Picture by Inkong Boutchalern
How a chatbot system can enhance your customer service.
Chatbots have come a long way since being created in 1966. The first chatbot named ELIZA was created by Joseph Weizenbaum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ELIZA used a keyword pattern to mimic a psychotherapist. It reflected user input back as questions.
The second chatbot, named PARRY, was created in 1972 at Stanford University. PARRY was developed to resemble a person with paranoid schizophrenia.
Of course, those systems and others were rudimentary. They were rule-based with pre-programmed responses. Today’s chatbots use machine learning to create 24/7 answers for most any routine requests.
Chatbots provide five benefits for you and users
1. No wait times 24/7 even if your business is closed.
2. Chatbots handle high volumes of questions, which lowers your operational costs and frees up your employees.
3. They provide personalized service and enhance the experience of the users.
4. Chatbots are normally accurate on a consistent basis on email, social media and web sites.
5. They deal with customer issues before they get out of hand, and reduce the rate of cart abandonment.
Four implementation tips
1. Ease your customers’ concerns by letting them know they’re not dealing with a human being but a chatbot instead.
2. When needed on specific matters, chatbots can easily switch them to persons.
3. In the event chatbots cannot solve specific issues, state your operating hours when a human is available.
4. Chatbots provide fast communication with easy-to-understand wording.
Of course, a chatbot is software in dialogue systems that converses with your customer as though the information is coming from a human. So the danger is real-time chatbots in instant messaging aren’t always perceived as customer support.
By scanning for keywords from a customer’s message — then replying with keywords from a database when they’re off-target — can be annoying to the recipient.
On the other hand, chatbots are a wonderful tech tool when they improve the experience of your customer.
Five tips to filter your chatbot responses:
1. Use due diligence — Chatbots can’t easily read the tone of the customer’s concerns. Often, customers don’t like a too-personable response. It can be perceived as patronizing.
Concentrate on providing exemplary service with fast responses, high interactivity, and an easy-to-understand response.
2. Try to be empathetic — Your customer will likely appreciate empathy. Don’t appear to be robotic. Use tech verbiage but make it empathetic in tone.
3. Show history of transactions — Who likes working with a machine? Transactions matter. Your customer will be more comfortable and confident in your chatbot system if you show the history of the conversations.
If you do, your customer will likely continue engaging your chatbot system for repeat purchases.
4. Provide options — Make certain you’re tracking with the customer’s concerns. That means frequently asking about the customer’s mindset. Is the person satisfied? Reiterate how you’re paying attention to the person’s concerns.
In case of a snag, be prepared to provide customer-service backup with either a digital-based or telephone-based person to continue the conversation.
5. Pay attention to feedback — In the event you get complaints, be proactive and transparent. Explain so on your site. Otherwise, you’ll risk making the situation worse.
Good luck! You’ll enjoy providing instant customer support, lower operational costs and boosting your sales volume with automated lead generation.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are relevant sources of information:
Tech Checklist to Provide the Best Customer Support –Ever wonder why big chains – from quick-service restaurants to electronic products – print invitations on sales receipts to entice customers to go the companies’ sites to comment online?
Improve Your Customer Retention with 6 Digital Tips — Outstanding loyalty programs for stellar customer engagement play an important role to improve your prospects for lifetime customer value. That goes for e-commerce, too.
E-commerce: Shipping Practices for Customer Satisfaction – Conversions for customer satisfaction are paramount in E-commerce, which is built on the concept of prompt service. If you want to attract and keep customers, you must use best practices in shipping.
14 Tips to Profit from Online Customer Reviews – For competitiveness and profits, businesses can’t afford to ignore the potential of online reviews. They’re a factor in revolutionizing commerce.
Get Year-Round Retail Customers from Your Holiday Sales – Once you attract new holiday shoppers and make them happy, it’s more advantageous to convert them to loyal customers throughout the year. It’s also easier to entice them to refer their family and friends to you. Here’s how.
Psychological Pricing Tips to Sell More Products, Services – Depending on your products or services, psychological pricing is based on the idea that certain prices are more appealing. Here are six options.
“Hospitality exists when you believe that the other person is on your side.”
-Danny Meyer
__________
