Most customers expect quick service when they have a question or a problem with a purchase.Â
Fast customer service responses can often help to make a customer more loyal and is one of the best ways to demonstrate how your business is investing in customer satisfaction.
However, you may not always have customer service reps available to handle questions that a customer may have. In some cases, customers may have to wait hours for a response to simple questions that could have been answered during normal service hours.
There is a growing market of customer service chatbots that can help. These bots can offer instant, automated customer support using tech ranging from pre-programmed answers to specialized artificial intelligence algorithms. Modern bots are available at a variety of price points and can provide some a serious upgrade to a B2C website.
1. Automate Repetitive Tasks
Customer service work generates a lot of information. Each customer service ticket, for example, will come with a particular issue, a customer name or ID marker, contact information and how long it took for the ticket to be closed.Â
Recording and making sense of this data can require some serious administrative work. Chatbots can automate a lot of this labor — recording data as it is generated and automatically storing information in the right location — helping to free up business staff for more important work.
2. Provide 24/7 Service
Chatbots don’t need to sleep or take breaks — meaning they can provide round-the-clock support to your customers.Â
This means that customers can get help sooner, even if they’re asking questions long after your business has closed for the day.Â
If a customer’s problem is simple, they may even be able to fully resolve their problem with help from a chatbot, all without having to wait.
3. Improve Customer Insights
Chatbots can gather a massive amount of information as they work to assist customers.
With a bot, you can get hard data on the kinds of problems your customers have, how they’re typically solved and even information like average customer mood, based on things like AI-powered sentiment analysis.
This data can help you improve your customer service processes — and potentially resolve customer questions before they even need to contact support.
For example, if you find that customers tend to ask the same questions again and again, an article, FAQ entry or help system page could help customers to answer these questions without needing to talk to your customer service team.Â
This information can make it easier to streamline your site’s design, as well — if customers mention issues with design elements like navigation, you can know that you may need to make changes to your site’s design.
4. Streamline Scheduling
A chatbot can plug directly into your business’s appointment management system, letting it know exactly when you have an availability.Â
The bot can display all open times to a customer interested in setting up an appointment or meeting, helping to simplify the often tedious process of finding a time that works for both them and your business.
With the same data, the bot can also provide additional information that will help it ensure that for example, it won’t schedule a meeting if a particular service provider won’t be available. This can help to reduce the risk of scheduling a customer for a time that won’t work.
5. Reduce Ticket Response Time
Customers hate waiting. Even the shortest of wait times is often enough to leave a negative impression.Â
According to one survey of 2,500 customers, 60% believed that one minute was too long to be left on hold. The same survey also found that 32.3% of customers thought there should be no wait at all — that customer service departments should always answer customers immediately.
This level of responsiveness isn’t always possible or practical. Most businesses don’t have the resources to have customer service representatives be constantly available. If customer happiness is one of your business’s top priorities, however, finding ways to cut down on that wait can be extremely beneficial.
Customer service bots can help to improve response times. Even if all customer service reps are occupied, the bot can step in to ask some initial questions about a customer’s problem. They may also be able to give them additional information on how much longer they’ll have to wait for a human representative.Â
6. Drive New Sales
Customer service and sales reps typically can’t be available around the clock. If a customer is researching a product your business offers after hours and they have a question, there’s a good chance they’ll have to wait for an answer.
Chatbots can field simple questions about product specs and availability. They can also direct customers to product pages or provide information about product compatibility. If a customer’s questions are simple, the chatbot may also be able to move them directly to the next phase of the sale.Â
7. Personalize
Customers are sometimes put on hold while waiting for a service representative to find their file or the information about them that the business has held onto.Â
Bots can grab this information at the beginning of a conversation or even sooner, if a user is logged into the business website the chatbot is on.Â
With this information, the chatbot can personalize its responses — using a customer’s first name, offering more relevant product information or providing direct updates on orders associated with the customer’s account.
Use a Chatbot to Improve a B2C Website
Chatbots can provide serious value to the visitors of a B2C website. Even if all customer service agents are busy, visitors will be able to have some of their questions answered.
If your business makes customer happiness or fast service response times a top priority, adopting some kind of chatbot tech can be extremely helpful.
Eleanor is editor of Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.
