To Top
enhance customer experiences with chatbot

CHATBOTS AND CHANGING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Publish date:

“80% of service decision makers believe AI is most effective when deployed with — rather than in place of — humans.”

"STATE OF SERVICE" | SALESFORCE RESEARCH, MARCH 2019

Do you know that the commonly used word "chatbot" is actually obtained from two words - chat robot?  It is a computer program that replicates human conversations, whether a voice or text interaction. Nowadays chatbots are becoming a common feature in our lives without us realizing the same. They are being used in a variety of ways such as :

⦁ Communication via smart speakers

⦁ Function on smart home devices

⦁ Function via popular messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook messenger service

Chatbots in modern times are becoming more advanced due to the latest advances in technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the passage of time. By securing copious amounts of data and economical processing power, AI and allied tech such as machine learning are drastically changing the quality of chatbots in terms of comprehension & decision making. Recently, program developers are harnessing natural language processing (NLP) or natural language understanding (NLU) to understand human speech (including regional accents which is imperative) thus leading to smarter replies.

How important are they in the customer experience?

⦁ Chatbots have greatly reduced the wait time of customers waiting in virtual queues. They answer common & mundane questions (such as location, timings, etc) quickly and customers don't have to wait for replies to emails, calls, etc.

⦁ Chatbots are the first to greet customers with branded greetings and have the ability to direct inquiries to the relevant person/resources.

⦁ Chatbots solve support cases faster. They are able to answer simple questions and keep the clients happy. Consequently, the employees/team members or agents can focus their attention on other tasks becoming more productive for the company.

⦁ With initial conversations, chatbots can prep prospects and hand them over to human agents for convertion into clients.

How are chatbots currently used by a business?

⦁ Minor Services in a call center environment such as password change, scheduling appointments and so, without the need for a human employee to enter into the fray.

⦁ Integrate with back-end systems such as inventory management or customer relationship management. They help various department employees with their daily functioning.

⦁ In the role of digital personal assistants, they help to perform activities such as ordering products of daily consumption or travel-related documentation via a cell phone device, browser, or chat platform.

Chatbots are augmenting the services of human employees, not replacing them. They are just freeing up humans from repetitive & mundane tasks and allowing them to handle important tasks. Chatbots are the future with more companies adopting them. It is predicted that chatbot adoption by service organizations will go up by 135%. The era of AI, chatbots, and machine learning is here, embrace it with an open mind and see your business reach for the skies.

About the Author

author
RS Maan

Maan joined Salesforce Ecosystem in 2008 with entry of Salesforce in APAC region. He worked on many of the underlying Salesforce Products & it’s functionality, including Heroku, Chatbots, and Einstein before leading Codleo Consulting - Leading Partner of Salesforce.com & Salesforce.org. In his spare time, he immerses himself in travel, books and spirituality.

Talk To Us

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FOR YOUR NEW BUSINESS