In this article, we’ll delve deeper into using a chatbot for support. For broader insights on how chatbots can be utilized in other departments of your business, I invite you to read the article How Can a Chatbot Help Your Business?.
Table Of Contents
How can a chatbot help with support?
There are numerous ways in which a chatbot can assist with support, but to keep things simple, let’s focus on the key metrics businesses are continually striving to improve in their support operations:
Average Resolution Time: Chatbots can significantly reduce the time it takes to resolve customer issues by providing immediate answers to common questions and guiding users to the right solutions quickly.
Support Service Quality: With the ability to deliver consistent and accurate information, chatbots enhance the overall quality of support, ensuring every customer interaction is handled professionally.
Average Response Time: Unlike human agents who might not be available 24/7, chatbots can respond to customer inquiries instantly at any time of the day, reducing the average response time dramatically.
Number of Tickets Resolved: Chatbots can handle a large volume of queries simultaneously, resolving many simple issues immediately, which can significantly increase the number of tickets resolved.
Improving these metrics with a chatbot not only boosts the efficiency and effectiveness of customer support but can also contribute to additional benefits such as reducing operational costs for the support team and increasing customer satisfaction.
By automating routine inquiries and tasks, chatbots allow human agents to focus on more complex issues, enhancing the overall customer service experience.
64% din participanți la un studiu spun ca suportul 24/7 este cel mai mare beneficiu al unui chatbot – Drift
Problems solved automatically by a chatbot
One of the primary applications of a chatbot is to independently resolve certain support issues.
Yes, as hard as it may seem to believe, it’s true.
A chatbot can find the correct steps to resolve an issue much faster than a human agent and can instantly respond to most questions related to your business.
Thanks to these capabilities, the number of customers whose issues are resolved will increase without the need to invest more money in hiring additional agents. Thus, you will save both time and money.
a chatbot can answer 80% of standard questions – IBM
Agents assisted by chatbot
There are several methods through which an agent and a chatbot can interact.
An agent can provide support over the phone and while speaking with the customer, the agent can interact with a chatbot that, using the information entered by the agent, can display the steps for resolving the issue or show the information needed to solve the customer’s problem.
Another situation where a chatbot saves time for agents is in collecting general data. A customer will always need to provide details about themselves and their issue. A chatbot can automatically collect this information, making the agent’s job easier so they can move directly to resolving the issue.
64% of agents who use a chatbot have more free time to solve more complex problems — SalesForce
Smarter problem allocation
Regarding time-saving, we can use a chatbot for assigning issues to the appropriate agent.
A chatbot can automate the process of assigning issues to a team, an agent, or even another chatbot based on the customer’s needs and the nature of their problem. You no longer have to worry about agents’ time being wasted collecting data and assigning tickets to the right agent.
Chatbots can simplify this process for customers by displaying intuitive buttons for easier interaction, ensuring that the issue is assigned to the most suitable agent.
No waiting customers
Everyone tends to be impatient when they have a problem or question.
Try to imagine you’re a client in need of support for a service vital to your business, and you have to wait for an agent to start the conversation.
Frustration is inevitable.
This can greatly affect customer satisfaction and may lead them not to recommend your business or even to stop being customers.
Chatbots allow your business to respond instantly to customers without the need for more agents. This is a very important benefit considering that support requests are not linear and depend on the time of the year, the day of the week, or specific hours of the day.
Enhanced Precision in Problem Resolution
When it comes to support quality, chatbots are invaluable in reinforcing the necessary knowledge. A chatbot won’t recall steps for solving a problem incorrectly or forget crucial details needed for resolution.
A chatbot delivers consistent quality to all customers regardless of the day.
At the same time, they offer a great opportunity to consolidate all knowledge about support and your business in one central place. This allows you to provide automated, high-quality support that adapts to your customers and business, especially as it evolves and changes.
Accelerated Problem-Solving
In terms of time efficiency, chatbots that automatically answer your customers’ frequently asked questions will always be quicker than agents who must respond to each client sequentially, manually searching for answers.
A chatbot will always have all the answers readily available and can address multiple inquiries simultaneously without causing any wait time for your clients. As humans, we are limited to managing maybe 2, 3, or perhaps 6 conversations at a time, while a chatbot can handle thousands.
Lower deployment costs and the ability to grow more easily
Economically, chatbots can significantly boost the profitability of support teams by reducing costs and offering easier scalability. The right chatbot can enable the team to solve more issues without the need for additional agents, streamlining operations and enhancing service capabilities while keeping expenses in check.
using a chatbot can improve operational costs by up to 30% – Chatbots Life
