Conversational tools improve customer engagement and deliver tangible business results. David Karandish, CEO of Capacity, traces the evolution of chatbots and how the new kind of helpdesk powered by virtual assistants simplifies communication.Â
Communication has changed dramatically this year. While in January, many of us were sitting around a single conference room or side-by-side in an office, we’re now glued to tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Similarly, the way customers interact with companies has been abruptly forced to change. Â
One of the most effective ways for an organization to offer 24/7 support to customers in our current environment is through conversational experiences. While “virtual assistant†and “chatbot†have become buzzwords in the tech industry as communication tools rise in popularity, if you ask ten people to define these terms, you’ll likely get ten different definitions. When talking about conversational technology, some use the terms interchangeably while others claim they have two distinct definitions.
Even so, the similarities are obvious when looking at both a successful virtual assistant and a successful chatbot’s foundational make-up. By harnessing the power of AI to become increasingly intelligent and conversational, both provide information the user needs when making a decision or completing a task. This is why the specific use case for each tool is so ambiguous.
We must look at the big picture and explore how our methods of communication have evolved and the role technology plays in understanding the differences between chatbots and virtual assistants.
One way to look at communication is as a pyramid.
Conversation Forms the Base of All Communication
If we’re thinking about the evolution of communication as a pyramid, conversation would be at the base. The human-to-human way of communicating is what we are referring to when we talk about communication. These standard face-to-face conversations have transformed to include phone and virtual Zoom calls in our digital era.
Traditionally, from a business standpoint, we think of conversations happening in a place of business or over the phone with a representative. However, these “old-school†forms of communication have become less favorable as we become more intertwined with our devices and expect instant gratification. Fewer and fewer people want to pick up the phone or physically go to a store these days because of long wait times.Â
A third of customers find this wait to be their biggest frustration so businesses have made changes to meet customers’ needs and communication preferences.
Learn More: 5 Ways Chatbots Can Improve Workflows in the New Normal
Bot-Assisted Chats Force Users to Repeat ThemselvesÂ
Bot-assisted chat was our first move towards the world of advanced conversational technology we know today. While most of these interactions are still primarily human-to-human, bots can now assist in providing a few prescripted prompts so representatives can have a general understanding of the customer’s needs before hopping on the call. Knowing if the customer is inquiring about billing information or how to make changes to their account before going into a conversation can save time and help reps take more calls.
That said, these bots still have limited capabilities. Ensuring the customer is connected with the right person is the bot’s goal, but their understanding of the customer’s needs is surface-level. Bots are unable to determine what specific information the customer needs and therefore unable to provide them with answers.Â
For 33% of customers, having to repeat themselves to multiple representatives is the most frustrating thing. That’s why organizations have moved toward a better solution to improve the customer experience.
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Chatbots Have the Answers
Chatbots or software platforms designed to interact with humans via natural language engagement came next to support the modern customer. Unlike bot-assisted chats, chatbots can answer the user’s questions and direct them to the right person. Another bonus is that there is increasingly less need for human intervention when AI is involved because the bot learns to reduce errors and increase answer match rates in the future based on previous results.
Great customer experience is critical to any company’s success, so business leaders consider this one of their biggest priorities. Angry customers will share their experience with about 15 people while happy customers will only share their experience with roughly 11 people. To help customers on their terms, organizations have turned to chatbots as a way to provide around-the-clock assistance.Â
Customer support teams no longer need to stress out over the number of questions they need to answer in a day and customers are directed straight to the information they need without distracting a member of the team. All of this is possible thanks to chatbots.
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Virtual Assistants Know Who They’re Talking To
Virtual or digital assistants are the next level of the pyramid. Virtual assistants are there to provide information and help us get things done, just like a chatbot. Where chatbots and virtual assistants differ is in the context of what they know about the user. Customers can have a personalized experience and receive accurate information thanks to the virtual assistant’s AI and knowledge base.
Learn More: Chatbots are Changing the Nature of Customer Service
Full-fledged AI Assistants Predict Where the Conversation is Going Â
Full-blown AI assistants at the top of the evolution of the communications pyramid. AI assistants can predict where a conversation is going and learn as the interaction is happening. They can also facilitate workflow and handle tasks without supervision, which we couldn’t do with conversational technology before.
Bots can provide access to the knowledge we need, when we need it, with artificial intelligence so there is no waiting around for someone else to uncover the information. This allows us to focus on more important tasks while the bots automate the tedious ones. With this evolution already in our AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants, full-blown AI assistants are the next mainstay of communication.
Various conversational tools have been developed over the years to make communication flow easier. With this ever-evolving technology, organizations can provide customers with an exceptional, personalized experience as well as offer support and conflict resolution for large volumes of people at any given time. When it comes to simplifying communication and improving team productivity, we will likely continue to see AI-driven tools playing a significant role.
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