The use of chatbots can be a polarising subject – particularly for business owners and consumers who are just starting to familiarise themselves with the uses and benefits of AI. Although a certain level of human interaction can be key for connecting with customers, technologies such as chatbots can also provide an excellent standard of customer service. Here, we explore a few of the ways that chatbots can be a helpful tool for businesses and customers.
24/7 service
With the use of chatbots, businesses can provide customers with out-of-hours support that doesn’t require extra manpower. Rather than having to hire an additional workforce to take queries after hours – or skipping the opportunity to offer 24/7 support altogether – businesses can now be there to assist their loyal customers and clients no matter the time of day.
For customers, this means getting an efficient, reliable service, as and when they need it – a service that they can truly count on. In a recent study, 65% of the consumers surveyed reported that they were either ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ to trust a business that makes use of AI – while only 7% of consumers reported that they were ‘very unlikely’ to do so. This suggests that AI technologies such as chatbots only work to increase customer satisfaction if employed correctly.
Filtering queries
Sometimes customers do need human assistance when it comes to a particularly complicated problem or query. Although, a lot of the time, questions can be answered by simply sifting through the information on a company’s website. Chatbots can be helpful in this way, to relay published or pre-programmed information and connect customers to web pages that share the advice they’re looking for – such as the FAQ page of a website.
This can also be helpful for filtering customer queries, so that only the most complex and necessary issues end up in the hands of a real customer service assistant. This way, staff know that they’re only going to have to respond to those messages that need a human touch, and every customer gets a level of assistance that is suitable to their query.
Speedy resolutions
With a chatbot to filter incoming customer requests and queries, work tasks as a whole become more streamlined. Customer service agents may find that they have more time to take on other tasks that need their attention, and are able to respond to any customer queries that do come in more swiftly and attentively as a result.
Of course, speedy resolutions are helpful to everyone, both businesses and customers alike. Where workers can get through a higher volume of queries with the help of their chatbot, customers can also feel more confident that they’ll get a helpful response, without having to wait in a virtual queue for the next human assistant to become available.
An opportunity to innovate
Chatbots are all about making life just that little bit easier, for businesses of all sizes and their customers. With so many industries making use of AI in their daily operations, this is an opportunity not to be missed, in order to provide excellent customer service and stay ahead of the curve.
