Billing & Payments

AI-Powered Virtual Agents for Payments, Collections, and More

The Ultimate Guide to AI Self-Service Without Compromise

What Are Virtual Agents for Billing & Payments?

AI-powered virtual agents use conversational AI to automate the routine conversations traditionally handled by live agents. With SmartAction’s Omni-Bot™ feature, organizations typically start in voice, where the ROI is the greatest, then scale the same experience to chat or text for a complete omnichannel self-service strategy.

Learn more about virtual agents and what they can do

Billing is a great place to begin your contact center’s transformation to AI automation. Offload routine billing calls and chats from customer service reps to AI-powered virtual agents. By seamlessly integrating with your CRM or ERP, virtual agents use natural language processing (NLP) to greet customers by name, authenticate, review past transactions, identify banking information, securely accept credit card info, and much more - all the things live agents do.

Which Billing & Payment Calls/Chats Can be Automated Using Virtual Agents?

Account Crediting & Refunds

Balance Inquiries

Charge Descriptions

Check Payment Status

Collections

Credit Card Notifications

Invoice Requests

Make Payments

Payment Plans

What is the Customer Experience Like with a Virtual Agent?

Scenario 1: Payment Plan
Dana has three credit cards that she uses for different purchases to maximize her cash back return. All the cards are on different billing schedules. Dana is driving home from work when she remembers that her Vista credit card payment is probably due soon. See how an AI-powered virtual agent makes life less hard for her.
Scenario 2: Outbound Collections
Barry bought a couch recently for his son, setting up a payment plan through the furniture store. Four months later, he spends three weeks on business travel and forgets to make his payment. He receives a call from an AI-powered virtual agent reminding him about the past due balance and securely accepting his credit card over the phone.
Scenario 3: Payment & Transfer
Walker received a bill in the mail from Zenith Insurance then immediately called in to make a payment. Rather than giving the standard greeting, the virtual agent is able to predict why he is calling.
Scenario 4: Balance Request
Patricia and her husband have signed up for a cruise but need to find out the remaining balance, so she can budget what remains.
Scenario 5: Make A Payment with Virtual Agent Automation
Henry calls his insurance company to pay his bill but wants to set up payment through his checking account instead of the savings account on file.

Which Billing & Payment Challenges Do Virtual Agents Help You Address?

PCI Compliance to accept credit card information securely
Collection processes that would be too expensive for live agents
Complex payment scenarios like payment plans, without needing a live agent
Streamlined payment process to make self-service easy

Sample Billing & Payment Conversation

Virtual Agent
Thank you for calling TV Warehouse. Calls are recorded for quality purposes.
Dynamic data is customized to your company’s name, or other companies you may represent.
Virtual Agent
To get started, we need to verify your account. Please tell me the last four digits of your social security number.
Account authentication can verify SSN, zip code, account number, or any other personal identification information you choose.
Customer
Six, four, four, one
If a customer didn’t have this information, the virtual agent would ask for another piece of personal data for account verification.
Virtual Agent
Thanks Jennifer. In a few words, please tell me how I can assist you today.
Natural language intent capture.
Customer
I want to check my account balance.
The virtual agent is listening for several different intents. Some intents mean the call stays with the virtual agent. The rest get transferred to a live agent.
Virtual Agent
Your account balance is $508.28. Would you like to hear that again?
The virtual agent is jacked-in to the CRM via webservices and uses its dynamic text-to-speech engine to read aloud anything from the customer record.
Customer
No thanks.
Virtual Agent
Is there anything else I can help you with today?
The virtual agent improves the Customer Experience (CX) by allowing customers to interact in natural language.
Customer
Customer service rep please.
Virtual Agent
I understand you would like to speak to a customer advocate. In order to better serve you, please tell me the reason for your transfer.
The virtual agent is listening for words like “representative” and other synonyms, so callers are never trapped in automation. The virtual agent gathers information then passes it in a screen-pop to the live agent.
Customer
I have questions about my account.
Even if this is something the virtual agent could handle, the call will still be transferred.
Virtual Agent
Thank you. Please hold while I transfer you to a customer advocate. Thanks for calling TV Warehouse, have a great day.
Virtual Agent
Hi Jennifer, I see you checked your account balance and have questions about your account. How can I help you?
Seamless handoff from the virtual agent to the live agent creates an effortless customer experience.

Integrations – Billing & Payments

SmartAction integrates with every IVR, contact center platform, CRM, and payment gateway.

The most important integration for Billing is with your CRM.

Your IT team simply needs to expose APIs the SmartAction CX team, who will determine the best ways to connect to your data.

CRM:

Salesforce
Oracle
NetSuite
Magento
Other Homegrown Systems

Payment Processors:

USA ePay
Vantiv / Element Payment Services
Authorize.net
Deutsche Bank
Certifi

For the most human-centric AI design and implementation, choose SmartAction’s virtual agent solution.

Why Automate Billing & Payment Calls/Chats with SmartAction?

PROVEN: Industry-leading conversational AI for omnichannel self-service

SmartAction started as an AI research company and now has more than a decade in AI development. The core AI technology supports omnichannel self-service across hundreds of use cases. SmartAction customers automate in voice first, where the ROI is the greatest, then scale the same CX to chat and text. SmartAction is the only AI-powered self-service solution for customer service to be named “Gartner Cool Vendor,” the only company recognized by Frost & Sullivan as “The Leader in Self-Service,” and is currently the top-rated and most reviewed Virtual Customer Assistant solution on Gartner Peer Insights.

EASY: Outsource voice & chat automation for a human-centric CX without compromise

SmartAction delivers its proprietary conversational AI as a service through a team of CX experts rather than DIY software licenses. SmartAction’s CX team works for you day-in and day-out to improve performance until reaching perfection. You only need to assist our CX team with conversation design, data integrations, and unique business rules to set the virtual agent’s “guardrails.” This is how we keep our brand promise of delivering self-service automation without sacrificing an ounce of CX. Learn about implementation.

LOW RISK: Start small in 6-8 weeks and grow over time

Getting started with SmartAction couldn’t be easier or more affordable, with no large CapEx investment or professional services fees. Rather than rip-and-replace existing telephony investments, SmartAction augments your IVR with conversational AI for a nominal one-time setup fee and simple, pay-as-you-go usage pricing. There are no charges for upgrades or fees for making changes - the full suite of services from SmartAction’s CX team is included in the per-minute usage price. Organizations can start as small as they want to see how well customers interact with the system and realize the immediate ROI.

Learn more about SmartAction’s obsession with LIFE LESS HARD™

Billing & Payments

AI-Powered Virtual Agents for Payments, Collections, and More

The Ultimate Guide to AI Self-Service Without Compromise

What Are Virtual Agents for Billing & Payments?

Which Billing & Payment Calls/Chats Can be Automated Using Virtual Agents?

Account Crediting & Refunds

Balance Inquiries

Charge Descriptions

Check Payment Status

Collections

Credit Card Notifications

Invoice Requests

Make Payments

Payment Plans

What is the Customer Experience Like with a Virtual Agent?

Scenario 1: Payment Plan

Scenario 2: Outbound Collections

Scenario 3: Payment & Transfer

Scenario 4: Balance Request

Scenario 5: Make A Payment with Virtual Agent Automation

Which Billing & Payment Challenges Do Virtual Agents Help You Address?

Sample Billing & Payment Conversation

Virtual Agent

Thank you for calling TV Warehouse. Calls are recorded for quality purposes.

Dynamic data is customized to your company’s name, or other companies you may represent.

Virtual Agent

To get started, we need to verify your account. Please tell me the last four digits of your social security number.

Account authentication can verify SSN, zip code, account number, or any other personal identification information you choose.

Customer

Six, four, four, one

If a customer didn’t have this information, the virtual agent would ask for another piece of personal data for account verification.

Virtual Agent

Thanks Jennifer. In a few words, please tell me how I can assist you today.

Natural language intent capture.

Customer

I want to check my account balance.

The virtual agent is listening for several different intents. Some intents mean the call stays with the virtual agent. The rest get transferred to a live agent.

Virtual Agent

Your account balance is $508.28. Would you like to hear that again?

The virtual agent is jacked-in to the CRM via webservices and uses its dynamic text-to-speech engine to read aloud anything from the customer record.

Customer

No thanks.

Virtual Agent

Is there anything else I can help you with today?

The virtual agent improves the Customer Experience (CX) by allowing customers to interact in natural language.

Customer

Customer service rep please.

Virtual Agent

I understand you would like to speak to a customer advocate. In order to better serve you, please tell me the reason for your transfer.

The virtual agent is listening for words like “representative” and other synonyms, so callers are never trapped in automation. The virtual agent gathers information then passes it in a screen-pop to the live agent.

Customer

I have questions about my account.

Even if this is something the virtual agent could handle, the call will still be transferred.

Virtual Agent

Thank you. Please hold while I transfer you to a customer advocate. Thanks for calling TV Warehouse, have a great day.

Virtual Agent

Hi Jennifer, I see you checked your account balance and have questions about your account. How can I help you?

Seamless handoff from the virtual agent to the live agent creates an effortless customer experience.

Integrations – Billing & Payments

For the most human-centric AI design and implementation, choose SmartAction’s virtual agent solution.

Why Automate Billing & Payment Calls/Chats with SmartAction?

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