How to Use a Customer Service Bot to Increase Customer Loyalty
When customers have an issue with a product or service, chatbots can be the ideal solution for setting things right. Unlike support via email or social media, chatbots provide a fast response. And unlike with phone systems, users won’t have to sit and listen through annoying menus before getting the help they need.
Good chatbot management makes all the difference to turning angry users into loyal customers. Ideally, a good customer service chatbot will work alongside a team of humans that can remain vigilant to responses and jump in when necessary. Second, it will provide an always empathetic, helpful tone.
Do you want to build loyalty with a chatbot? Check out our three big tips for turning angry users into happy customers.
Manage Expectations Up-Front to Increase Customer Loyalty
The surest way to frustrate a user is to present an experience that’s counter to their expectations. When someone contacts a customer service bot, they need information of help solving a problem. Once they hit “send,” they’ll immediately want to know what can be done.
Begin the exchange by stating your bot’s goal’s up-front, as well as suggesting probable outcomes for the user. Does your customer service chatbot exist to help customers learn about a product or service? Does it fix issues with orders or billing? Is there an option for the user to be connected to a human agent, or to leave a message? Provide this info at the start of the conversation so users know what to expect.
Devote a Team to Work with the Customer Service Bot
When dealing with angry or complaining customers, you must ensure your bot is as helpful as possible in dealing with their criticisms. Chances are, the customer service bot will be the first thing your users contact to solve a problem. This first impression is critical; if the bot doesn’t provide valuable answers, it’ll only drive customers away—and they might never come back.
Use chatbot analytics to measure the usefulness of the bot’s responses. You can do this by seeing where conversations ended. Measuring the average number of conversation steps can help you remove barriers to information that your customers need; ideally, you want to surface up solutions as quickly as possible. Check in on conversations regularly so you can assess your customer service chatbot’s usefulness.
Finally, keep your bot focused on its purpose. For example, if your chatbot is meant to deal with complaining customers, don’t waste their time by having it feed them self-promotion for your business.
Keep Customer Support Bot Responses Brief
Information overload is overwhelming, scares customers away and can lead to more frustration. For these reasons, you should keep chatbot responses brief. A customer service bot is essentially a highly-sophisticated FAQ, so it should similarly present easy-to-digest information for confused users.
Also consider allowing the customer to reach out to a human agent. The conversation tree can help a team understand users’ needs and organize inquiries, then jump in to help. Again, a customer support bot that connects users to a team member should assure users that they’ll be able to talk to a human, which can give them a better piece of mind.
Customize the Experience to Build Loyalty with a Chatbot
Once you’ve set things right and met customers’ needs, how can you turn them into loyal customers? Deliver a personalized experience! Personalization is key to building consumer loyalty, and chatbots are uniquely positioned to providing one-on-one service with a wide swath of your customer base at a time.
One way to build loyalty is to frame a customer support bot as a digital friend who’s always available to help customers with whatever problems they face. It can check in to assure users that any complaints, problems or issues can be fixed—and could even reward users for providing feedback.
If the bot manages sales as well as provides customer support, you might consider instating a rewards system. This could offer personalized promotions to the user, allowing them to make a fast and easy purchase within their messaging app of choice. If their account is tied to a rewards system, the user could track their awards and act on them—for example, the bot might remind them of ways they can redeem points through the platform.
This provides happy customers incentive to stick with the brand. And when customers have resolved an issue with the customer support bot, they might be rewarded with a personalized offer or reward as compensation that they can redeem at the same time.
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