In the past companies noticed that their customers are getting frustrated by waiting for customer service agents for simple queries. “All our agents are busy. Your call is important to us. Please wait.” became a dreaded message for customers looking for answer to their simple queries. So many companies launched Chat Bots as part digitalizing their customer service.
Chat Bots could address only one set of customers – those who had very basic queries. Chatbots are programmed to respond to specific commands or questions with predefined responses. Can’t grasp complex questions or deviate from their script. Offers generic answers based on programmed responses – Relies on pre-programmed rules and keywords. Doesn’t improve over time and requires manual updates.
Then came AI Chat Bots with a promise to divert more customers away from human agents. They are expected to be smarter and more Flexible due to utilization of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand intent and context. Can handle a wider range of questions and respond in a more natural way. Adapts and improves through machine learning, offering more relevant responses over time. Can tailor responses based on user history and preferences. These Chat Bots were expected to reduce response times and improving the overall customer experience.
So, what is the customer behavior after this advancement in Chat Bot technology? A recent survey commissioned by customer experience platform CallVu throws some interesting light on it.
Figure 1: Source: CallVu – AI in Customer Service Survey Mar 2024
A significant percentage of people, 81%, indicated readiness to wait, for varying duration, to talk with a live agent. 16% people were ready to wait for more than 10 min to talk to live agents! Only 14% seems to be ready to go straight away for interacting with Chat Bots.
Now combine the above survey findings with the findings below, in the same report.
Figure 2 Source: CallVu – AI in Customer Service Survey Mar 2024
As CallVu found out, people rated live agents much higher than AI Assistants on most dimensions. Slight rating advantages for AI assistants on speed, patience and accuracy.
The interesting part to note is customers prefer talking to live agents for venting out frustration, indicating a role beyond just problem resolution – exhibition of empathy. However, it is again clear that customers prefer interacting with Chat Bots for simple queries with accurate answers. The Chat Bot interaction also seems to give a feeling of ‘being patient’ to the customers.
Does this mean there is no road ahead for digitalization of Customer Services interactions using Chat Bots? Few other surveys do show data to the contrary. The sixth edition of Salesforce’s ‘State of Connected Customer’ report clearly brings out the fact that 61% of the customers still would prefer to engage a self-service to resolve an issue. But there is a warning from 68% people that if there is a bad experience then they will never use self-service again for that company. With these findings, Salesforce makes a case for an opportunity to further improve the experience through a more intelligent, autonomous agents powered by Generative AI.
If we look at what Salesforce promises through its ‘Einstein’ Autonomous AI Service Agent, it gives a peek into what to expect from such agents when other Independent Software Vendors start delivering similar products into the market.
Sophisticated reasoning and natural responses: Fluid, intelligent conversations; coupled with logical inferences and connecting various pieces of information from company’s various data sources.
24/7 swift resolutions driven by trusted data: Grounded in company’s trusted business data.
Built-in guardrails: Including protection of PII (Personally Identifiable Information).
Cross-channel and multimodal: Self-service portals, WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business, Facebook Messenger, SMS and so on.
Seamless handoffs to human agents: Seamless handoff to Human Agent, if needed, with full context of conversation. For example, if something needs to be handled outside defined policy.
Only time will tell whether this will move the needle in the right direction for customers to start relying on digital means more and more to get their service requests resolved. In the near future, we might see a hybrid environment where all three types coexist. Traditional chatbots can handle simple tasks, while AI chatbots manage complex interactions. Autonomous AI chatbots can take on more advanced roles, working alongside humans.