Chatbots are cutting call center costs

Chatbots in call centers

As companies grow, taking on more clients and expanding further, so do their overheads. With every new staff member comes to a range of additional costs and after a few hires, businesses may need a new office. One of the most difficult parts of running a company is figuring out how to keep costs down, and in a way that doesn’t negatively impact the flow of work and morale. One solution is to make use of chatbots.

Chatbots for fielding queries

One of the largest positives of implementing chatbot technology in a company is the ability to field queries. Select companies, such as call centers, receive an exceptional amount of questions from customers on a daily basis. Often, these consist of information that can be found elsewhere – such as operating times or account balances. While every business strives to meet customer demands, this isn’t always feasible.

To ensure that every client receives the best possible service, these businesses should implement chatbots as the first port-of-call. As soon as the customer connects to chat with a representative for the company, the chatbot will first assess the situation to see if it can help the customer with their query. If the query is too complex or requires a ‘human touch’, the chatbot will then assign the customer to a specific agent depending on the nature of the query.

This facilitates helping customers in a timely manner, which is in keeping with current contact center trends, while human agents attend to more urgent or sensitive matters. The positive of using a chatbot in this manner is that customers aren’t always aware they are talking to a machine and not a human.

Internal systems

Over time, companies gather an exceptional amount of information. This can be stored in customer relations management (CRM) software, though this can be clumsy to navigate. Instead, chatbots should have access to this information for internal use. If someone in the finance department needs to find a specific transaction from years ago, the system will be able to assist in the query.

Similarly, chatbots can play an important role in call centers for staff members. While they have the ability to field queries, they can also assist staff. These programs can give call centers the best answers for a client and assist in training staff by posing as a customer.

Gathering information and tracking data

Gathering information takes time. There’s the process of asking customer questions, waiting for a response, and then logging the information received. But what if all of these steps could be automated? This would go a long way in saving your company time and money. and speeding up the time it takes to answer customer queries.

Chatbots are more than systems fielding queries. When given access to CRM, these systems are able to gather intelligent data on consumers and their buying habits. For ecommerce stores and manufacturers, the chatbots will be able to tell which products have the most problems and after how much time do they start to show defects. When it comes to the financial sector, chatbots are able to assess what aspect of the financial system is most difficult for consumers. This analytical data can then be used to improve the systems and products that are in place without launching independent studies, which can be costly.

Chatbots can be used in a variety of other ways in order to boost your company. Have a look at our article on increasing customer engagement through chatbots to see how. It covers real-time conversation, personalization, and more.