leave a company, without warning, after a single negative experience, with a further 47% potentially switching brands.
The need for companies to create the best possible customer experience is matched by the rise in the customer service market size and demand for innovative technologies and highlights the importance for companies to look at ways of improving their customer service strategies by investing into the right channels, meeting the demands and pace today.
Shining a Spotlight on AI-Powered Chatbots!
By understanding what is a chatbot and how it works, more and more companies are deploying enhanced strategies using chatbots to help us answer a question, resolve a complaint, search for information and pay bills faster than ever before.
Source: Drift
Let’s take a closer look at just some of the many ways artificial intelligence-powered chatbots are enhancing our lives and is becoming a valuable source…
- 24×7 or After-hour Availability
Being able to connect and interact with a brand at any time of the day (or night) can mean the difference between being happy or disgruntled. Often a random thought that pops up during a conversation, or being reminded of something we’ve forgotten to do in time.
Companies that have incorporated AI-based chatbots into their business operations to handle after-hours inquiries, experience significant retention and increased satisfaction of their customers by simply having an ‘always-on, 24/7 available’ resource at their customer’s disposal.
According to Invesp, 64% of customers expect brands to be 24/7 available, in particular retail, hospitality, travel and corporate sectors.
Engaging with a brand wherever and whenever we need, we will experience higher satisfaction rates, increased happiness and return to the brand once more.
2. Instant Resolution and Response
According to a 2017 consumer research by Accenture, 66% of the consumers surveyed in mature markets expected customer response and resolution times to be faster, while in emerging markets, the expectations were at an even higher 78%.
In the same survey, 23% of customers trusted less in companies than they had 5 years previously due to inadequate customer service and response times, and which had significant repercussions for brands, notwithstanding brand loyalty, brand trust and consumer engagement.
Sure enough, the advent of AI-powered chatbots being 24/7 available also means our interactions and responses are dealt with more swiftly, resulting in faster resolution times and more future engagement with brands who know how to treat.
3. Adaptive Learning with Artificial Intelligence
One of the highest factors in customer satisfaction rates is a superior, more streamlined user experience. IBM estimates that over 265 billion customer support tickets and calls are made globally every year, resulting in a staggering $1.3 trillion in customer service costs annually.
In a 2018 study by Arvato, 1/3rd of the respondents expressed their frustrations with brands who traditionally manage customer support with support agents, saying that their biggest pain point is having to repeat information and/or explain everything multiple times to different agents.
Companies that invest in adaptive algorithms and machine learning technologies ensure that chatbots are more powerful to handle the most complex of customer inquiries, sorting through thousands of keywords and custom queries at lightening-fast speeds, reducing volumes of support tickets, time and effort spent, and changing painful experiences (and loss) into a profitable win-win scenario.
4. Personalisation = A Perfect Balance of People and Technology
Whilst AI is the ideal one-stop solution for companies to offer smoother customer experiences via the use of chatbots, we also need human interaction to deal with those emotional issues and inquiries. 86% of consumers prefer an option to transfer to a live agent if a service or issue cannot be resolved, requires out-of-the-box thinking, or becomes too complex for chatbots.
What chatbots do however enable is, you guessed it, intelligent learning. When interacting with a brand via their chatbot, the chatbot collects and stores your conversation history in the company’s system, and if ever the need arises to speak to a customer service agent, the experience you receive is more personalised since the agent already has all your details and history at hand.
What does this mean for us? Chatbots, if implemented correctly, enhance the overall experience and tailors your experience with a brand, offering a hybrid chatbot-to-human solution to manage and exceed your expectations.
Final Thoughts
The future of chatbots is here to stay with more and more brands understanding the importance of customer support today more so than ever before. Bringing into the mix artificial intelligence to augment the user experience, we as the customer will feel happier that our inquiries/issues are taken care of the way we envisage. Stay up-to-date with more articles published every month by visiting our blog [link here] and find out more about our services at our website.
