Self-service is no longer a ‘nice to have’. Customers expect a premium level of service from contact centers that enables them to quickly have their call routed through a swift, efficient and easily navigated automated service process. So, while customers expect it, and most contact centers are using self-service – many are still doing it badly. Here we review how to get the best from your virtual agents.
Modern AI can power and enrich the self-service experience, thereby enhancing the customer experience and resolving customer queries more quickly. With the right vendor, this is possible.
1. Integrate CRM and Knowledge Base Information
With the right platform and integrations, you can implement an AI-powered self-service option that is just as capable as an agent in working with customers to resolve issues and is available 24/7. This can be achieved by integrating the AI virtual agent with your CRM system and knowledge base.
With the CRM, the AI has the customer’s full profile at hand – including interaction history, purchase records, and open tickets – to personalize the interaction and provide the virtual agent with context. A knowledge base integration equips the virtual agent with a vast knowledge library that includes FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and product documentation to help the virtual agent provide accurate and helpful responses to customer inquiries and issues.
By integrating your CRM system and knowledge base with your virtual agent, that agent becomes a dynamic problem-solver, rather than a simple FAQ tool.
2. Auto Customer Feedback
Customer surveys are a critical part of any CX experience. What went well, what could be improved from a customer’s perspective – this data is the crucial jigsaw puzzle in improving your contact center CX.
However, traditional customer surveys sent for customers to fill out after an interaction have a very low response rate. Customers generally find them too time-consuming and friction-filled to complete. Furthermore, the feedback you’re most likely to receive is negative, skewing your overall results.
AI-powered interaction analytics offer a less intrusive way of gathering customer feedback through automated sentiment analysis, intent analytics, and keyword analysis. By analyzing the tone, keywords, and language used by customers during their interactions with virtual agents, sentiment analytics can gauge customer satisfaction levels and analyze key intents, customer behaviors, and moods.
Bright Pattern’s Customer Intent capabilities are an example of how customer feedback can be gathered after an interaction without the need for customer surveys. It is completely objective and not subject to human error or human calibration. Customer Intent powers deep insights into the interactions allowing root cause analysis to resolve important company issues. Bright Pattern’s platform detects commonly mentioned topics, such as competitor names and products, emotions, and products. This enables your business to identify areas of strength and weakness and make the appropriate changes.
3. Don’t Make ‘Em Wait – Eliminate Call Queues
There are several ways that AI agents reduce wait times in contact centers, including:
- A significant advantage of AI-powered agents is their ability to handle a large volume of customer inquiries simultaneously, eliminating or significantly reducing call queues
- Virtual agents can be trained to handle specific, repetitive tasks well, like changing an address or handling insurance claims. This allows them to be very efficient at those types of transactions and free up human resources for more important and complex issues.
- Agent Assist functions ensure that the virtual agent can provide suggestions and guidance to human agents during customer interactions, helping them be more effective
- Enabling real-time translation between languages, allowing virtual agents to communicate effectively across language barriers
Eliminating call queues can be achieved through the use of advanced NLP and machine learning algorithms that enable the virtual agent to understand and respond to customer queries in real time. By providing immediate assistance, virtual agents can significantly improve customer satisfaction and reduce the frustration associated with long wait times. Furthermore, virtual agents can triage inquiries, identify complex issues that require human intervention, and route them to the appropriate agent while handling routine tasks on their own.
By eliminating call queues and providing immediate assistance, customers don’t have to wait for assistance and can receive customer support immediately, leading to increased satisfaction, customer loyalty, and strong customer relationships.
The future is also bright for AI in the contact center. Bright Pattern’s Michael McCloskey told us: “Virtual agents are increasingly utilized in the contact center, though primarily for common tasks. In the future, I think you’re going to have several virtual agents working together to do more complex things, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Bright Pattern’s cloud-based omnichannel contact center software is built with AI capabilities integrated into the platform. AI-driven capabilities like customer intent, self-service, agent assistance, and quality management are all built into the platform and available for use immediately at go-live.
Find out more at Bright Pattern.