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Access to conversational AI for customer support makes interactions more seamless, effective and quicker. But people need to interact with a virtual assistant that is truly conversational, not something that simply delivers robotic answers. They also need to be able to talk to a human agent as needed in case their problem escalates. The virtual assistants of yesterday don’t make the cut anymore, and contact centers must invest in conversational AI that incorporates the latest innovations.
While some virtual assistant solutions may seem sufficient at first, they won’t lead to the right results if they don’t have a few key features. Here’s what you should look for in a solution if you want to see real improvements like lower wait times, higher customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores or shorter resolution time.
Conversational AI Must Be Truly Conversational
Conversational AI combines a variety of technology and techniques to empower customers to have conversations with an automated solution. Simple, automated messages aren’t enough to meet customers’ expectations anymore, especially when they have a more complex issue that doesn’t come up in a drop-down menu. And not every solution has the technology needed to understand what a customer needs.
These are some of the most important types of AI technology needed to make a virtual assistant exceptional:
- Natural language processing (NLP) allows the solution to understand the intent behind a customer’s language, no matter how they phrase it.
- Natural Language Generation allows conversational AI to respond to a customer in a human-like format.
- Machine learning ensures that not only does the virtual agent speak and comprehend language like a human, but can also learn like a human and apply its lessons to future interactions.
If these features are lacking, customers won’t feel like their interaction with a virtual agent flows naturally enough. The way people communicate varies to large degrees, with customers speaking different languages, using slang, sarcasm and maybe even emojis in their interactions with a virtual assistant. No matter how they speak, they need to feel like the virtual assistant understands them and can respond appropriately.
It Must Keep Humans in the Loop
When used correctly, AI doesn’t replace the jobs of agents; it makes their jobs easier. With many customer inquiries coming in from chat, phone calls, social media and more, human agents can’t keep up without the help of technology. Many older forms of virtual assistants will automate simple customer interactions, only to redirect the customer to a human agent when the problem becomes too complex, and then the agent is on their own. When self-service fails to solve an issue, agents are left to deal with frustrated customers.
A fresh approach called Human-in-the-Loop makes this process much less stressful for both the customer and the agent. Ordinarily when a virtual assistant gets stuck and is unsure of how to continue, it would escalate the inquiry to a human agent and put the customer on hold. This is obviously a bad experience. With Human-in-the-Loop, an agent works in the background to provide information and direction to allow the AI to continue the interaction with the customer. This improves customer interactions in many ways. Not only do human agents get pulled in to manage interactions where human judgment is required, but they also can rely on an AI assistant to guide them through difficult conversations in the moment. AI alone cannot make a contact center run smoothly, but the combination of human agents and an AI-enabled solution helps deliver the best customer experience.
It Must Have Comprehensive Data Security Capabilities
Security is always top of mind at contact centers. Customers may need to share sensitive personal information such as contact information, credit card numbers or social security numbers. A virtual assistant must be designed with security in mind so that customers’ privacy is respected and their information isn’t compromised.
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The ideal solution will be sophisticated enough to live up to the compliance standards set by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and various state-level privacy laws in the U.S. — all while being able to handle customer data quickly and securely. Developing an in-house solution is too complicated a task for most organizations and requires a team with advanced skills and experience. For companies interested in avoiding this risk, using a trustworthy, market-ready AI solution will help them save time and ensure security for all their customers.
It Must Have Proven Results
Few contact centers currently use AI to its full potential, missing out on many of the benefits that come from maximum efficiency. Customers become frustrated with disjointed, inconsistent customer support communications. The right virtual assistant can help companies avoid this. For example, a major insurance company that adopted conversational AI leader Interactions saw a 25% increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores. Another Interactions client, a large global insurance provider, saw their misdirected call rate decrease by 50%. And a major telecom client was able to improve customer retention by 150% and reduce call handle time by 28%.
Interactions created a Contact Center Virtual Assistant Automation Checklist to help companies compare solutions and choose the one that best meets goals. In this checklist, you’ll learn the key features to look for in a solution in the buckets of greeting and data collection, payments and account information, and complex transactions. Download the checklist in the link below!
