The spectra of customer queries can be classified into two levels- “Repeated queries” and “Unique queries”. A new user is more likely to ask faqs than prospects and customers. Whereas prospects are likely to seek the answer to their specific queries. It gets critical to answer both of them in real-time without any delay. So you can deliver a satisfying user experience and get a better conversion rate. But with traditional slack tools of customer support, are you able to acknowledge the queries of the users? More likely, no. At least not without a big team of customer executives at the other end.
Answering frequently asked queries of the users doesn’t require a unique skill set. Anyone can answer them by following the steps to solve the problem. As per stats, 80% of the customer queries fall in the FAQ category. Hence answering them utilize a big part of resources, time, and capital. Plus, it also impacts the work productivity of the employees. So, to get rid of this, businesses list the FAQs on their website. But surprisingly, only a handful of people refer them in the hour of need. Whereas, the rest of the users largely relies upon human executives to get the response to their queries. Consequently, it burdens the support agents and also blocks the way for them to address the complex queries of the users.
Why live chat agents are the worst choice for answering the faqs?
Live chat agents hop FAQs by sharing links that might help users get the answer by themselves. But it’s proved to deteriorate the experience. On the other hand, when you utilize live chat agents for resolving the previously answered queries. Then it can capsize the customer support operations in several ways, such as:
- It burdens up human agents with unproductive tasks.
- Due to the increase in wait time, prospects often avert while awaiting their turn in a queue.
- Degrades user experience with your business, and results in low engagement and conversion rate.
- Increases customer acquisition cost, customer support cost, as well as operation cost.
The Dilemma: To automate FAQ or not via AI chatbot?
FAQs constitute a considerable part of the overall queries. By automating them, you can kill queues and create scope for human agents to address the complex ones. This will help you promptly answer the queries of the new users and filter out the prospects.
Besides, FAQ automation can also elevate relation with the users that matter. Therefore, it’s recommended to train the bot with the day to day queries of the users. By enabling ceaseless support services to the end-users, you can amplify the standard of customer service and can get benefitted in many ways. Let’s understand what top-notch customer service can do:
- Enhance the retention rate and ROI respectively.
- Strengthen brand image and value.
- Promotes long term relationships with customers.
- Empower marketing campaigns.
- Last but not least, it helps in taking a competitive advantage over rivals.
Autosuggest FAQs: Leap towards future of FAQ automation
As FAQs are pre-defined, they can be answered much faster than solving complex queries. You can further enhance this process with the Auto-suggest search. This bot-based feature enables you to recommend relevant questions as a user types a few words. You can also save the user response and redirect the conversation accordingly. By utilizing the Autosuggest, you can accelerate the faq answering process and can also make it easier for the users to avail support within a fraction of seconds.
6 Perks of FAQ automation:
Getting started with FAQ automation is the first step towards building customer-first business. By automating the recurring queries of the users, you can accelerate the customer support process. This yields better results, such as:
(1) Kill the queue and enhance the user experience
When availing customer support, no one likes to wait in lines. But with traditional support services, users have to wait for minutes to get their call connected. It deflects the prospects and also harms their interest in buying a product or service. Whereas faq automation can bring speed and effectiveness in customer support operations. As whenever a user asks a query, the bot will attend the user in real-time and provide the relevant solution, just like a human agent. Moreover, in the case of reading faqs on the website vs. getting answers via chatbot. The latter proves to be more user-friendly, and it also heightens the user experience as well.
(2) Cut customer support spends by up to 30%:
Undeniably, every enterprise is in the race to cut spends on support services. AI chatbots can be a great help here. They can answer thousands of users at the same time by remaining available 24*7. With FAQ automation, you can also free up the human agents to attend the complex queries. This enhances the productivity of customer support executives as well as reduces the cost of running support services by up to 30%.
(3) Initiate high-value conversations with prospects:
FAQs can act as the gateway to the journey of the prospects towards grasping the knowledge about a product. By answering faqs via chatbot, you can also ask questions to the users, such as:
- Will you like to know more about the product?
- When are you planning to make a purchase?
Prospects are more likely to provide a positive response to these questions. This can promote the ongoing conversation go to the next level like book demo, get a free trial, etc.
(4) Understand the intent of the users in a more specific way:
While responding to the faqs, a bot can also ask short questions and save user preferences. These user inputs can be interpreted to understand the intent of the users. Like, after answering the query of the user, a bot can say, “Would you like to know more?”. If a user confirms interest in knowing more about the same, then it reflects the concern of the user in a specific product.
(5) Better handoff to human agents:
Chatbots can answer faqs with ease. However, in any case, when a user asks a complicated query that bot can’t explain. Then it will actively shift the ongoing conversations to human agents for better resolution. After connecting the user with the agent, the bot will keep an eye on the conversation and can learn from the interaction. So when the same query arises, it can resolve it without assigning the chat to the human counterpart.
(6) Differentiate from others with exceptional customer service:
Most of the businesses are still preferring traditional support tools over AI chatbots. By taking advantage of chatbots, you can stand out and deliver exceptional customer service to the end-users. Bots can attain thousands of users at the same time, respond to their queries while pursuing business goals. Also, by training the bot with FAQs, you can acclimate to the growing norms of customer support.
Automating FAQs? Make sure to follow these 5 points
A chatbot is your gateway to win more customers while answering the queries of the prospects. But, a business chatbot needs to be well trained with repeated queries (FAQs) of the users. Other than this, here are a few points that should be kept in mind while automating the faqs:
1. Don’t redirect users to faq page:
When a user asks a query, then you should be wary of providing links to the articles that may help. Instead, you should give a clear and concise response. For instance:
User: Can I cancel my tickets before 24 hours?
Bot: Yes, you can cancel the tickets.
2. Relate with the vague questions:
A bot should be able to diversify the conversation. As when a user asks a question in an imprecise way, then the bot should be able to follow up for better understanding. For instance:
User: I am not happy with the quality of the product
Bot: We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you. Pick an item from the list so that I can assist you in a better way.
When a user picks a product from the provided list (Orders), then it clears the intention of the user query. Now, it gets easy for the bot to assist the user with relevant solutions, such as arrange a replacement, initiate a refund, etc.
3. Integrate the bot with backend:
You should integrate the chatbot with the backend. It empowers the bot to access the database and provide the user with the up to date information. With backend integration, a bot can also learn about the past preferences of the users and can personalize the ongoing dialogue. For instance:
User: I want to book a cab from the airport to my home
Bot: Hey David, welcome back. I’ve booked a taxi for you. You’ll shortly get the details via text. Have a happy journey back home.
4. Answer faqs within a different conversation:
A bot should be able to explain faqs even while having a different conversation with the users. Like, when a user is comparing two different products, then chances are high that he’ll ask the questions one by one for both of them.
5. When the going gets tough, connect with the human agent
It’s highly probable that prospects will begin the conversation by asking specific queries regarding a product or service, as per their requirements. Hence a bot might not be able to answer it. In such cases, for providing a satisfying resolution, it’s better to transfer the ongoing conversation to a human agent.
Closing statement
By syncing the faqs via the conversational chatbots, you can speed up the conversation with your prospects. It promotes better response time and also helps cut down customer support costs. However, a bot should remain up to date with the day-to-day queries of the users. This way, you can break free customer assistance agents from replying to the same problems again and again. Besides, when a bot doesn’t have the answer to a particular user query. Then it will hand off the chat to support executives, so your prospects can stay in the same lane.
