Imagine a future where you can have phone conversations with robots. And no, we’re not talking about monotonous sounding robots but hyper realistic ones that bear an uncanny resemblance to humans. Once in the realm of science fiction, this scenario has become reality today. Conversational talkbots are artificial intelligence (A.I.) machines powered by natural language processing (NLU), automatic speech recognition (ASR) and several other mechanisms that makes the hyper realism possible. These technologies translate to improved cost efficiencies through lower labour costs and increased sales volume. With that said, what are the benefits of incorporating talkbots into your call centre?
A disruptive technology in the world of business
It is in every business’ interest to reduce their costs in order to maximise their earnings. In a time of economic disruption, it is essential for businesses to ensure that their resources are optimised. When it comes to call centres, time consuming tasks include those that are repetitive in nature, such as calling customers to check in on their interest in a product or to confirm an appointment, for instance. When a call centre agent that is known to have a knack for securing sales is tasked to only confirm appointments, we would consider this to be a misallocation and underutilisation of talent. This is where Conversational A.I. Talkbots can come in handy.
Riding on the worldwide push for task automation, conversational A.I talkbots can augment your existing workforce by automating repetitive calls such as sending appointment reminders or other relatively straightforward tasks. Improvements in Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) has equipped talkbots with the ability to identity the caller’s intent as well as nuances in their speech. By automating such repetitive calls, businesses are then able to divert their best agents to handle more complex call tasks, thereby ensuring cost efficiency when running a business.
As Wiz.A.I creates highly customisable talkbots for your business needs, these talkbots will mirror your best service agents and their best practices to ensure customer service excellence. When it comes to human agents, any changes to their script or sales tactics requires training, and this in turn consumes precious time with an indefinite outcome as to whether the new skill is effectively learnt and applied. With a talkbot, any updates to the information disseminated to your callers can be implemented almost instantaneously, bypassing steep learning curves. Not only is implementing a new sales tactic now a seamless process, feedback is also available almost immediately through data insights and analytics that track the reception of customers.
Driving Sales with A.I
Closing a sale is also a time consuming and time sensitive process. When a company is able to call a customer when he/she is in the midst of deliberating, there is a higher likelihood of successful conversion. Like the proverbial striking of the iron while it is hot, getting the time right is already half the sales battle won. It is however, tricky to know when that window of opportunity will open. This is where customer analytics becomes crucial. Using the Conversational A.I Talkbot, companies would be able to conduct some form of customer segmentation after identifying their intentions. After retrieving this valuable information, businesses can then devise a better strategy to tackle each customer persona. For example, the talkbot would be able to identity who are the customers who have expressed great interest, before shifting their attention to persuading them.
Using A.I. for customer service calls can also allow for greater customer outreach and loyalty. Being able to reach out to numerous people at one time while checking in on their interests not only allows for companies to have a higher chance of sealing the deal, it also makes for a memorable customer and brand experience. Small gestures like congratulating customers or letting them in on an exclusive deal will also build brand loyalty, leading to higher returns in the long run.
Furthermore, machine learning which is an integral part of these talkbots allows these intelligent systems to become progressively better at picking up the intentions of the callers. The more data and exposure to different conversations, the better it is and the faster the progress. The rapid rate of technology development in A.I. also allows for system upgrades and hence, customer service excellence.
Most customer service calls are often outsourced to countries where labour costs are more affordable. As such, these agents who are not working directly under the company may not be able to understand the image that the company is trying to present to the general public. Engineering a talkbot and scripting to accurately reflect your company image to deliver the right information to the audience makes a world of difference. Building a talkbot for your company allows your business to regain control of your brand image, while maintaining its consistency through A.I. delivered service standards.
Every call centre agent has their fair share of nasty calls, making it increasingly difficult to maintain a positive and professional tone during a long day at work. Talkbots may hence be in a better position to handle such tricky situations as its tone of speech is maintained. When necessary, the call can be also be transferred to relevant departments. Such arrangements prevent unwelcome scenarios such as when an exasperated customer meets a tired call centre agent who is misunderstood to be insincere.
Companies may also sometimes experience a surge in call volumes where increasing the number of call centre agents in such short notice would be impossible. Once again, talkbots are well equipped to rise to the challenge, handling sudden fluctuations with ease.
All in all, adopting A.I for higher levels of automation is becoming a business strategy proven to have significant returns. This is a golden opportunity to supercharge your call centre services and elevate your business to the next level.