How Do Chatbots Improve Customer Service?

Customer service chatbots function as an automated support tool for the customers. They are also referred to as AI virtual agents based on the way they are coded and it is very easy to install them in any website, application, social media handles of any organization, thus helping in providing immediate assistance to customer queries. The main objective behind using a customer service chatbot is to respond to customer queries and give relevant information to the end-users with no involvement of a human operator. Chatbots can perform many tasks with advanced automation: 

• Increase sales  
• Generating leads by processing contact information and user data 
• Shows relevant information to customers by gaining access to knowledge bases. 

Why are customer service chatbots popular? 

Chatbots are never an option to replace the customer support operators in your organization, but as a customer service messaging platform it is difficult to neglect the efficiency of chatbots. For instance, you can compare the number of customer interactions with chatbots and human agents. The number of customer interactions with chatbots will always remain higher. Here are some of the reasons why these chatbots are popular: 

• They reduce the need for live interventions and minimize tension through updates. 
• They are highly cost-effective and save up to 30% cost on customer service.  
• They help to ease the workload of customer service agents and eliminate the need for a high volume of support. 
• They avoid the chances of continuously giving answers to repetitive questions. 
• They pass the conversation to a customer support agent whenever the customer demands it. 
• They provide feedback surveys and store the customer chat history for the purpose of training and development. 

Things to consider before choosing a customer service chatbot 

Type of customers 

Before choosing a customer service chatbot, you should have a clear idea about the types of customers the chatbot needs to address.  

Common issues  

There are a lot of problems that may come up during the customer-chatbot interaction. Poor comprehension, unsatisfactory responses, repetitive replies are some of them. Either you make sure that the chatbot you choose does not cause such problems or you should be ready to provide immediate assistance whenever such problems arise (which is difficult though). 

Purpose of chatbot  

Chatbots can be used to handle entire customer conversations with the support of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software developed for the purpose of automation and also to guide the customers to the respective departments. Choose a chatbot based on your purpose.  

Platform used 

Decide the platform where you want to install the chatbot before choosing it. You can install your chatbot on social media pages, company websites, mobile applications, etc. 

Determine the goal  

There are different types of chatbots for different purposes. You should determine the main goal of installing a chatbot – whether to increase efficiency, reduce the workload of human agents, or provide better customer satisfaction. 

Use cases of customer service chatbots 

Customer service chatbots can improve customer satisfaction and minimize the costs of delivering different services to various customers. Some of the top use cases of customer service chatbots are: 

Schedule appointments  

Using chatbots is beneficial for every type of business whether it is healthcare organizations or house maintenance providers. They can use chatbots to organize and schedule customer appointments. Chatbots also provide relevant information regarding staff availability and available time slots to customers, as it is linked to the calendar of organizations. This enables the customers to fix appointments without having to contact the front desk. 

Process order  

Ordering from digital platforms such as Facebook and Instagram has become a growing trend in recent years. With the help of a customer service chatbot, customers can place their orders and process the payment without even talking to the page owner. Chatbots can also be implemented in social media platforms that do not provide the option to insert commercial links, in order to enable purchases.  

Track orders  

Chatbots enable customers to track their orders by giving detailed information about the shipping of their orders, live location of the package, halts, delays, expected delivery time and gathering feedback to provide improved customer service in the future.  

Process refunds 

Chatbots are capable of easily identifying the customers and the purchases they have made. Based on the relevant data they store, they can process the return or refund request initiated by the customer, give accurate details about the refund policies, and provide the status of their refund process.  

User onboarding  

Onboarding first-time users is a task that involves many software, human resources, procedures, paperwork, etc. But chatbots can make the process easy by giving proper guidance to the users to open and set up accounts, first-time sign-in, necessary tips, and relevant information about the product or service. 

Challenges in using customer service chatbots 

Limited training

One of the main challenges of using a chatbot is that they are programmed or designed to give specific answers. They may not be able to give accurate answers to certain complex questions. During such situations, they just pass the conversation to a human agent. 

Interrupt customer experience  

As chatbots are trained for specific functions, they may not give proper satisfaction to the first-time users as they do not prefer to chat with a bot at every stage of onboarding. 

May require maintenance  

The chatbot needs to be tested frequently to make sure that it gives accurate responses to customer queries. This is because the customer queries and their pattern can change over time, which may need additional assistance or modified responses.  

Wrap Up 

The pace at which the business change is accelerated by the pressure to streamline competitive processes for your time and investment and to provide better service to customers. The customer service chatbot is leading the digital business age with a feature that is increasingly found on websites, apps, and social media to assist your customers and increase engagement. Chatbots are on a clear path even in terms of technological evolution and numbers, not just to provide a better customer experience but also to add benefits to the business. The NLP (Natural Language Processing) and other stages enhance the basic processes used by bots and with the combined power of AI, chatbots are going to rewrite what they are capable of.