A recent article by Martin Powton discusses what it takes to have successful chat bots. One of the major keys is to be honest with customers and let them know that they’re interacting with a bot instead of trying to cover it up as though they’re dealing with a human agent. That being said, it’s important to make the chat bots seem as lifelike as possible by giving them “personalities” that react realistically and conversationally with customers during interactions. In addition, chat bots need to have clearly defined goals to provide accurate help to customers and they need to reflect the brand’s design.
Be Honest With Your Customers About Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gradually replacing many roles and responsibilities that were once handled by humans. Some people are comfortable and accept this concept, and they are perfectly content dealing with completely automated customer service and chat bots. However, in the constant effort to keep up with the times or push innovation, it’s important to slow down and maintain sensitivity to those who prefer interacting with human agents.
As a society, we’ve been moving towards more digital interactions and fewer in-person ones. However, as digital-oriented as we may be, we’re still human. We need positivity and sympathy when we’re upset and interacting with a robot can be aggravating depending on the severity of the situation. Powton’s article makes several great points, but one of the most important ones is to be transparent with customers about your company’s use of chat bots.
Putting up a front and hoping your customers believe they’re dealing with human agents instead of chat bots can have negative consequences. If the bot starts having glitches or it encounters a question it’s not prepared to answer, this will lead to frustration for two reasons: 1) Their problem is not being solved, and 2) They’ll feel like the company doesn’t care about them enough to have a human agent handle their issue. Companies need to inform their customers whenever they’re dealing with AI and offer a number to a human agent as an alternative if preferred. This shows your customers that you respect them and they can trust you to have their best interests in mind.
This blog post is based on an article from CustomerThink. To read the article, please click the following link: How To Make The Perfect Chatbot – Martin Powton
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