How Conversational AI Helps Your Best Customer Service Rep Become Better

With an increasing number of customers wanting to conduct their banking online, banks have had to implement new ways to handle larger volume of requests coming from those who have chosen to make the switch. The switch to online platforms, partly due to the pandemic, has dramatically increased customer ease and convenience and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. According to Chatbots Magazine, 90% of customer interactions with their banks will be automated using conversational AI by the end of the year. This wouldn’t be possible without the implementation of Artificial Intelligence, which can ensure your company conversational AI solution will enhance even your best customer service rep's performance. 

Conversational AI bots are becoming increasingly popular solutions meant to simulate humanlike interaction through text or voice interactions. Though these have been around for a while, the recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence and other technologies have allowed chatbots to become increasingly sophisticated.

Chatbots have a varying level of complexity and range from stateful to stateless. A stateful chatbot is capable of retrieving information from past conversations and providing new answers using information that has already been provided. In contrast, a stateless chatbot begins a conversation from scratch each time, even if an individual has previously interacted with it. This is also one of the main differentiators between a chatbot and a conversational AI assistant.

With the rapidly evolving digital world that continues to alter and increase customer expectations, your banking institution must be equipped with the right conversational AI solution that can meet and exceed them. There are many benefits that a chatbot provides, which can even make them a better employee than your best customer service representative. 

24/7 Service 

It's the night before your bill is due, or you see an unusual charge on your account, and you'd like someone to address your concerns. Unfortunately for you, the bank closed earlier that evening, and it's too late to contact a live agent. We've all been in a similar situation where it would have been beneficial to have someone standing by 24/7 to answer urgent questions.

Ensuring that your bank offers 24/7 service is critical as more individuals desire instant access to their accounts and someone standing by in case something looks unusual. Conversational AI makes this possible and at a fraction of the cost of its human counterpart. Using conversational AI assistants to answer questions at all hours of the day can give your customers an added sense of security and peace of mind when it comes to online banking. Not only will customer satisfaction increase, but the costs of offering such services will also decrease as it doesn't cost your company any added fees to run conversational AI bots 24/7.

Multilingual Abilities

Unlike in the past, we now live in a highly integrated society that has a mix of cultures and languages. Though you can assume that a majority of your clientele will all speak the same language, you must account for the individuals who are multilingual and require extra assistance to fully understand the services you offer. Not providing additional languages on your online platform can turn away potential clients which can reduce potential earnings.  

Requiring customer service representatives to know multiple languages is unrealistic and can backfire when hiring new employees. Turning away potential candidates because of this could result in missing out on exceptional employees and a limited pool of candidates. Rather than limiting your company's hiring potential, consider using a conversational AI platform to fulfill multilingual abilities. The AI virtual assistants found on the online platform or through the automated massaging system can help guide customers through services in several different languages. This has the potential to make multilingual customers feel comfortable while navigating through the offered services while keeping your institution staffed with your best customer service representatives.

Reduced Waiting Periods

Making sure call centers are staffed with the best customer service representatives is important if you wish to keep clients happy and your business running smoothly. However, solely relying on your representatives to answer calls leads to long waiting times, especially during high call volume hours. Excessive waiting periods can make clients unhappy and leave some with unanswered questions. Some may even find themselves so inconvenienced that they result coming into the bank to solve the challenges they are facing. This not only inconveniences your clients but adds stress to your customer service representatives. 

Using conversational automation in call centers can drastically reduce waiting periods in two ways. When a client calls the help center, conversational AI and automation can be used to direct the client in the right direction. Not every individual will be calling for the same issue, so having an AI virtual assistant direct them at the beginning of a call can reduce their waiting time as they are sent directly to the individual who can help them with their specific problem. The other way these bots can reduce waiting periods is by giving a client the option to solve their problem on the spot through automated processes. Many individuals may shy away from using the company website, or mobile app, as they are unsure how to navigate these to solve their problem. However, ensuring that a conversational AI virtual assistant is ready to help can ease client concerns while drastically reducing their (as well as others) waiting time. 

Personalized Banking 

Clients appreciate a personalized banking experience. Having a familiar face to always handle your banking needs creates a unique experience that can add a layer of trust between client and representative. However, this personalized experience becomes much harder to achieve on an online platform. With more and more clients choosing online banking over face-to-face encounters, it’s critical to remember the importance of the client-representative relationship. In most cases, even your best customer service representative wont be able to maintain a relationship with a client over the phone as the high call volumes make it difficult to go beyond the scope of handling the problem on hand. 

Virtual customer assistants can be programmed to remember previous conversations over text and recognize personal identifying information. Remembering previous conversations and personal details can give your client a sense of a personalized banking experience, ensuring that your conversational AI assistant provides an experience that mimics your best customer service representative.  

Consistency 

The inconsistency between customer service representatives can leave clients feeling like they’re receiving different experiences depending on the representative they are speaking to. While some customer representatives go above and beyond to meet client expectations, others may feel they are providing satisfactory service by doing the bare minimum. This inconsistency results in drastically different experiences which can leave clients feeling extremely frustrated. 

Conversational AI assistants are programmed to deliver the same customer service no matter the different variables thrown at them. This provides a level of consistency that even your best customer service representative is unable to uphold.  Without emotions and other human tendencies, AI can provide quality service with every single encounter. 

Ensuring that increasing customer satisfaction is met can be a difficult task to accomplish without the right tools. With AI virtual assistants available to make your clients' experience better than any customer service representative, it’s no wonder they are becoming increasingly popular in the world of banking and finance. By partnering with DRUID, your bank is able to create a more personalized user experience with their conversational AI designed specifically for banking. If your bank is looking to incorporate next-generation customer interactions into everyday services, consider DRUID as a partner to your solutions!

Want to learn more about the benefits of conversational AI in a financial institution? Schedule a live demo to see how this technology could benefit you.