In recent years, it has become evident that investing in artificial intelligence (AI) products, Machine Learning (ML) platforms as well as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and robotic process automation technologies place companies at the forefront of innovation. These technologies are helping big and small businesses to reach their customers instantly via web, mobile and messaging platforms, creating a personal connection with customers looking for support without interrupting their experience. Nowadays, customers are looking for a fast and efficient service on the channels that they prefer. The tech giant Facebook, for example, has over 300,000 chatbots in 2018. If you are wondering whether or not you came across this new technology before, think again! You might have had a conversation with a chatbot or a virtual agent yourself when interacting with bots that provide simple, straightforward and human-like responses which can be in the form of text or voice.
There is a significant race between start-ups and internet giants to acquire chatbot technologies. Are you up to speed with this latest development? To make sure that you are up for the challenge, we present to you 5 important considerations that will give you all the insight you need before implementing a chatbot solution.
Your customers require a response immediately? Your traditional online forms and call centres simply are not capable enough? Your customer service representatives have to answer the same question dozens of times a day? If any of these ring true for you, then it might be time for your business to embrace the promise of AI-powered automation and consider implementing a chatbot solution.
In order to better understand where the opportunity lies for chatbots, you need to evaluate your customers’ online experiences with your business and detail the most important tasks that need to be automated or optimized. You might need to speak to your customer service representatives about the areas of your business that need to be automated and hold multiple meetings with key stakeholders as well as conduct customer surveys to understand customer’s frustrations and the type of support they would like to receive from your business.
Before choosing a chatbot platform, it is crucial to have a good idea of the platforms you will use to provide customer support. This is especially important if you are planning to provide an omni-channel support; that is providing a seamless, instant and efficient support to the customers regardless of the platform they use.
Nowadays, many companies try to integrate omnichannel into their daily business processes to provide a high-quality online service and give instant responses to enquiries across different digital channels. If you are one of them, make sure that your chosen chatbot platform can connect your bot with messaging and social media channels, such as Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Telegram, WhatsApp, the web, among others.
So you have invested in a chatbot solution for your business, but your chatbot fails to understand customers’ enquiries and ultimately fails at serving them? The result is simple; the chatbot hits a dead end and can no longer help the customer, leading customers to associate your brand with a negative experience.
With language barriers creating insurmountable challenges for international businesses, innovative chatbots provide another important advantage; that is the ability to understand different languages and converse in each one. Thanks to recent breakthroughs in deep learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies, many chatbots such as those developed by arabot, can now work across multiple languages. This feature is particularly important for businesses considering expanding to new markets and into countries with entirely new customer bases and new languages.
You need to invest in an AI-powered chatbot technology that can be customized and accessed easily. Since businesses are no longer dependent on the time-consuming and highly-technical skills required to build and manage a chatbot platform, you need to seek out an easy-to-use, code-less platform that empowers your CX professionals to build a chatbot with hands-on knowledge and expertise.
Make sure to back your chatbot with human-centred design, industry experience and domain knowledge. It is imperative to choose a chatbot development platform that will augment and facilitate speed, scalability, and flexibility in order to support your customers and customer service representatives around the clock.
Always keep in mind that while a chatbot is designed to provide customers with relevant information, there is always going to be a point at which it cannot answer or understand a customer’s question or inquiry. Remember that human agents and chatbots should work as a team supporting one another to build the best experience for the customer. There are some complicated enquiries that always require the human touch. Accordingly, you need a chatbot platform that allows you to support the customer with ease and transfer the customer from the chatbot to a live agent without impacting the quality of the experience.
In today’s world, chatbots are becoming a must-have solution for any business that wants to stay relevant on a market that is constantly changing. With chatbots, you can let automation take care of necessary but time-consuming tasks and day-to-day processes – such as on-boarding new hires, processing purchase orders, and handling time off requests.
Early adoption of chatbots can help your business to save money, increase effectiveness of communications and enhance customer experience. Before doing so, take the points above in consideration to ensure that you make the most of your chosen chatbot platform.