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Between AI (artificial intelligence) and real people, who’s better? Take a dip into the debate and learn some best practices.
When it comes to services that are most commonly outsourced, we can look no further than in the customer service sphere. Here, we compare the use of automated chatbots, live (human) support services, and how outsourcing plays a role.
Let’s dive into the strengths and weaknesses of both chatbots and human support agents, and what fits best for your business.
The Benefits & Downfalls of Automated Chatbots
The customer experience of dealing with a chatbot can range from useful to frustrating depending on how such is set up.
On the positive side, an automated chatbot can answer queries succinctly and quickly on simple frequently asked questions. Because of this, it can handle a lot of simple questions to very little cost and no supervision.
But a chatbot can only take you so far. You are limited to the triggers you set up, and it can be very difficult to get customers the answers they need to specific, unique questions.
The most frustrating experience customers have with chatbots might be having to repeat the entire inquiry process or their line of questioning if the chat glitches or disconnects.
The Pros & Cons of (Human) Customer Support Agents
When it comes to live support with human customer service agents, the main advantage is that of a better capability to answer complex queries put forward, leading to customer satisfaction and brand trust. Agents are also more versatile as they can answer phone calls, social media, and emails as needed. They can even perform data entry tasks and any other tasks that can be done remotely.
The main disadvantages of hiring customer support employees is the overhead costs and effort it takes to maintain a team of in-house entry level customer service employees, which show high turnover. Not only is it hard to hire the right people, they require equipment, training, supervision, benefits, and most of the time wages above minimum wage for a minimal position. The higher level of support you’ll need, the more you’ll have to compensate those workers.
As your business grows and more inquiries come in, your ability to scale your contact operation may be limited. At some point, you will have customers on hold too long — and when they do get a person, they are low performing. This could lower overall satisfaction and trust, losing you money.
For this reason, enterprises from small to large think ahead and take advantage of outsourcing customer support to call centers that specialize in chat, voice, email, and social media support, like Pac Biz.
As you grow, we grow. Avoid the headache of managing a call center yourself, and focus on what your business does best. If you need to hire 10 agents at a time, Pac Biz can easily bring agents on your account as needed, no hassle to you. It’s really that simple.
Best Case Scenario: Maybe a Mix of Both?
Now, what is to be done? Chatbots and live chat are not irreconcilable, since they can both work in tandem together for your business to be the most cost-effective solution for your business.
For example, it would be most cost-effective, and customer experience positive to set up triggers or list frequently asked questions with a chatbot for simple answers (lowest cost), while more complex issues prompt engagement with outsourced live chat agents (low cost) who can expertly handle the situation. If an inbound customer has a high expertise level inquiry, only then will it be escalated to an in-house specialist (highest cost).
Case Study: Cost-Effective Improvements on IT Support Processes
For a real life example, here we have outsourced Live Support handling customer service for an IT company that had inquiries that are too complex for chatbots but also more costly per hour to have handled by more specialized employees.
If you’ve never outsourced call center services (phone, chat, email support, etc.), don’t worry — our team will guide you through the process and you’ll be thrilled by your improved margins and customer experience.
So to get the best of both worlds, contact Pac Biz today:
