Learn how smart companies are using COVID19 as an opportunity to reduce contact centre costs and improve NPS

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Chatbots Life

5 min readJun 5, 2020

Does a pandemic only take lives of people making them sick? It wrecks a sea of possibilities, shatters many dreams, and puts many things from holding. Some businesses have permanently stopped while others are limping to exist in the race with their competitors.

So, is this loss bundling up in the companies? It’s not! Amid the peak crisis, companies are battling lower rates of customer retention with modern-day solutions.

Let’s have a look at how they are doing it.

Companies are facing customer churn, but there’s a way to salvage it

If you have your enterprise, it probably worries you how you can keep your existing customers. The job is tough. The demand for some products and services did not lessen amid the COVID-19 pandemic. And when the delivery was not as promising as it sounded, people started calling the customer care.

It’s proven and factual. Reports show that turbulence in the workforce has caused enterprises to face a challenge in mitigating customer needs.

Many companies around the world, including Facebook-owned Instagram, has reportedly stopped addressing any and every report to social media posts.

Because of the overwhelming load of calls and complaints, Instagram is addressing only the most important issues after assessing the priority. Customer retention rate has reduced significantly, as people get irked and frustrated when their problems are not resolved.

Humans can always overcome challenges. This time, we are doing it with chatbots.

In India, telecom operators like Vodafone-Idea are encouraging its 332 million customers to switch to chatbot-based query resolving techniques to cope with the out-pour of problems.

Can chatbots replace humans in human-like conversation?

Chatbots are robots capable of human-like conversations. Humans worked with AI and machine learning algorithm so that these chatbots can interact with us.

Today, we can have human-like interactions without any involvement of a human being. Natural language processors have been helping chatbots to decode what the user is seeking, and it gives the required solutions.

Just type in “Fix my LAN driver issue”, and these chatbots can come up with multiple solutions to fix the problem.

More questions will follow to zero-in on a particular problem. There are specific query lists that display on the customer support page of several websites with direct answers to queries that people usually ask.

For instance, one can figure out the solution to an issue in their laptop that is disrupting their work from home.

The online support page of most laptop brands has a virtual assistant these days to help customers with troubleshooting steps for most problems. The assistants provide detailed answers to the questions fired at them, just like humans would do in customer care.

Is a single chatbot enough?

We all know employing human labor is a tough job.

Even though it costs a lot and involves a dozen processes like providing adequate training, proper management of resources, frequent evaluation, etc., a single executive cannot serve multiple customers at the same time. Thus, often during rush hours, customers are left with no choice but to wait longer.

And, at times, these executives may not be capable of solving a customer’s query due to lack of knowledge and information, leaving customers unsatisfied.

On the other hand, chatbots have their own advantages.

Take the example of VIC, a chatbot built by Oriserve for Vodafone-Idea.

Customers can now simply text ‘Hi’ to the WhatsApp Chatbot (https://wa.me/919654297000?text=Hi), verify an OTP, and get access to all the information like current balance, active plan details, upcoming plans details, past payment records, e-bills, VAS, and what not!

Customers can also perform actions such as recharge, activate/deactivate plans and VAS, update emails, etc., from the same chatbot.

This chatbot is capable of decreasing the waiting time by providing instant solutions, serving countless customers infinitely, all at the same time.

And like you need many employees, you don’t need many bots. One chatbot is equivalent to multiple physical assistance, and can intelligently clarify questions from myriad customers. Thanks to machine learning, these virtual assistants are already getting better at finding out the right answers on their own.

Transformation of the customer support system

There was a time when customers had to wait for hours, go through multiple hassles to get the information they wanted.

People couldn’t wait indefinitely for customer care representatives to connect and provide a solution. Nobody liked it but they had no alternative.

But when the game-changer chatbots came, everything changed. Suddenly, nobody had to wait in queues to get answers to their questions, get access to whatever information they want at any time without any dependency on any human. Now, they could just do it with their fingertips.

This change brought by innovative companies in their contact centres helped their customers get assistance whenever they needed it, making their customers fully satisfied.

Chatbots have truly transformed the industry. No wonder why every company is now focusing on integrating and deploying one to their apps and websites.

These chatbots also got a further push when COVID-19 cornered businesses, and millions of people started working from their homes.

Let’s sum it up!

COVID-19 has shut many businesses but, at the same time, has paved ways to new, far more innovative ventures.

The usage of chatbots is the alternative support system of businesses that are working with a limited workforce at this moment, enabling them to reduce waiting time and increase capacity. Companies have a triumphant feeling with the unparalleled service of these bots.

People have found newer technologies to improve their business continuity plans and chatbots are just one of them.

If you are looking for a similar solution for your business, don’t forget to drop a message below. We will contact you directly or you can get in touch with us at https://oriserve.com/

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