The cost of providing quality customer service is not something to be taken lightly. In the US alone, hiring a customer service representative can cost a business about $4000 (Glassdoor), while outsourcing a basic coverage of 1000 minutes from a call center means spending $900 to $1100 per month, according to KompareIt. Meanwhile, all it takes is one bad experience for a customer to switch to another brand, according to 61% of consumers (Zendesk). That said, businesses cannot afford to lose profit over bad customer support.
Here in the Philippines, many businesses have been forced to close permanently since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Now, business owners are still struggling to get back up and survive in the new normal. So how can you ensure customer satisfaction through effective customer service while reducing labor costs to keep your business running? The answer is through chatbots or messaging automation.
Chatbots are application software that can carry out conversations with users. They can be integrated into your website, app, or preferred messaging platform. Here’s how they can work to upgrade your customer support and transform the customer experience:
Automated Customer Service
These conversational solutions can lower customer service costs by up to 30% and help businesses save about $8 billion annually (VentureBeat). Smart chatbots that harness the power of artificial intelligence, such as chatbots developed by Alfafusion (an enterprise chatbot solution provider that specializes in smart customer service chatbots), can understand and accurately respond to inquiries and concerns and simulate human-like interactions. They are not like simple chatbots that only have a limited capacity for specific tasks and are nothing more than glorified answering machines. With Alfafusion’s AI messaging automation, companies can ensure a great experience of their brand by delivering reliable, AI-enabled customer support through natural language processing (NLP) and continuous assisted learning.
24/7 Assistance
Unlike human agents who cannot work around the clock, AI-powered virtual agents can offer 24/7 instant service to your customers. In this pandemic, we have seen how the customer service industry has struggled with the high volume of calls amidst the reduction of staff and working hours. Customers would often wait in hour-long queues and end up not getting an answer at all. But with AI messaging automation, you can maintain response times, wait times, and turnaround times to a minimum and significantly improve the customer experience. Alfafusion’s smart virtual agents will be ready to attend to your customers at all times.
All-in-One Virtual Agents
AI chatbots are versatile and multifunctional. They can perform various tasks and handle many areas of your business such as sales, marketing, and customer service. Aside from answering inquiries, they can gather information, promote your products and services, and process requests and transactions. Alfafusion AI chatbots are equipped with secure payment systems and advanced CRM integrations to help you conduct everyday activities from lead generation to product management. Since your AI virtual agent can already do the jobs of several people, you can save up on employment costs and streamline your business processes at the same time.
Human Agent Augmentation
Ultimately, AI virtual agents are not here to replace human employees but are rather built to augment their capabilities. 90% of the time, customer service requests comprise common questions such as those about billing or interest rates as well as routine tasks like changing account information which can be resolved quickly and without the need for support from human agents. With AI virtual agents handling the bulk of the generic and repetitive tasks, human agents can focus on complex issues instead and more concerns can be resolved smoothly. AI virtual agents can offer front-line support and have preliminary information ready for human agents’ assessment, making way for a more efficient and pleasant customer experience.
Take your customer service to the next level with AI messaging automation. Check out Alfafusion’s AI messaging automation products and services at http://alfafusion.com/ and contact Alfafusion at +639989991576 or email Digital@Alfafusion.com to get an AI chatbot precisely tailored to your brand and business requirements.