Businesses can improve efficiency with chatbots.



Under, or for that matter over utilised chatbots can be a frustrating experience for customers, which in turns leaves you fielding lots of customer issues.

This has a negative impact on efficiency and will be the leading reason why companies do not utilise chatbots.  Incorrectly believing that the bots are at fault not the programming and people behind them.


To get the maximum efficiency from your bot is it important to understand them, and the functions they can perform.






Once you have decided on the function your chatbot is going to perform; it is better to spend time covering that area entirely.  Customers are going to get frustrated if the bot provides a series of bad interactions with wrong information.


So, do not over stretch your bot.  Having more than one bot, and adding comprehensively structured bots over time is infinitely better than throwing out one ill-conceived bot that flounders from the start.


So what functions could your bot handle that would improve your efficiency?



Customer Service


A fairly obviously one, and one of the biggest areas of use.

Before we had websites we had people fielding our enquires, when websites came along we all stepped up to FAQ pages.  Customer services tend to handle repetitive enquires and give out the same answers to these questions over and over.



A chatbot can handle multiple requests at the same time, from pedestrian questions like ‘How much is your delivery charge?’ to things that require them to interact with your backend eCommerce site ‘Do you have the blue shoes in size 6?’.


Ordering Goods or Services


With advancements in chatbot technology, we are now seeing bots that are perfectly capable of handling an order, taking payment and arranging delivery.  Again this is perfect for improving efficiency with chatbots.


Bots are always accurate and can never accidentally provide the wrong answer or order the wrong item.  They will do exactly as they are instructed, and you have a written record of the whole transaction.


A secure payment facility can easily be added to the chatbot functionally to ensure a seamless order process from start to finish.



Technical Support


Ok, maybe this is still under the customer service umbrella. Nevertheless, it’s worth thinking about as a different role for a chatbot.

Customers logging on to access customer support could easily start with a chatbot who has enough information to deal with fundamental technical issues.  ‘Have you tried turning it off and back on again?’, being the most famous help desk adage!  But it doesn’t have to stop there.


Using a series of logic gates and promoting customers for yes / no type responses, a technical support bot can channel down the stages of a problem and hopefully offer a resolution.


This means that should the issue remain unresolved and the chatbot needs to call in a live agent, the groundwork is done. Moreover, the agent has an immediate transcript of what the bot did, without scrolling through reams of customer input.  Efficiency once more increased!


Overall the limits of a chatbot have yet to be realised. However to do the best for your business today, set up a chatbot that handles a function you have, and fully understand. That way you will see how beneficial they can be.



Stefan Rehm

Key Account Manager

Would you like to automate your customer communication?



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