Digital self-service solutions specialist Sabio has identified authenticity as one of the key defining characteristics of successful virtual assistant and chatbot deployments.
According to Sabio, digital self-service solutions need to deliver on three key elements – emotional response, ease and efficiency – if they are to successfully enable a great Customer Experience (CX). Achieving this requires CX teams to adapt their response to digital requests based on both the type of business interaction being undertaken and the customer involved. Too many virtual assistants and chatbots are still being deployed without the user in mind, contributing directly to poor quality sales or service experience for customers.
To avoid this outcome, organisations need to focus on providing a service that is immediately transparent to customers. Digital services also need to be continually optimised, identifying particular customer requirements and evolving to meet those needs. It’s only when these core capabilities are in place that you can start to address more detailed concerns such as the form your digital assistant might take and levels of conversational understanding.
“Digital self-service is now the start point for most customer journeys, so getting it right is crucial for delivering a positive customer experience and impacting how people feel about your business,” commented Matt Dyer, Business Transformation Consultant for Sabio Digital. “However, having the right technology in place is only just the start. That’s why organisations need to focus equally on a virtual assistant or chatbot design, and its evolving content, availability and ease-of-use if their digital self-service channel is to deliver on its stated business goals.”
To address these concerns, Sabio has identified eight key behavioural tactics that enable digital CX teams to ensure and maintain the authenticity of digital self-service:
1. Provide an easy-to-use, intuitive option for the customer – immediately offering the most common questions asked that day encourages use with an option that’s far quicker than just calling
2. Rigorously A/B test any avatar or character being adopted – your avatars may be likeable or distinctive, but you need to test them thoroughly for customer acceptability before they go live to maximise conversion rates.
3. Present your Virtual Assistant or Chatbot option at the right time and place – detailed web journey analysis will help identify how digital channels can be most effective, such as when a customer drops out from the website and calls the contact centre
4. Ensure strong Conversational Understanding – it’s important that Virtual Assistants aren’t static. Once you’ve established what a customer wants, the VA content should be represented to match that need
5. Understand the impact of your Avatar’s colour – digital channels need to follow brand guidelines, but colours should also match where a customer is on their journey: encouraging sales, for example, is very different to re-assuring people during a service interaction
6. Be clear about what services your Bot can provide – being upfront about a Virtual Assistant or chatbot’s capabilities is critical, as any uncertainty at this stage will see customers simply calling the contact centre
7. Consistency in Voice and Tone – Bots need to not only set a consistent voice and tone in order to ensure customer confidence, but also complement an organisation’s existing channels approach.
8. Promoting your VAs and Chatbots with an active Communication Strategy – you can’t just assume your customers will switch to your bot channels, encouraging them will require active outreach, whether on social, TV or other media – or across your existing channels
Matt Dyer, Business Transformation Consultant, Sabio
About Sabio Group:
Sabio Group, which includes Sabio, DatapointEurope and Bright UK, delivers solutions and services that seamlessly combine digital and human interactions to support outstanding customer experiences. Through its own technology and that of world-class technology leaders such as Avaya, Nuance and Verint, Sabio Group helps organisations to optimise their customer journeys by making better decisions across their multiple contact channels. The group works with major brands worldwide, including the AA, Aegon, AXA Assistance, Bankia, BGL, BNP Paribas, Caixabank, DHL, Essent, HomeServe, Liverpool Victoria, Office Depot, Saga, Sainsbury’s Argos, SSE, Telefónica, Think Money and Transcom Worldwide.
Visit www.sabiogroup.com