How many of us have used a chatbot on a website when we felt it might be quicker than waiting in the call queue, or in some cases where you just could NOT find a phone number anywhere to call!?
But it was an unmitigated disaster!
The BOT was more of a NOT as it didn’t seem to understand what you were asking for!
Next stop was SOCIAL MEDIA- RIGHT. Facebook and Twitter, and this time a very different experience. But still shocking. You’ve reached the corporate marketing team and they can’t help you with your query, but instead suggest you use the website (doh), or call the Contact Centre.
So far, you’ve got absolutely nowhere and your patience is dwindling….
Thankfully there are genuinely joined up and intelligent solutions available and the “no code” cloud offering from Koopid can be set up, and built in a few days. Critically ALL CHANNELS are orchestrated for a single uninterrupted conversation INCLUDING real agents and with chat persistence.
No more repetition
No more, please dial this number
No more “The Computer Says No”
It’s time to transform your customer experience journeys and remove the barriers to customer intimacy
We have all experienced web chatbots havent we? How was your experience?
The thing about automation and Digital Channel engagement, is that it needs to be well thought out and implemented carefully – too often it seems like a knee-jerk reaction and tactically deployed and siloed from other customer-facing areas of the business. For example, a twitter account, or Facebook account are set up and the marketing teams engage with customers driving news, promotions and the like, but when customers reach in through that “window” for help, they are left frustrated and alienated because the social team are “unable to help”…. never a good look is it.
A much better solution is to create a unified engagement experience – built on a “universal engagement” platform that allows an experience to be created once and deployed on any digital channel available, allowing customers to choose their route into your business, and to always receive the same high quality conversations – including self-serving where appropriate. So whether this is WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram or SMS, the experience can easily be deployed.
Not stranded
When the self-service attempts fail – and they will on occasions, because the customer might be after something you had yet to consider they might need, your customer needs to be carefully handed over from automation, to a human agent ALONG WITH THE CONVERSATION TO THAT POINT, so they do not feel frustrated, abandoned or marginalised.
Imagine the response from a customer when the agent engages and knows, not only who they are, but also understand their journey to that point.
Queuing isn’t fashionable amongst customers these days. When we want to contact an organisation, we want to achieve an outcome pretty quickly, without friction, which includes not queuing and listening to repetitive messages telling us how valuable our call is and that all agents are currently helping customers!!! I don’t care! I want service NOW We are so “over” queuing
What we really want is to be able to access services from our Smartphones, whenever we want, day or night And this is where smart AI services come in.
Putting the customer in control by enabling access to information easily, on any channel, at any time. And with a well thought out, intelligent service, this workflow automation results in really happy customers.
Imagine accessibility via WhatsApp, or Facebook messenger, Twitter or webchat, in a conversational style, providing you with answers to your questions and queries and allowing you to book appointments and return unwanted goods and checking deliveries, progressing orders, etc, etc, the list is vast, and puts you at the heart of the engagement
This is what a conversational AI solution like Koopid can deliver. And is deployed rapidly in just hours. And on existing legacy Contact Centre platforms that you thought were incapable of supporting such witchcraft ☺️
Many organisations have turned to quick fixes in order to attempt to address the deficit in resources in their businesses and to avoid having to take the call of at all possible.
Primarily this is because they do not have the personnel available due to Covid restrictions, and technology shortfalls – Shortfalls in that their technology was designed for a traditional office Contact Centre with office based workers, and not for a dispersed homeworker, workforce. Some might hand out criticisms of short sightedness, but let’s be fair – how many of you predicted the Covid crisis and it’s impact accurately?? Thought not.
Increasingly we are, as consumers, looking for flexible ways to connect with our suppliers, but to avoid the often lengthy queues that drive us potty. We are also seeking simplicity – for transactional interactions, we don’t always want or need to speak with a human, and we might also just need something text based, such as a balance check on our bank account, or checking a booking, ordering a ticket, making an appointment, etc,….
Often seen as the quick fix, business may turn to adding a webchat capability, or a chatbot capability, and more often than not, they are another silo in the communications morass, that simply pushes customers away.
Most chat technologies offer a synchronous engagement only, and very often these services are manned by social media teams, who are probably not well versed in the issues customers want resolving. This often leads to added frustrations for the consumer, as they are still not getting their questions answered, and may well STILL end up having to break off and make that call, joining the queue they were trying to avoid, and having to explain the whole thing again – It’s simply not very customer-centred is it?
Automation has been on offer for years, including IVR, and yet the way we, as consumers want to engage has changed. Yes we do still want to talk to a human being where appropriate, but by no means always.
Artificial intelligence is bringing a new paradigm into play, enabling intelligent automation, where consumers can share the intention of their inquiry using natural language, and receive a higher quality engagement, and satisfactory outcomes.
Well thought out solutions also allow for a joined up and customer centred journey. Meaning that we reduce friction with a single persistent conversation, that captures the discussion and passes it all to an agent, if required, avoiding repetitive questioning. Resulting in a well prepared agent, and a really satisfying customer experience.
Is this were possible, without the need to replace existing platform technology, wouldn’t that be of enormous value?
Contact centre leaders have for some time been evolving from their original call centres, (handling just phone calls) Into multi-channel and ultimately Omnichannel solutions, whereby customers can arrive on any channel and enjoy a continuous conversation wherever the engagement takes them.
For some contact centre operations, this has meant an extremely slow evolution, due in some part to the often significant investments required, but also the time taken for full deployment, and user adoption schedules can be lengthy.
This delay in moving to digital-first contact centres often causes frustration to customers as increasingly they (customers) are choosing to make contact using their conveniently located smartphones, and want to use one of the common messaging apps.
Typically this means starting on a digital channel – such as:
Webchat
Chatbots
WhatsApp
Facebook messaging,
Etc.,
and escalating to a voice call with a human being where circumstances dictate.
Serving customers on their channels of choice is a critical Customer Experience “moment of truth”, and ensures that focus is on them rather than us.
This transition certainly needs managing with care, as the last thing customers want, is repetitive questioning after they have authenticated or explained the reason for calling on the digital channels.
All of this conversation MUST remain with the caller just like it would on an SMS chat on your smartphone.
This is what we expect from any technology offering chat today, and anything less than this is UNACCEPTABLE.
To learn how Koopid.ai delivers this capability without a rip and replace strategy – click here
Graham Bunting -The Catalyst 
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