Chatbots are discussed a lot and and we have published multiple articles on them.Chatbots are usually approached from the point of view of making additional sales, but to do if you are a service provider whose main job is not sales?
Such a situation is often found in the public sector. The pressure towards implementing new technologies can feel daunting when there are not enough resources to provide customer service at the current level. Thankfully new technology can be used to make the best out of the limited resources available.
Chatbot as part of customer experience development
Discussions on chatbots are often technical but the design phase of the bot should still be connected to broader discussions about the customer experience. A good place to start is by analysing the use of the service and behaviour of users. Who are our target audience and what channels are currently used to service them? In which situations are we reached out to the most? Who from our target group calls and who would be best reached using the chat service? Is our customer on the road or at home when they contact us?
After the motivations and subjects behind contacting have been clarified, the information can be used to consider, for example, whether the online services in use could be improved by offering clearer answers. If the problem is in some other way with the usability of the online service, a chatbot can be helpful. This brings us to the question of chatbot security. Before working with us many of our customers have expressed worry that the chatbot might give incorrect or unhelpful answers. To reduce these fears we have previously published an article on how to build a safe chatbot.
Chatbot and customer service—a golden duo
On it’s most elementary level the chatbot can be programmed to provide ready-made answers to the users of the online service. However, the bot does not automatically become visible to all users. The general purpose of the chatbot is one where the chatbot offers answers or links to groups of users who, based on their behaviour data, have been identified as looking for information on certain topics.
If the online service does not already have a customer service chat, it is logical to introduce said service when building a chatbot. The chatbot can be built so that if the bot does not know how to answer the customers question by itself, the conversation is transferred to a customer service person. Just like when building a customer service chat, when considering a chatbot, you should keep in mind the handling of confidential information. There are solutions available for this issue and you shouldn’t let such worries get in the way of building an online customer channel.
With the help of a chatbot, public services can allocate their limited resources to where they are most needed.