What if your shop was open 24/7? Your website is permanently available, but – fortunately for your employees -, your in-store or telephone advisors are not.
One of the reasons customers appreciate direct interactions or contact with real-life customer advisors is because they can ask specific questions and be guided in their decisions. 73% of consumers identify customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decision (PwC). With the current health crisis showing no signs of slowing, more and more consumers are turning to online shopping. Their expectations, however, remain the same. Chatbots can be an excellent compromise as they can provide part of the expected experience at any time, on any device – whether mobile or fixed -, via any channel – brand website or app, instant messaging, etc.
To understand how, let’s take a look at a customer service advisor’s different roles…
Welcoming
Just like a front of store attendant, you can position a chatbot at the entrance of your brand’s digital space, to embody your visual and behavioural communication style. Your chatbot could be very visible and forward, immediately striking up a conversation, or discreet and only available on request via Push rules or behavioural targeting. The latter involves observing an end-user’s browser behaviour to trigger your chatbot at exactly the right time. For example, if a user is inactive for several minutes, your chatbot could pop up and offer to help.
Whatever you decide, the way your chatbot interacts with your leads and customers should be in line with your corporate identity. Chatbots are pleasant and considerate thanks to the welcome phrases and/or information banners adapted to the time of year (Christmas or other holidays) or your business news. Chatbots are also always be polite thanks to a social base, that includes nearly 700 knowledge articles or “small talk” phrases. And finally, chatbots are, by definition, patient, as they wait for
questions and can even pre-empt them by displaying Top Knowledge or most frequently asked questions; either suggested by the algorithm or hand-picked from those highlighted in your analytics. They are always even-tempered, and you can “let them think” via an optional loader so as to not display the answer right away, contributing to the many benefits of natural language recognition that facilitate man-machine dialogues.
Guiding
A customer advisor’s main role is to help visitors make a choice. Chatbots can respond to an end-user’s specific needs, instead of simply providing a generic answer, using a number of contextualisation features. Decision trees allow to formulate sub-questions in order to reach the final answer. Variables enable the chatbot to retrieve user data during a dialogue and use it to answer the customer’s question. Slot filling requests any information needed to make a recommendation – for example, a date and destination for a train ticket, or hotel booking…
Displaying
As any good salesperson knows, understanding the customer’s needs is key to offering them the right product or service. Chatbots can highlight the right product or service at the right time…
If chatbots make you think of little text bubbles, it’s worth knowing that images and videos can also be added to a gallery, and then displayed when appropriate in the side panels, thereby showcasing certain products and making them more visible. A nice photo or carousel, for example, is always more enticing than a descriptive text.
Assisting the Purchasing Process
Leads on the verge of becoming customers sometimes need help to complete their transaction. How do I pay, how does delivery work, how do I return products, etc. All these questions are important because they are likely to discourage customers if they’re not well informed. This stage often requires more explanation and clear step by step assistance, which is where “step actions” can be particularly useful.
You may prefer to redirect customers to real-life agents at this crucial moment. Additional answers allow you to configure features such as the use of keywords – signing up to, changing or terminating a contract, for example – or successive non- responses, to automatically switch to a human operator.
Chatbots or callbots are not intended to replace your teams, but to complement them. Implementing the right functionalities to meet specific objectives will contribute to your tool’s performance. The better trained and adapted to the situation your chatbot is, the better it will help you convert your leads and satisfy your customers.
