Chatbots are amazing for Customer Experience — here’s why

Luong Lu, Rasmus Sanko and Martin Nebelong from Charlie Tango

By: Lasse Grosby Hallqvist — copywriter at Charlie Tango

Imagine this:
You run a thriving company with a lot of customers. But said customers have a lot of questions. So you have to hire a bunch of customer service reps to answer all those questions. So far, so good.

But all is not well.

Your customers expect you to help with their questions around the clock while your customer service reps are sighing so hard from answering the same questions over and over again, that their lungs may soon fly out their mouths.

You know what?

It sounds like you need a chatbot!

Chatbots are amazing CX

I’ve talked to three of my wise colleagues and asked them why and how chatbots can deliver great customer experiences (CX) — but also what the pitfalls might be.

First, let’s hear from Martin Nebelong, CTO at Charlie Tango.

Hey, Martin. What’s so great about chatbots?

Looking at the big picture, it’s their ability to automate your workflows. Put simply, you take all your boring tasks and give them to a robot. And that’s really interesting!

Right now, they are best suited for helping with customer service — but that’s a good start. As a customer I get “personal” service whenever I want it without having to wait for a representative, while the company can use it’s resources to provide better service for those customers that do require a human to help them. That’s great Customer Experience!

Rasmus Sanko is our Chief Experience Officer — and he agrees with Martin, that Chatbots are great

Yes, I do — because chatbots are perfect for navigating a user through a very complex system without revealing its complexity. And it has a built in affordance — sort of like a chair — you just know instinctively how to use it. And, by using a chatbot you shield your employees from the most trivial, repetitive queries.

So chatbots mean happier customers and happier employees. But is a chatbot just a chatbot? I turned to creative director Luong Lu to ask about the creative possibilities chatbots hold.

Can you use chatbots to brand your business, Luong?

Yes, you sure can! First off, you need to make sure your chatbot has your brand’s DNA. When you train your chatbot, you can choose the way that it speaks, and this has to reflect your existing tone-of-voice.

Can the addition of a chatbot change the perception of a company?

Basically, a chatbot is just an interface. So it depends on how you design that interface.

Because it’s still not common for companies to have chatbots helping their customers, they still possess some sort of a cool factor. And that really adds to the CX. Especially if you are in a line of business, where the addition of a well-designed chatbot sets you apart from the competition.

I think they will become ubiquitous at some point and then it can probably be detrimental for a brand to not have one.

And now, the pitfalls

So, chatbots are the new black and you want one yesterday. But wait — because there are some pitfalls you need to consider first.

Rasmus, what can go wrong?

First of all, your company needs to have a certain level of digital maturity if you don’t want your chatbot to look out of place. Otherwise, it will become a gimmick, something you do to please the CEO but doesn’t add anything to your CX.

Chatbots could be in the same position that apps were in five years ago, where everyone had to have an app, whether they needed one or not.

Other things we need to be aware of, Martin?

You need to give your chatbot simple tasks. And you need a lot of data to train your chatbot. Actually, chatbots aren’t that interesting in themselves — it’s the system of intelligence around them, that really matters. You can’t just pick the chatbot — you really need to have the whole system in place around it. But that’s a good thing, because it will give your CX a boost.

Can you add anything, Luong?

Yes, two things.
One, you can’t replace people with chatbots. You can help people with chatbots. And two, you must always tell your customers, that they are talking to a bot. Otherwise, your customers will feel you are deceiving them.

Let’s recap

All in all, chatbots are amazing for your customer experience. Here’s why

• You can help your customers quickly and easily, 24/7
• You free up ressources, allowing your customer service reps to provide better service
• You strengthen your brand
• They force you to build a stronger system of intelligence

Want to know more about Customer Experience? Read our post on how we do CX here.