5 mistakes to avoid when implementing a customer support chatbot.

If your business is getting ready to implement its first customer support chatbot, congratulations! You've probably already discovered that chatbots can be used for all sorts of functions and that they can reduce labor costs, boost agent efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction. And you probably also know that an improperly deployed customer support chatbot can make customer satisfaction head south. If you're a little nervous, that's appropriate. It's good to go into this with eyes wide open.

Doing your due diligence before implementation is the best way to ensure your customer support chatbot is a rousing success. It's good to know best practices as well as what not to do.

Here are 5 mistakes to avoid when implementing your customer support chatbot:

1. Don't skimp on use case development efforts

Customer support chatbots are most successful when they perform very clearly and narrowly defined tasks. This makes use case development really important. You need to sweat the details. Define, very specifically, what your chatbot is going to do and why. Chatbots are only as good as they are programmed to be and strong, detailed use cases will help ensure they are designed and programmed to be successful.

2. Don't pretend your customer support chatbot is a real person

If you do this, you're not going to fool anyone. Chatbots just aren't that smart yet. Your customers want to know who they are talking to. In fact, we found that 92% of consumers want to be informed immediately that they're interacting with a customer support chatbot. Have your chatbot introduce itself as something like "Eve, the support bot." But then don't make the bot's speech too robotic - give it some personality.

3. Don't skip the pilot

Your executives might be eager to put your shiny new customer support chatbot into full blown production, but you really should do a pilot first. Start conservatively - maybe have the chatbot just handle one or two simple contact types at first. Then measure results, tweak as necessary, and add a little more responsibility to your bot. This type of iterative approach will ensure the success of a broader rollout.

4. Don't give up

This is still emerging technology and it has some limitations, so there will likely be some fumbles. In the midst of a short-term failure, keep your eye on the big picture - customer support chatbots really can improve both labor efficiency and customer satisfaction. Regroup and refine and keep at it!

5. Don't avoid potentially tough conversations with your employees

Employees know that automation will impact their jobs. It could just mean that how they do things is a little different or, on the other end of the spectrum, their jobs could be at risk. Be honest with them and help them through the change. This will help you avoid a scenario where your customer support chatbot is performing well but your contact center is in turmoil.

NICE can help you successfully implement customer support chatbots.

NICE CXone, the world’s #1 cloud customer experience platform, transforms your call center software – empowering exceptional agent and customer experiences: every channel, every time. Partnerships with leading chatbot providers make NICE the go-to partner for all your contact center needs. Find out more about our automation and AI capabilities.

Any digital channel

Your customers are trying to reach you for service on digital channels – even if you’re not there yet. How many SMS text messages go to your call center phone number with no response? Who’s trying to find you on Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp and not finding you? Now with CXone it is easy to provide digital-first omnichannel service in all the channels your customers expect.

  • Personalized digital interactions: deliver native experiences in each of 30+ messaging channels, such as rich media, emojis, and other collaboration tools.
  • Simple to Activate: pre-integrated channels make it easy to offer to customers and agents.
  • Easy to Say “Yes”: simple packaging removes barriers to offering all channels to customers and agents.
CXone digital channel
Empowered agents

CXone empowers all your agents to deliver a true digital-first omnichannel customer experience by simultaneously combining all customer interactions in one intelligent inbox across multiple digital channels and voice for agents to select ("pull"), while dynamically prioritizing the most time-sensitive or real-time interactions according to service levels ("push"). All delivered in a single application – complete with full customer context, journey history, and sentiment.

  • Single Interface: one inbox for all digital messaging and real-time (voice/chat) channels – retaining native experience of each messaging platform.
  • Agents in Control: ‘pulling’ work in natural flow, while dynamic prioritization maintains SLAs – and prevents ‘cherry picking’.
  • Customer Card: full customer context, journey and conversation history, plus sentiment.
Holistic management

With CXone, omnichannel interactions are managed holistically, from agents to supervisors and beyond. Integrated workforce optimization, analytics, automation and artificial intelligence across digital and voice interactions ensure complete management across contact center operations.

Related resources
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Best Practice: The Power of a Digital First Contact Center

Your customers have different preferences in how they want to contact your business. Hear from NICE customer, ESCI on how opening digital channels transformed their contact center, improved agent productivity and drive down costs for their contact center.

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