Incorporating new channels (and improving the effectiveness of existing ones) should not lead to major increases in operational costs. AI-powered Chatbots help you integrate self-service channels efficiently – and provide the seamless, personalised engagement customers are looking for.
In this blog, I’ve compiled a few tips and strategies to ensure that everything runs smoothly once your bot starts communicating with your customers.
1. Think about what you want to achieve.
What does success look like for your bot? This may relate to an existing KPI or you might want to set up a before and after assessment. You should consider things like; engagement levels, goal completion rates or the number of times your Chatbot has to transfer to a human for help. There isn’t a set rule here, but by ensuring you set out clear objectives from the start, you can easily measure success further down the line.
2. Ensure that your bot and customer are able to understand each other.
Language, slang and accents are relevant here – as is speed of talking for people less comfortable with bots. This is where Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning comes in; this technology has the ability to not only detect slang and accents but also learn from them to understand intent, regardless of the specific words or phrases used.
3. Don’t forget about user integrity.
For example, security questions are important when providing personal information to a customer. It’s crucial to the success of your Chatbot to gain customer trust right from the beginning, using methods such as consistent brand language and standard ID&V processes that customers recognise from other channels.
4. Always define when your customer will be connected to a member of your team.
You need to be able to quickly identify unsatisfied customers or those with complex queries – and ensure that information collected by the bot is available to the person who takes the call. This means that frustrated customers that are passed onto an agent have their issue dealt with swiftly and competently.
5. Continue to improve your customers’ experience post go live.
Continue to train your bot – add new intents and utterances to expand on the Chatbot’s ability to handle more complex queries and remember to implement new NLP features as provided by your technology partner. That way, you’ll improve the experience for users progressively, ensuring that your Chatbot does not fall behind your customers’ expectations.
6. Ensure best practice rules for your Chatbot roll out and don’t forget to give your bot your brand’s tone of voice.
But remember, there may be times when you’ll need to clarify that it’s a Chatbot rather than a human.
7. Avoid open-ended questions and ensure that follow-up questions are specific.
You need to ensure that your bot is capable of guiding your customers through your services by intelligently detecting the intent behind their messages. This way, your bot can provide valuable and timely responses as well as recommendations, where relevant.
Now is the time to future-proof your business with Chatbot technology.
AI-powered Chatbots are a powerful tool for all channels because they transform them into effective self-service solutions. That leads to more satisfied customers (who get faster answers more easily) and more satisfied employees (who are free to focus on complex issues).
At Engage Hub, we recognise that designing and building the right bot for your business might be a time-consuming process. However, with a creative approach to getting it right, you’ll see ROI fast. It doesn’t matter whether your business is just starting up or already at enterprise level – or whether you’re in retail, logistics, finance or another industry. You’ll gain a competitive advantage and future-proof your business by investing in Chatbot technology now.
To find out more about how Chatbots can help you revolutionise your customer service, download our latest whitepaper or get in touch to speak to an expert today.
