Although automated customer support is not a new concept, it sure has progressed in the past years. As it stands, automation and AI signify rapidly emerging technologies with huge potential for practically changing company processes and digital customer experience. For that reason, over half of the businesses have already embraced automation and AI, while the remaining percentage plan on doing so at the nearest opportunity.

We do, however, understand that quite a number of people are still in doubt about these new systems and solutions. Are the latest automation and AI innovations really worth the hype? Are they even right for your business? Better still, is it possible to use such technology to reduce time while boosting efficiency, all the while keeping high-quality customer support in view?

You can be assured all of your questions regarding the same shall be answered in this article, and we will even tell you how you can automate customer support with your own AI chatbots.

What is customer support automation?

Automated customer care enables your customers to handle issues without dealing with your support agents. It automates customer assistance duties such as self-service query resolution, simulated chat sessions, and proactive messaging. Businesses use automation to decrease repetitive workload, speed up replies, and lower customer support expenses.

However, it is important to note that there are both advantages and disadvantages to automating customer support.

Benefits of automated customer support

The following benefits will tell you all you need to know about automating your customer support system.

·         Always-on support

Customers mostly require businesses to be there 24/7 to answer any questions which may arise. However, from a commercial standpoint, it is not always practical. You can't constantly be available unless you spend thousands of dollars hiring agents for night shifts.

That's where customer service automation comes in. Unlike live agents, AI chatbots are not limited by hours of operation, allowing clients to quickly "self-service" trivial issues, frequently without the involvement of customer support personnel.

·         Saves expenses

Automated customer service may save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars annually. How?

Well-automated chatbots reduce the need for you to recruit more human agents while also improving the client experience on your website. Automatic welcome messages, support in seconds, and personalised care may all help your website visitors have a great purchasing experience.

·         Increases speed

Approximately 66% of consumers are frustrated when they are put on hold for an extended period of time. That's hardly unexpected given how much time customers waste sitting in queues. Nobody wants to wait for help when we have a problem. We want things fixed straight away.

AI chatbots can assist in resolving this issue. You may configure automatic responses to frequent inquiries, as well as a queuing system that informs consumers how long they will have to wait for help. An autonomous AI chatbot reduces the number of clients on hold while increasing consumer satisfaction with your support offerings.

·         Customer satisfaction and loyalty

Faster response times, shorter resolution times, and consistent assistance across numerous touchpoints - these automation results are critical for creating a pleasant customer service experience and keeping customers pleased.

An AI chatbot may even serve as a personal shopping assistant, effortlessly inquiring about a customer's interests and offering product information to enhance the buying experience. This capability provides each consumer with a tailored conversational experience that retains a human-like touch despite being AI-driven.

·         Minimizes human mistake

People occasionally make blunders. It's normal. However, when you own a business, your representatives' mistakes can cost you clients and reduce the trust that consumers have in your company.

In reality, unskilled customer service representatives upset around 46% of customers. The good news is that you can fix this problem rather quickly by adding an AI chatbot. By automating parts of the procedures, your clients will receive correct responses to their inquiries on a consistent basis.

·         Increases consumer feedback collection

According to a study, 89% of customers want to be able to provide feedback to businesses. Furthermore, around 77% of customers have a more favourable opinion of companies that request it.

Email automation and simulated discussions can help collect input more efficiently. For example, you may create a rule that automatically sends an email to consumers who have recently purchased a product from your online store, asking them to assess their shopping experience. You may also request your customers' feedback on the service delivered immediately following the customer care conversation.

Downsides of automation in customer support

While AI chatbots offer numerous advantages, businesses should also be aware of some challenges associated with their implementation.

·         It lacks personal touch

Some customers dislike using support automation when contacting customer care because it feels impersonal. Yes, AI chatbots, automated contact centres, and other approaches may occasionally lack human touch and empathy.

To be on the safe side, always provide your website users the opportunity to chat with a human representative. Most chatbot platforms have a live chat capability, making this simple to execute.

·         Is only capable of handling simple queries

Automation can only handle simple activities like answering commonly asked inquiries, delivering email campaigns to your prospects, and following predefined criteria.

For example, the bot can respond to a question like "What are your opening hours?" but cannot advise the user on how to resolve a more particular issue. When that happens, the chatbot can refer your shopper to a live chat person for assistance.

·         It takes time to set up

Let's not act as though installing an automation system is always quick and easy. Some of them are, but the majority of them will require time to set up and learn how to use them. The setup involves several intricate steps that demand time, effort, and resources:

1.      Integration with Existing Systems

2.      Training and Customization

3.      Testing and Refinement

4.      Creating Response Templates and Automation Rules

5.      Ongoing Maintenance and Updates

This can seem like a lot of effort at first, but it will save you a lot of time in the end.

·         Self-service upsets certain clients

Customers may become frustrated if they are unable to communicate with a human. Not everyone is tech-adept, and others prefer personal connection. This is especially crucial when a customer has a complaint and wants to be heard and understood. Human empathy is also unrivalled when dealing with angry clients.

How can you automate customer support?

Knowing the benefits and drawbacks of automated customer support allows you to determine whether it is the best option for your company. And, since you're still reading, it's safe to assume you may want to consider automating your support services.

Here are seven of the best-automated customer support AI chatbot strategies.

1.      Include live chat on your website

You may utilise live chat to provide customer support, improve your marketing, and implement a conversational sales strategy. First, pick the finest live chat software for your company, install it on your website, and configure it.

After you install the platform, your customer support representatives will be able to get a glimpse of your website visits, client data, and ordering history. All on one dashboard. Representatives that are more knowledgeable about the client may also give greater service.

You may also utilise live chat to detect frequent questions. This will assist you in setting up AI chatbots to answer commonly requested queries and offload some duties from your agents' records.

2.      Use scripted replies

When you know what the most typical client inquiries are, you may design customisable answer templates. This will come in useful when consumer requests begin to pile up, and your chatbots are not yet ready. Scripted replies also allow your support agents to scale their efforts effortlessly.

However, remember to teach your customer support representatives to grasp a client's request before reaching for a predetermined response. This will guarantee that clients always see the message as individualised and useful. Scripted replies allow for more efficient human labour rather than automating the entire process.

3.      Provide chatbot support

Once you've gathered some of the most common customer support inquiries using your live chat tool, you can begin building up your bots. Consider every typical question and a couple of its variations. In this manner, the bot will identify different ways to ask questions and answer properly.

Chatbots may manage requests after office hours, greet all visitors to your website, and answer commonly asked questions without human intervention. This will speed up your reaction time and improve the proactive customer support experience. If the inquiry is too difficult for the bot to address, it may always refer your customer to a human representative or an article in your knowledge base.

4.      Provide a knowledge foundation

Help centre articles are extremely useful for both new and returning clients who want assistance. Yes, it may take some time to compile all of the essential information. However, your customers will be able to obtain answers to their questions without calling your representatives.

To ensure that your knowledge base is useful, create compelling support articles and evaluate them on a regular basis. This ensures that all information is up to date. You may also incorporate onboarding video tutorials or presentation films to demonstrate to your consumers how to use your product rather than simply detailing the process. It makes your knowledge base more useful and interactive.

5.      Automate your CRM

If a customer hasn't visited your page in a month, it's probably worth checking in with them. You may set up your CRM to send them an email every month or two if they do not visit your ecommerce site. Proactive customer support can help you re-engage an otherwise lost client.

Especially since most customers prefer proactive communication, and around 87% want to be reached proactively by the firm. This might help you determine what the problem is. Maybe the consumer just lost their password, which is stopping them from buying at your online site.

6.      Gather feedback from customers

Gather comments and evaluations from your consumers. It's the most effective technique to learn about their concerns with your products and services.

Moreover, customer reviews may boost the reliability of your website and improve your brand image. As a result, you should provide your customers the option of leaving comments and reviews after interacting with customer care or making a purchase.

You may accomplish this by sending out an automated email soliciting client feedback or including a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the support engagement. This helps you decrease turnover while increasing client loyalty to your online shop.

7.      Automate your email communications

Email automation automatically distributes newsletters, updates, and special offers to your consumers. AI customer support technologies are easy to set up for you and your team members. This needs your marketing staff to set up the automation and create the emails. However, in the long term, it will save your staff time and effort while increasing your company's profits significantly.

Make sure the content you put out is relevant to your target demographic and that your customers will find useful and pleasant. To avoid spamming your leads, automate the emails to be sent out on a regular basis, but not too frequently.

Key Takeaway

So, to wrap it up — It's recommended to start implementing automation in customer support when the volume of questions exceeds your ability to execute the duties manually. Implementing automation for your customer care staff can also help to speed up their procedures and allow your agents to focus on responsibilities linked to company growth.

However, it's also crucial to remember that automated tools can't do everything. This is why your automated systems must be able to smoothly transfer difficult tasks to live agents, automatically providing agents with appropriate client data and conversation history for faster resolution and seamless customer support.

As a result, it's extremely helpful to link your chatbot with an automated, cloud-based contact centre system that allows for smooth agent takeover and helps you handle many client pain points.