Richer Messaging: The Next Evolution in AI-Powered Customer Service
Picture this: a customer is browsing through your company’s website searching for a pair of shoes they’ve been dying for. They’re in luck. The stock has just been replenished, and they are now the proud owner of a pair. 5-7 days later, a brown box arrives on their doorstep. It’s a quick hit of dopamine, and the excitement is overwhelming. They open the box, pull out the shoes only to realize they’ve overestimated their size. Now it’s time for the exchange process.
Back to the website they go to scope out the quickest way to resolve their problem. 42% of customers will choose live chat over phone, email, and social media support. When they do, chances are more likely than not they’ll be speaking to an AI-powered virtual agent. It’s a seamless process yet there’s something left there to be desired. The experience could be more intuitive and engaging. It could be faster in its time to resolution. Your AI-powered virtual agent has the potential to be more.
Web chat is a Tool for your Contact Center
Chatbots have been around since 1966 and have come a long way since their first iterations: ELIZA (1966) and PARRY (1972). Their popularity and adoption have accelerated in the past year alone due to them playing a strategic role in some companies’ responses to COVID-19. It’s also predicted that AI-powered virtual agents will be one of the pioneers in turning a contact center into a profit center as they grow with responsibility in customer experience over the next few years.
Yet text-based web chat is the bare minimum. The bare bones of web chat are essentially the traditional interactive voice response of customer service online.
SmartAction Does Web Chat the Richer Way
SmartAction takes it to the next level. The same way we elevate our voice self-service with the tailoring of our advanced Natural Language Understanding engine for the best experience possible, we upgrade our AI-powered virtual agent with rich media elements. The trend of rich media elements is on the rise; This is where customer engagement transforms from routine support into a curated experience. Rich media elements can make a company’s customer service shine. It puts companies ahead of the rest and sets them apart from the crowd.
What is Rich Media and Why is it Important?
Rich media is photos, videos, quick reply buttons, emojis—anything that turns text into an interactive and immersive experience. Those gifs you send to your friend in response to a funny joke in a group chat? That’s rich media. A voice note you received from your mom reminding you to give her a call? Also rich media. These elements are in your day-to-day communications more often over time and enrich your conversations. To implement them is to enhance your web chat into a more proactive tool.
Rich Media Features Brings Bold Benefits
Customers want to be engaged with your brand. They want immediate help and resolution to their problems. Keeping the level of effort at practically effortless is necessary. By creating a more robust chat experience and using elements like:
- Image carousels to create an interactive and immersive experience.
- Quick reply buttons to speed up chat resolution.
- Feedback surveys to capture customer satisfaction.
Companies can deliver a frictionless customer experience and personalized engagement to turn their AI-powered virtual agent from a bot into a human-centric asset. Not only will your NPS, CSAT, CES improve, costs decrease, and revenue increase (38% of consumers are more likely to buy from your company if web chat help is offered!), but your customer will be guided down a path of resolution with ease. Companies using rich media elements will be at the forefront of customer engagement built for customer satisfaction.
