There is no getting away from it – robotic, AI-driven front-line technologies continue to be a reality in customer management. And, while this may sound like an obvious statement, there are significant implications in this rapid shift toward digital interactions. One of these is end-user frustration. Over the course of the past few years, as more enterprises and their BPO partners have sought to save money in their CX operations, the temptation to reduce costly head-count via automated solutions – especially chat-bots – has been too much for some executives to resist. In fact, the most recent iteration of the Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office CX Omnibus Survey indicates that over half of participating enterprises plan to grow their respective chat-bot footprints in the near-medium term.
Sadly, to date the results of these decisions have been less than stellar for many consumers, especially when it comes to chat-bots. Consider that a recent survey of end-users cites some very worrying trends in terms of how this technology is deployed; two-thirds of those sounded stated that they had been subjected to bad chat-bot experiences, most commonly citing the inability of these tools to understand their needs or to answer pertinent questions.
However, when the narrative around a particular CX technology begins infiltrating the Hollywood set, firms that use these solutions need to be worried. Such is the case in a recent Channel 4 News interview featuring Tinseltown A-lister Cate Blanchett who openly expresses concerns about the extent to which chat-bots (as well as other AI-powered applications) are pervading daily lives. To be fair, the context of Blanchett’s comments were aimed more toward the impact of these technologies on society, but there is relevance when it comes to the CX sector – no company can afford to aggressively push sub-standard technology onto its customers and expect a positive outcome.
In that sense, the responsibility is heavily on the shoulders of CX leaders, whether captive or outsourced, to ensure that public sentiment is open, if not favorable, to chat-bot customer service delivery. Fortunately, there are a number of steps that can be taken to achieve this.
An obvious, but important first one is to identify the specific front-line needs that a chat-bot can readily solve. Being able to triangulate the functions that can feasibly be moved over to an automated solution so as to lay out the needed ground-work is crucial in determining the enterprise’s chat-bot requirements.
And that leads to choosing the right solution for the above-discussed CX needs – customer management leaders cannot cut corners when shopping for the right chat-bot. Looking at all options, ranging from the most well-known vendors through to innovative upstarts will only ensure a better-quality fit in the long-run. And, like picking a washing machine, running shoes or a new car, finding the best product – not the cheapest – will yield the best ROI.
Equally, it cannot be forgotten that a key part of vendor selection is the relationship that comes with it. A provider that is invested in a long-term partnership that helps the CX client expand the chat-bot’s functionality organically over time and with minimal disruption to the end-user is a must.
A final point on securing customer willingness to embrace service from chat-bots comes down to implementation. Deploying this technology correctly should be a no-brainer, but with over 3-in-5 consumers indicating dissatisfaction in this regard, clearly there is a lot of work to do across the enterprise and outsourcing community. Taking the time needed to stress-test chat-bots is a small price to pay for a strong relationship with an end-user. The same applies to offering a customer the chance to opt-out to a live agent, should a bot interaction start going south. With nearly half of consumers stating that they abandon a chat-bot interaction after a single error the negative impact on a brand that doesn’t take the time to implement this technology properly should not be underestimated.
This is why customer experience leaders cannot coast when it comes to their chat-bot deployments. The narrative around this tech among consumers is not positive, and this needs to change. An important start will be to champion strong solutions that add stickiness to the end-user relationship. The right due diligence when choosing and deploying a chat-bot will go far in changing customer perceptions of this front-line technology.
Image sourced from James Royal-Lawson under Creative Commons license
Onus on CX Leaders to Change Chat-Bot Narrative
By Ryan Strategic Advisory
There is no getting away from it – robotic, AI-driven front-line technologies continue to be a reality in customer management. And, while this may sound like an obvious statement, there are significant implications in this rapid shift toward digital interactions. One of these is end-user frustration. Over the course of the past few years, as more enterprises and their BPO partners have sought to save money in their CX operations, the temptation to reduce costly head-count via automated solutions – especially chat-bots – has been too much for some executives to resist. In fact, the most recent iteration of the Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office CX Omnibus Survey indicates that over half of participating enterprises plan to grow their respective chat-bot footprints in the near-medium term.
Sadly, to date the results of these decisions have been less than stellar for many consumers, especially when it comes to chat-bots. Consider that a recent survey of end-users cites some very worrying trends in terms of how this technology is deployed; two-thirds of those sounded stated that they had been subjected to bad chat-bot experiences, most commonly citing the inability of these tools to understand their needs or to answer pertinent questions.
However, when the narrative around a particular CX technology begins infiltrating the Hollywood set, firms that use these solutions need to be worried. Such is the case in a recent Channel 4 News interview featuring Tinseltown A-lister Cate Blanchett who openly expresses concerns about the extent to which chat-bots (as well as other AI-powered applications) are pervading daily lives. To be fair, the context of Blanchett’s comments were aimed more toward the impact of these technologies on society, but there is relevance when it comes to the CX sector – no company can afford to aggressively push sub-standard technology onto its customers and expect a positive outcome.
In that sense, the responsibility is heavily on the shoulders of CX leaders, whether captive or outsourced, to ensure that public sentiment is open, if not favorable, to chat-bot customer service delivery. Fortunately, there are a number of steps that can be taken to achieve this.
An obvious, but important first one is to identify the specific front-line needs that a chat-bot can readily solve. Being able to triangulate the functions that can feasibly be moved over to an automated solution so as to lay out the needed ground-work is crucial in determining the enterprise’s chat-bot requirements.
And that leads to choosing the right solution for the above-discussed CX needs – customer management leaders cannot cut corners when shopping for the right chat-bot. Looking at all options, ranging from the most well-known vendors through to innovative upstarts will only ensure a better-quality fit in the long-run. And, like picking a washing machine, running shoes or a new car, finding the best product – not the cheapest – will yield the best ROI.
Equally, it cannot be forgotten that a key part of vendor selection is the relationship that comes with it. A provider that is invested in a long-term partnership that helps the CX client expand the chat-bot’s functionality organically over time and with minimal disruption to the end-user is a must.
A final point on securing customer willingness to embrace service from chat-bots comes down to implementation. Deploying this technology correctly should be a no-brainer, but with over 3-in-5 consumers indicating dissatisfaction in this regard, clearly there is a lot of work to do across the enterprise and outsourcing community. Taking the time needed to stress-test chat-bots is a small price to pay for a strong relationship with an end-user. The same applies to offering a customer the chance to opt-out to a live agent, should a bot interaction start going south. With nearly half of consumers stating that they abandon a chat-bot interaction after a single error the negative impact on a brand that doesn’t take the time to implement this technology properly should not be underestimated.
This is why customer experience leaders cannot coast when it comes to their chat-bot deployments. The narrative around this tech among consumers is not positive, and this needs to change. An important start will be to champion strong solutions that add stickiness to the end-user relationship. The right due diligence when choosing and deploying a chat-bot will go far in changing customer perceptions of this front-line technology.
Image sourced from James Royal-Lawson under Creative Commons license