When to Transition to a Live Agent from Conversational AI Chatbots
Let’s face it. Even with the best conversational AI technology, some interactions will require a human touch. By offering a seamless handover between a chatbot and a live agent, you can rest assured that every online interaction with your brand is frictionless – no matter the situation.
Having chat functionality on your website is often enough to persuade potential buyers to engage in a conversation. It also drives brand loyalty and helps with sales.
What is Conversational Artificial Intelligence?
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) is all about technologies such as chatbots or voice assistants that users can talk to and interact with. However, these methods don’t involve a real human touch – instead, machine learning, large volume of data, and natural language processing to imitate human interactions. They recognize speech and text inputs and find a response to each query, translating its meaning across various languages.
Many businesses are utilizing AI chatbots that interact with customers on their websites. The goal is to create an experience that works in a similar tone and manner as a live human agent.
However, even with the best AI technology, there are still times when your customers will need help from a live agent. Creating a seamless human handoff between chatbots to Live Chat will ensure the best experience for every online interaction.
Why Does My Business Need Live Chat?
When a user contacts you through chat, they expect a response right away. With conversational AI, that is possible, but the answers may not be the exact ones users are looking for.
This is one reason why live chat always wins – specifically with unique queries that no machine can solve. Research from Econsultancy shows that 79% of consumers prefer live chat functions because they don’t have to wait on hold to get their questions answered immediately.
Implementation matters! You will need customer service representatives that are available 24/7 and able to respond with reasonable speed. Otherwise, your customers or potential ones could be left waiting and unhappy.
Can AI Chat Replace the Need for Human Agents in the Future?
This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions. However, if we make a full comparison between live chat and chatbot features, we will see that the main difference is that in live chat windows, the interaction is managed by a human, while chatbots carry it out through a machine that can translate customer queries and respond to them using data.
AI-driven bots can be trained to handle complex inquiries and can manage high chat volume, provided the solution is scalable and supported by the technology. As a result, they won’t keep customers waiting and are great for answering repetitive and straightforward queries.
On the other hand, live chat features use human resources that are more involved in the process. They can seamlessly handle complex queries, deliver personalized services, or track unique customer information. Therefore, when it comes to simple customer queries, live chat is not very useful.
So, let’s sum things up.
AI chatbots are great because:
- They offer the quickest response times and use data to navigate the customer to their answer.
- They are great for handling multiple queries.
- They work 24/7 and do not require additional help.
- They are perfect for guiding users to answers to simple questions, timetables, rules, etc.
Live chats are great because:
- They account for higher conversions.
- They offer quick access to information for customers.
- They offer personalized customer service.
- They help with complex or sensitive problems, requests, topics, and questions.
- They can handle multiple tasks at the same time.
- They account for higher customer satisfaction.
The key to a successful online customer support experience comes from a handoff between conversational AI (which are chatbots) to a human live chat operator.
The Chatbot to Live Chat Handoff
When customers expect quick and professional responses to their queries in a digital era, you need to optimize your customer support and automate it until the point when human intervention is necessary. This is where the chatbot-to-live chat handoff comes to play.
Scenarios that are simple and where users ask for directions, point to frequently asked questions (FAQs), travel rules, timetables, or something similar, they are usually handled well by chatbots.
However, when it comes to users who are ready to convert with a purchase or have specific questions, using bots can negatively affect the entire customer experience. In these situations, the best way is to introduce a handoff and have a real live agent take over the chatbot experience.
Bringing Out the Best from Both Worlds
In the end, the lesson that all businesses need to learn is simple – both live agents and chatbots have their pros and cons. There are many reasons to implement chatbots for some companies, and for others, live agents will consistently deliver better results.
The real opportunity to bring the best of both worlds comes through the handoff, where bots will take care of basic inquiries, while live agents will get more interesting cases that require a personal touch and an actual human to answer questions. Even though a handoff like this makes implementation a bit more complex, it also guarantees a stellar customer support experience.
