The Right Chatbot Business Case

How to Build the Right Chatbot Business Case

Just adding a chatbot on your website or mobile app will not reduce customer service calls. Sometimes, I must tell a customer service team that it is not surprising that their well-designed chatbot is not reducing customer service calls. In fact, it’s doubtful that they will ever see the return on the investment they promised their managers.

The Wrong Success Metric

The wacky part is that the bot may be more valuable to the brand than the cost savings that increased customer service automation might have provided. The remaining problem is that, in their business case, they committed to the wrong success metric.

Shifting Channel Mix

There is value in shifting your channel mix. For those who have already deployed chat and are looking to maximize adoption, introduce strategies that encourage your callers to become chatters. This can be as simple as your IVR proactively offering a link to chat to anyone waiting on hold for a voice agent. If you do this, make sure that your digital support is as high-quality as what you offer by phone.

Converting Callers to Chatters

If you do this, you’ve broadened the pool of interactions that can be contained by your new (well-designed) chatbot. Nailing chat is tricky, but successfully converting loyal callers to digital, you’ve broadened the pool of interactions that can be contained by your new (well-designed) chatbot.

Creating the Business Case

To build the right business case, you need to do some analysis on your web or mobile application users via tools such as journey mapping, voice of the customer, confidence-building measures, and customer analytics:

• Where (and why) do they get hung up? What are their “pain points”?
• What can’t they find on your website or in your mobile app?
• Where is the information that the customer needs to move forward?
• What questions aren’t you answering throughout the customer journey in your digital touchpoints?

With these insights, you can identify what your potential chatbot will do — e.g., generate more sales, assist with payment, or whatever it may be. It’s possible that your customer support site has problems and that people are calling customer service after failing there, but you need to validate that assumption, not build a business case on it.

Analyzing Voicebot Options

If your domain is customer service and you want to reduce contact center costs, explore an advanced voicebot that automates more calls. A modern voicebot will also reduce agent call durations by ensuring that all calls are escalated to the best available agent with all the pertinent customer information required to solve the customer’s problem quickly.

Omnichannel Considerations

Many brands look to deploy chatbots first, thinking that they are simpler to deploy and a better experience for customers, but if your goal is to reduce customer service calls, put your bot on the phone. Every call that the bot handles is a call that did not need an agent. If you do go down the voicebot path, think about omnichannel for the long run, meaning you should find a vendor that can provide digital as well as voice services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, building the right business case for your chatbot requires a deep understanding of your customers’ needs and pain points. By analyzing your web or mobile application users and identifying the opportunities for your chatbot to provide value, you can create a compelling business case that justifies the investment.

FAQs

• What is the wrong success metric for a chatbot?
  The wrong success metric is reducing customer service calls. A chatbot may be more valuable to the brand than the cost savings that increased customer service automation might have provided.
• How can I shift my channel mix?
  Introduce strategies that encourage your callers to become chatters. This can be as simple as your IVR proactively offering a link to chat to anyone waiting on hold for a voice agent.
• What is omnichannel?
  Omnichannel is the ability to provide consistent customer experiences across all interactions, including digital and voice. This includes finding a vendor that can provide digital as well as voice services.