The latest technology for service is virtual agents: Automated systems, trained on service transcripts, that can use AI to recognize and respond to customer requests whether by phone or chat.
Experience in customer strategy making and running a company that helps build virtual agent systems has demonstrated two fundamental — and counterintuitive — facts about customer service and automation.
First, the most significant gains from virtual customer service agents are from improvements in customer experience, not cost savings.
And second, successful virtual agent systems depend on bots working with humans, not replacing them. How customer service agents and bots work together.
Human customer service agents easily recognize when someone is frustrated and can respond with empathy. Some virtual agent systems are actually designed to collect information, such as the customer’s name or account number and a description of the problem, and suggest resolutions as they hand off the call to a human representative.
For example, at the marketing service company HubSpot, a chatbot qualifies leads, delivers content, and connects potential customers with HubSpot’s (human) sales staff — all through Facebook Messenger.
ABIE, a customer service bot at Allstate Business Insurance, was designed to help salespeople. When it comes to customer service through online chat, a human agent can efficiently manage eight or 10 conversations between chatbots and customers — a far higher level of productivity than if the agent were answering the questions herself.
IHG used machine learning to review chat transcripts from customers contacting the help desk and constructed a virtual agent that could answer common questions. The virtual agent system is able to collect basic information from the worker, regardless of whether it’s answering the question itself or handing it off to a help desk staffer.
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