Technology has evolved, and so have business strategies. More sophisticated AI bots are slowly replacing basic rule-based or decision-tree bots that function on pre-set rules. But what makes AI conversation bots so successful? Let us find out.
Conversation bots are proving to be incredibly useful for customer service. They understand customer intent, offer real-time responses, and adapt to different communication styles — all of which help support teams work more efficiently. By delivering personalized interactions, these AI bots make it easier for businesses to provide scalable customer service.
Advancement of technology—AI conversation bot
Before understanding what makes AI conversation bots so successful, let us recap the basics of conversational customer support. For the record, chat channels for customer support have existed for several years. Before the adoption of big data, neural networks, and cloud computing took AI technology to the next level, the first chatbot, ELIZA, was created to simulate human conversation during the mid-1960s.
Since then, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) advancements have taken giant strides and given businesses new ways to serve customers by transforming text-based service and support into a conversational experience. Technology has infused a conversational property into the humble chat channel, improving its overall functionality and engagement. From a novelty experience with limited functionality over the past few decades, conversational AI support has evolved into a must-have tool for businesses, each striving to outdo the other to impress customers.
Also read: 10 Innovative Uses Of AI In Customer Support And Communication
AI conversations in customer service for stellar CX
To have a meaningful conversation with someone, it is necessary that both parties should be able to understand each other. But can a bot understand humans? Yes! With the right technology, brands can implement a host of features and transform a basic chat-based communication channel into a conversational AI marvel.
AI-driven conversation bots serve in customer engagement and significantly reduce your customer service center’s call volumes. With rigorous training and the study of massive data sets, conversation bots use AI and deep learning to determine user intent and resolve customer queries efficiently. When that happens, your business delivers the fastest customer response times, improves agent satisfaction through the highest possible automation, and exhibits intuitive operability. We will look at these features in detail.
AI conversation bots can decode user intentions
To fulfill the needs of modern businesses and customers, AI bots need to be able to hold meaningful conversations with users. That becomes possible when the messaging application understands its users and their intentions. And what makes these AI bots so aware? Let us understand this in more detail.
- AI conversation bots are programmed to understand customers: With proper training and learning from previous interactions, AI and NLP allow bots to understand the context of a customer’s message, making customers feel understood and comfortable. NLP also enables bots to converse with customers fluently in multiple languages, giving brands the ability to provide multilingual support.
- AI bots learn from real agents: AI-powered conversation bots learn from your data, and after learning from the interaction patterns of live agents, the bot begins to emulate human agents. The bot knows what to do if an issue comes up and guides customers toward a successful resolution.
- AI bots automate the flow of customer conversation: Customers reach out for support from brands for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, the reasons can be serious, while other times, they can be basic inquiries. In such scenarios, how does the bot determine which customer interaction is a priority and which one is not? When it comes to handling situations where the customer is asking for live support or the issue is complicated and needs human diligence, the bot can guide the customer to the next available agent. Moreover, the bot catalogs all necessary customer data and makes it available to the agent in a contextual way. This way, the customer does not need to repeat their issue, and even the new support agent has the customer's past interaction data at their disposal to swiftly understand and resolve their query.
- AI bots can understand customer sentiments: Modern conversation bots and sentiment analysis tools can effectively identify customer sentiments when they are trying to reach your brand for support. The bot can identify priority requests/tickets and guide customers to a speedy resolution. Conversation bots also offer contextual responses to customer issues.
Multichannel bots keep your customer communication unified
AI conversations can be implemented and enabled on several communication channels, such as email, chat, messenger apps, or even your in-house custom communication channel. When the AI bot is implemented on multiple communication channels, common customer queries can be addressed without any human intervention. You may ask, how does it unfold in a real-world scenario?
Suppose a customer contacts your business via their preferred channel with a common query. If the conversation bot function is enabled on that channel, it can successfully address customers’ common queries. Moreover, the bot continuously learns, adapts, and trains itself to attain precision in resolving customer issues. If, for some reason, the bot is unable to resolve a customer issue, then it can be automatically routed to suitable agents for its due resolution.
Creating a communication channel where an AI conversation bot can be applied needs to have a seamless user interface (UI) that delivers an excellent user experience (UX). A well-programmed conversation bot combined with a well-designed communication tool can significantly enhance user experience.
Data insights are fuel for modern businesses, and AI conversation bots can be a valuable source of customer information. AI bots can extract important data like the total number of visitors, the number of clicks for sales inquiries, the number of customer queries that are successfully resolved by the bot, the number of customers who have been transferred to live agents, customer feedback after interacting with the bot, areas of improvement, notifications for training cycles, etc.
It is important to say here that modern AI bots can be made incredibly safe, as they come loaded with the latest security measures and the promise of getting updated as time goes on. Security measures like encryption, data redaction, multi-factor authentication, and cookies keep information secure. Seamless functioning for frictionless customer support is what you get when you utilize conversation bots for customer service.
Also read: Conversational AI Bots Offering Infinite Solutions (Gen-AI Innovation)
Benefits of AI conversation bots
As AI conversation bots are fundamentally reshaping how customers receive support through AI bots, there are some specific benefits of implementing them in customer service strategy.
- Conversation bots are descriptive: If the customer has a problem and wants to know “what” happened? The conversation bot can pinpoint the issue. With the inputs received, the bot can identify the customer’s problem and give an accurate picture of the issue at hand.
- Conversation bots are diagnostic: If the customer has a problem and wants to know “why” an incident/issue happened? The bot can self-diagnose the problem and answer the question.
- Conversation bots are predictive: An advanced conversation bot must be able to take stock of an incident/ticket, predict the consequences of actions, and communicate the same to users. In a way, the AI-powered conversation bot predicts process outcomes and informs users in advance, “What will happen?"
- Conversation bots are prescriptive: After predicting outcomes, the conversation bot must be able to prescribe remedial/corrective steps to ensure a smooth resolution to the users’ (clients/support teams) issues. The conversation bot tells “how to make positive resolutions a reality.”
Today, digital conversation with AI conversation bots vastly reduces users' cognitive workloads. That is why customers and support agents find it easier to find information, complete tasks, and resolve issues. Since conversation bots are always available even when live agents are not, they foster customer trust in brands, encouraging users to engage and utilize their capabilities, contributing to positive brand perception, and reinforcing customer satisfaction and loyalty. To experience the power of an AI-powered intelligent conversation bot in your customer support software, try ThinkOwl. Sign up for a free demo.
