Small Business Archives – Concerto Making human like free form conversations a reality Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:54:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.5 https://www.concerto.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/concerto-icon-150x150.png Small Business Archives – Concerto 32 32 Voicebots and their growing role in shaping the customer experience https://www.concerto.ai/voicebots-and-their-growing-role-in-shaping-the-customer-experience/ Thu, 15 Sep 2022 08:00:24 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=13117 Voicebots and their growing role in shaping the customer experience Imagine being in an emergency and calling a friend only to be told “this caller is busy, please try again later” over and over again. Instant loss of trust. The next time you need help, you’d probably hit every other number in your contacts list […]

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Voicebots and their growing role
in shaping the customer experience

Imagine being in an emergency and calling a friend only to be told “this caller is busy, please try again later” over and over again. Instant loss of trust. The next time you need help, you’d probably hit every other number in your contacts list except that one. Unfortunately or otherwise, the same goes for customers. 32% of loyal customers swear to find a different brand after only one bad experience. Shocking? No. Disheartening? Definitely. But it’s not all gloom and doom for businesses like you because the world is embracing quick chat where voicebots are carving themselves a niche. And there’s much for you to gain in it.

Wait, but what exactly is a voicebot?

A voicebot is a conversational software that makes automated voice conversations possible. To do this, it makes sense of what customers say as they speak and shares a suitable audio response. Voicebots are powered by AI and make use of Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Machine Learning (ML) models to simulate live conversations in real-time. This simply means that when customers call, your voicebot talks to them as your staff would. But there are no time restrictions and your staff won't be overloaded.

Compared to its lesser sibling, IVR, the voicebot is quite the charmer. No hard-corded flows or rule-based commands. So customers need not press digits on a keyboard to get things done. Voicebots also have the ability to distinguish between conversation types like questions, requests, and feedback to share relevant responses in simple everyday language.

How are voicebots different from chatbots?

The ultimate goal of AI assistants is to recreate the magic of human connection. And to that end, they use various ML models and NLP engines. But in the conversational AI spectrum, chatbots and voicebots have their own niche. What sets them apart is the way a user interacts with them. While chatbots use text-based channels like website chat interfaces, messaging apps, and smart assistants, voicebots employ voice-based channels like telephony and smart speakers.

Voicebots get extra AI juice in the form of Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Speech Synthesis. These are the factors that power them with human-like speech capabilities. ASR captures user input and converts speech to text to be processed by its NLP engine. Following this, speech synthesis allows sharing the correct response to the user in natural spoken language.

And why does the difference matter? It boils down to preferences, really. Imagine this. You've got two different issues at hand that you can solve with the help of an intelligent assistant. The first is to do with your car’s servicing. You want to know if it's an issue you can fix by yourself and get step-by-step instructions to do it, if so. The second is about your health insurance where you want to know specific details of the scheme before signing up. In which of these cases would you pick a voicebot?

Research suggests that customers are a lot more comfortable talking about their automobiles and even troubleshooting those issues over voice. But for conversations that need them to be a little more present and process information in detail, they prefer using a chatbot. Knowing where in this compass your business lies will help model conversational solutions that drive great value for you and your customers.

Why businesses are embracing voicebots

With soaring consumer expectations, staying relevant in the market is no mean feat. But with AI, it gets a lot easier. Companies investing in AI don't just find themselves ahead of the curve but are also keeping their costs in check. Besides, the waiting game is tedious, inconvenient, and too often hampers the customer experience.

Capgemini's report has some exciting insights. 76% of businesses have gained quantifiable benefits from conversational AI, and voice is fast becoming a customer favorite across the board. Reading this along with Gartner's latest research makes all the more sense. 40% of all live requests can be addressed via self-service, and most customers are happy to make the shift. There's no big catch here. Customers only need to feel confident of making the right decisions. And voicebots are in a uniquely advantageous position to do just that.

Not only is speech the fastest and the most natural form of communication, it doesn't need us to pay full attention to the task. People are used to talking on their phones while going about their day. Simple activities such as rescheduling an appointment, clearing some service doubt, or confirming a store’s location shouldn’t force customers to make time for it. Neither should these be tasks take that up your employees' time when they could contribute in more crucial ways. With a voicebot answering your phone, you hit two targets with one arrow and enjoy all the perks that come with it.

So, what are some advantages of voicebots?

It's no surprise that some of the biggest names in business have already got their hands on voicebots. Walmart’s “Ask Sam” helps its employees check out product prices and store locations. Nike’s Nike Coach assists users find the perfect sneaker for their workout routine. And M1’s Maxine supports its call center agents by improving the customer experience.

So no matter what your business specialization, the benefits of voicebots for you can be many. Here are some ways voicebots optimize business processes as well as enhance customer engagement.

Put customers first

Getting people on board voicebots is rather simple. Help them understand how to activate the microphone and when to start speaking, and they’re good to go.

In fact, the learning curve for voice solutions when compared to figuring out website navigation or even typing out search queries is considerably lesser. As per a PWC  survey, 71% of Americans consider voice search to be a simple, smart, and fast way to find things online. Although driven by youngsters, the adoption of voice is universal among all age groups. As a result, voicebots open up a whole world of opportunities for businesses to elevate the customer service they offer.

Scale without the expense

While the phone continues to rule the customer service roost, closely followed by digital solutions, hiring staff for round-the-clock service is an expensive affair. Moreover, based on your business type, your live agents may be handling between 10 to 20 calls per hour. Rush hours may see these numbers spike, and in the absence of 24/7 support,  you might be missing out entirely on after-hours calls.

Voicebots have no limitations of that sort and can handle any number of customer calls at a time. They can take care of repetitive queries, manage bookings, and even supervise specialized tasks. You can also use outbound calls as a part of your campaigns and reach out to a good number of your customers easily.

Help support teams do their best work

In addition to being available 24/7, voicebots can remember details. So, if a caller wants to be transferred to an agent, the conversation need not start from the beginning. The assistant shares the conversation history to help the agent with the context. It saves time and effort both for the customer and your staff.  The same process is followed if a repeat customer calls. The assistant pulls up their details using simple identification data like a phone number or customer ID. Moreover, it reduces the support load nearly by half by enabling self-service.

Integrate with little effort

Voicebots seamlessly integrate with your existing customer service technology stack and telephony mechanism. You can either automate your processes completely or pick automation for select processes.

For partial automation on telephony, link your existing IVR system to a voicebot. So when a caller rings up, the voicebot can handle FAQs and account information while agents take up specialized tasks. For a well-rounded automated experience, hand over your business phone to the voicebot that begins by greeting the caller. In either case, the voicebot will be able to hand over the conversation to a live agent with full history, if needed.

Keep improving over time

The best thing about AI is its ability to be trained for perfection. Each conversation is a data goldmine. All the collected data is stored and passed through the AI networks to derive actionable insights. Insights on trending products, top-of-the-mind questions, popular services, etc. can help inform your communication strategy.

Further, you can analyze the voicebot’s performance to know how well it's handling queries and where it's faltering. By making note of the areas of improvement, you can retrain it with more accurate information thus refining its responses. This way, the voicebot gets further optimized with each interaction.

A few ways to get started - voicebot use cases

While tons of repetitive processes can be automated with voicebots, that’s not all you can do with them. A well-designed voicebot is capable of handling some very complex tasks. In industries ranging from e-commerce to wellness and hospitality, they have a wide range of applications. Here are a few you can begin with.

Self-service

When customers call, assist them immediately to explore your services and complete actions. Be it a simple location query or something more personalized like updating their account details, they can do it with no qualms. Easily define flows for scheduling appointments, answering FAQs, raising complaints, sharing feedback, and more to simplify customer interactions and empower users for self-service.

Product details and recommendations

Voicebots can help customers make the right purchase decisions. You can educate users about product features, applications, price, delivery timeline, and more. Want to deliver a little more value? Add a  recommendation engine to your voicebot. Collect user preferences, needs, and specifications and help them find the most suitable product.

Answer business and service queries

You don’t want your front desk staff to be stuck on calls every 10 minutes, repeating that you’re open on Sundays. By automating FAQs, many repetitive queries can be handed over to the voicebot. The best part? Customers get all their answers and an experience similar to that with a live agent.

Voicebots are designed to hold natural human-like conversations. Even when users deviate from the expected conversational flow, it won't break. It even distinguishes between similar-sounding questions by narrowing down the context. Thus it does a good job answering any query related to your location, business, products, or services, and even repeats answers on demand.

Sales optimization

Who doesn't want to sell a little more? Voicebots can support sales in a few crucial ways. Start with guiding your prospects with the right information. During the purchase journey, it can subtly cross-sell products by sharing relevant add-ons and upsell when opportunities come up. Further, it helps qualify high-quality leads and transfers them to related sales teams.

After-sales engagement

According to research, acquiring new customers costs anywhere between 5 and 25 times more than retaining existing ones. With voicebots, you can keep in touch with your customers even after a sale by sharing delivery updates and collecting feedback. You can also include personalized promotions. This helps leave a great impression on customers and build a healthy relationship with them.

Voicebots make collecting and storing feedback super easy to be done on scale. Your representatives can then focus on improving your processes based on the data gleaned.

Enhance your customer experience
with Concerto AI’s best-in-class voicebots

In short, voicebots can boost your business capabilities, improve your processes, and engage your customers better. But building a voicebot that is true to your brand and understands your customer requests contextually is a feat only an expert can nail. At Concerto, we've got an AI super team. Our domain specialists designed our AI and NLP framework using their extensive knowledge of ML models. The result is a user-friendly solution you can implement right away.

And what makes Concerto SmartAssistants top-notch?

  • No-code solution that helps you implement your voicebot quickly and have the competitive edge of rolling out regular content updates without external tech support.
  • Prepackaged conversation modules you can plug and play for your specific domain with datasets that are vetted and optimized for great results.
  • Deep neural network that accurately dissects user queries to understand their intent and context and respond with the most appropriate answers every time.
  • Omnichannel capabilities allowing you to integrate easily with your existing telephony, IVR, or smart speaker systems.
  • Custom reports that let you track the performance of your voicebot to spot areas of improvement and make required content updates regularly.

  • User-friendly dashboard which enables intuitive navigation through the interface as you update content, manage conversations in the inbox, track KPIs, or download reports.

Are you ready to transform your business possibilities with the power of voice? Drop us a line at contactus@concerto.ai today!

The post Voicebots and their growing role in shaping the customer experience appeared first on Concerto.

]]> Supercharge your customer engagement with conversational AI https://www.concerto.ai/supercharge-your-customer-engagement-with-conversational-ai/ Mon, 18 Jul 2022 07:36:32 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=12800 Supercharge your customer engagement with conversational AI All businesses have one ultimate goal: happy customers. Oh, did you say “revenue?” Well, we can all agree that happy customers = more revenue without resorting to Sherlockian deductions. What’s not up for debate is, customer engagement is no longer just customer service. There is now a palpable […]

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Supercharge your customer
engagement with conversational AI

All businesses have one ultimate goal: happy customers.

Oh, did you say “revenue?” Well, we can all agree that happy customers = more revenue without resorting to Sherlockian deductions. What’s not up for debate is, customer engagement is no longer just customer service. There is now a palpable expectation for quick, convenient, and personalized communication from businesses, and in this day and age, it’s indispensable that you leverage the power of AI to keep pace.

What is conversational AI?

By definition, conversational AI refers to chatbots or AI software that your customers can chat with. Unlike traditional rule-based chatbots, they use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to analyze and interpret user queries in context. This contextual awareness ensures that conversations are understood even when users deviate from an expected flow thus offering them accurate and relevant responses. Additionally, AI assistants learn from each interaction, which means they can predict possible user behavior over time, making conversations delightful and human-like both on text and voice interfaces. 

How Conversational AI can boost
your customer engagement game

Customer engagement can be any activity that supports communicating efficiently so as to build and nurture a fruitful relationship with your customers. A good customer engagement plan will help boost customer loyalty, account for positive word-of-mouth, and ultimately support customer retention. Here are a few ways you can boost customer engagement using Conversational AI.

Form a meaningful connection

Conversational AI allows you to understand your customers better by digging deep into their preferences and expectations. Users give out information more readily to conversational assistants as they offer a more personalized and interactive experience. You can further leverage this connection by infusing personality into your chatbot, telling your brand story, and making the messaging more relatable and conversational. Customers remember experiences, so forming a special bond can give you a strong recall value.

Offer worthwhile interactions

As opposed to hard-coded chatbots, Conversational AI encourages two-way interactions which are more natural to us. By liberating customers from yes/no choices, you can offer them the scope to ask questions and design fallback messages that guide them back on track instead of sounding like a broken record when they deviate from the flow. It also opens up avenues to automate communication on traditional channels like email and SMS when users reach out. A quick, automated response can make them feel heard while buying you enough time to respond to their specific issue.

Tailor the perfect brand experience

In the era of unique social feeds, customers expect personalization. They return to brands that value them. Something as simple as remembering customer names can help you stand out. Conversational AI can use data from an existing knowledge base, internal systems, or previous interactions to conceive personalized experiences. It can parse user preferences from previous purchases, most viewed categories, etc. to recommend suitable solutions. This information can also be valuable for your marketing team to devise targeted campaigns.

Support quick, objective decision-making

Speed is the name of the game and self-service is your trump card. Given that your AI assistant is fast and convenient, customers would much rather chat with it than wait for an agent to show up. Reports suggest that users like chatbots since it does not entail waiting in line for their turn or having to scrounge the entire website to find a specific bit of information. A well-designed conversational assistant can give users a sense of autonomy and help them find answers to common queries, suggest suitable products, make quick bookings, and more, seamlessly.

Be on your customer’s turf

Omnichannel capabilities will put you where your customers are. While at it, it’s only fair that their experience is consistent and convenient across channels. Operating with a unified inbox, as with Concerto’s AI assistants, allows you to provide the same conversational and hassle-free experience, irrespective of the platform the user chooses. Delving into the analytics will allow you to understand what’s working best for each channel and what could be tweaked, thus helping you improve your solution over time.

The way forward is Conversational

The future of customer engagement is in personalized conversational experiences.  Conversational AI helps automate customer interactions at scale with highly personalized customer service resolutions where each conversation feels unique and relevant, leaving a great impression on your prospects and customers. At Concerto AI, we build bespoke conversational solutions for businesses of all sizes. Ready to make a start? Schedule a demo today!

Request Demo

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]]> Designing a winning personality for your chatbot https://www.concerto.ai/designing-a-winning-personality-for-your-chatbot/ Tue, 21 Jun 2022 14:01:42 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=12663 Designing a winning personalityfor your chatbot From repeating hard-coded responses to answering profound questions like “why do blue m&ms taste better,” virtual assistants have come a long way. To many, chatbots are now an integral part of their lives. Switch on the lights? Book tickets? Get product recommendations? Just ask. If you’re an introvert, oh […]

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Designing a winning personality
for your chatbot

From repeating hard-coded responses to answering profound questions like “why do blue m&ms taste better,” virtual assistants have come a long way. To many, chatbots are now an integral part of their lives. Switch on the lights? Book tickets? Get product recommendations? Just ask. If you’re an introvert, oh my, what a time to be alive! Joking aside, crowd favorites like Siri and Google Assistant won hearts, not only because they instantly respond, but chatting with them feels like checking with a buddy rather than giving commands to a computer program. The difference is personality. And it’s a pretty neat difference to have.

So, what’s erm.. personality in a chatbot context?

Simply put, it’s the way a chatbot interacts with its users. Much like how people have quirks that set them apart and make them likable (or not!), virtual assistants too can exude a certain charm, helping customers relate to them. Beyond simplifying the interaction, it has the potential to influence how users perceive the chatbot, the company, and whether or not they come back.

Some businesses wrongly assume customers hate virtual assistants and hide it in plain sight. Or worse still, pass it off as human, fooling unsuspecting users. Cardinal sin. Never fool customers, because (a) they’ll eventually figure out — and with chatbots, sooner rather than later, and (b) it’s a misuse of hard-earned trust. Why would anyone even try that? Instead of underplaying the chatbot’s capabilities, we can craft a personality that is helpful and human-like, yet proudly chatbot.

The defining components of a chatbot’s personality

Many factors contribute to making a computer program behave human-like, so here are a few key components you should take note of:

The purpose

Be clear about the why. Understanding the primary user goals helps settle on the character attributes for the chatbot and factor in the dos and dont’s. For instance, if you’re a doctor’s clinic, it’s best to be concise while helping users find a specialist or book an appointment, as opposed to a spa that can use a fair amount of small talk to familiarize users with other services on offer.

The target audience/users

Who you’re designing the experience for is equally important. Study user behavior and walk in your user’s shoes to discern their needs, pain points, and emotions while interacting with the assistant. Define a couple of key personas, say a seasoned businesswoman in her 40s, a millennial man with artistic interests, and so on to plan the flow of conversation and the appropriate tone of voice.

Distinguishing traits

Some businesses see merit in using Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or The Big Five Personality Traits to deep dive into personality types and traits. If that’s a bit much, you can simply consider a few common personality traits that fit your brand and the purpose of your chatbot, such that it could be quirky, playful, polite, helpful, empathetic, or witty.

The branding

Finally, pay attention to how you present the solution. Incorporate your brand elements and ideals, ensuring your chatbot is stylistically aligned with your brand guidelines. For example, if your audience mainly consists of youngsters and your communication regularly uses pop culture references, blending in reaction memes in context might be a great touch.

Opportunities to let your chatbot’s personality shine

Once your chatbot’s personality is conceived, how exactly do you put it to use?

Craft a tasteful greeting message

Introduce your virtual assistant (explicitly stating so) and set the tone of the conversation. Businesses sometimes also assert the chatbot’s limited capabilities here. Don’t. The better approach? Highlight everything it CAN do, and plug in helpful reprompts and error messages to manage deviations from the flow.

Account for small talk

Because users like to have fun! Being prepared for the occasional “how are yous” and “I love yous” will not only save your chatbot from falling flat when posed with unexpected human talk, it enhances its human quality, helping build a deeper bond with users.

Customize the error messages

Despite your best efforts, your chatbot will face errors. When that happens, use fallback messages wisely instead of sounding like a broken record. Be as helpful as you can with the instructions while staying in character. Make a self-deprecating joke? Express genuine regret?

Friendly farewell message

When the user is ready to exit, don’t just leave the conversation hanging. Instead, ask follow-up questions to ensure they have achieved their goals. This is a great place to remind them that the virtual assistant is “always available” followed by a signature goodbye message.

Personality matters but performance trumps

Have no doubt, users will much rather interact with a robotic virtual assistant that helps than a clueless one oozing personality. In a contest of personality and performance, the latter would win hands down. So the first step towards building a successful virtual assistant is deep-diving into the technology and designing the UX and conversation such that it guarantees a user-friendly application. Sounds tough? Let’s talk, because, at Concerto, we dig all things AI, build delightful conversational assistants, and package them as hassle-free no-code solutions!

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]]> 5 Mistakes Businesses Commit While Setting Up a Support Assistant https://www.concerto.ai/5-mistakes-businesses-commit-while-setting-up-a-support-assistant/ Wed, 01 Jun 2022 12:53:28 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=12396 5 Mistakes Businesses Commit While Setting Up a Support Assistant Organizations across industries are embracing automated chatbot solutions aka support assistants or virtual assistants. It helps them simplify the customer support process and drive remarkable business outcomes. Working closely with businesses kick-starting their conversational journey, here’s something we’ve noticed – people have comprehensive to-do lists […]

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5 Mistakes Businesses Commit
While Setting Up a Support Assistant

Organizations across industries are embracing automated chatbot solutions aka support assistants or virtual assistants. It helps them simplify the customer support process and drive remarkable business outcomes. Working closely with businesses kick-starting their conversational journey, here’s something we’ve noticed - people have comprehensive to-do lists (which is great) but they often overlook what NOT to do. So, we’ve put together a checklist to help you steer clear of the 5 big mistakes businesses make while implementing chatbots.

01

Masking the assistant’s personality from customers

Businesses love adopting new technology with potential but are cornered by the fear that customers may not be willing to adapt. In the case of virtual assistants, business owners try to hide the real identity of the chatbot and underplay its capabilities. But this fear is misplaced. Latest research shows that 68% of consumers like chatbots as they quickly respond to queries. Further, the average satisfaction rate of bot-only chats is a whopping 87.58%.

The better way to handle the transition is to introduce the bot to your customers. Let them know that you are adopting a technology to help them better.

02

Failing to define the chatbot’s
persona and identity

It’s important that all stakeholders are on the same page regarding the chatbot’s persona. Businesses that name their virtual assistant, treating it as a part of their team and define the way it responds to queries show much better engagement rates. Goes without saying, designing your chatbot with your brand identity and quirks in mind adds more value.

Recently, one of our renowned customers earned 90% more bookings in a month compared to competitors that see such numbers only in 3 months. It’s not surprising, because the team clearly defined it as a part of its customer support efforts and was deeply involved in its development and implementation. The chatbot was not built in isolation.

A useful checklist for great results:

Name your bot

Add elements to match your branding like logos, colors, and avatars

Define your chatbot's personality as per your brand guidelines

Compose responses in your brand voice

03

Leaving out follow-up questions

Users arrive with questions in mind so the main purpose of the assistant is to answer those. However, the engagement rate drops when responses aren’t followed by more helpful questions or instructions. It leaves the conversation hanging. We’ve noticed that users tend to engage better when the chatbot's response has a bridge to carry the conversation forward.

This can easily be done by adding follow-up questions highlighting what else customers can do. As opposed to simply answering to the point, this assures users that the chatbot is willing to assist them further, thus leading to more insightful conversations.

04

Being clueless about user queries

You’re setting yourself up for failure if you start building a chatbot without clearly defining its role and what success means in its context.

Sometimes businesses feed their bot with all kinds of questions right from the start without due research or analysis. Such assistants are bound to fail. Instead, start with a thorough analysis of user needs and define the purpose of the bot to improve their success.

A few points to consider:

What do your users ask frequently?

FAQs

What can also bring in revenue?

Driving sales, selling products, a booking engine

What can show up as an x-factor?

Marketing, promotions

Announcements and updates

Policy updates, URLs, promotions, and dates (as applicable) ensuring not to feed the bot with wrong information

05

Waiting for the right time

The biggest mistake of all? Shying away from AI technology that has proven its ability to drive business outcomes exponentially. Whether you’re a small business or enterprise, a well-trained virtual assistant can

Handle up to 70 - 80% of your user queries

Generate a great response rate

Drive revenue

Save costs

Yes, you read that right: single-handedly and efficiently manage up to 70-80% of your traffic. Does that sound like the kind of success you’d like to achieve? Great. Because the first 4 mistakes can be corrected with time and by educating yourself about the possibilities of AI but the last one is costing you right about now! Well, not to worry, that’s something we can help you with. Drop us a note at contactus@concerto.ai

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]]> How chatbots can help enhance staff productivity and job satisfaction https://www.concerto.ai/how-chatbots-can-help-enhance-staff-productivity-and-job-satisfaction/ Thu, 21 Apr 2022 07:36:40 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=12281 How chatbots can help enhancestaff productivity and job satisfaction Chatbots can give you great customer insights and business value, free your staff of dull, repetitive tasks, and save your customers a ton of time. What they can’t do is replace your support staff. So, if you’ve been mulling it over, stop. No doubt, a good […]

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How chatbots can help enhance
staff productivity and job satisfaction

Chatbots can give you great customer insights and business value, free your staff of dull, repetitive tasks, and save your customers a ton of time. What they can’t do is replace your support staff. So, if you’ve been mulling it over, stop.

No doubt, a good AI chatbot can push your business capabilities by many folds, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking they can match a well-trained human agent’s acumen. They can’t. At least, not yet. Besides, that was not their purpose, to begin with. So when we talk chatbots for customer support and operational optimization, the premise is more Batman & Robin than Batman vs. Superman. Here’s our quick lowdown on how nurturing your support team’s symbiotic relationship with AI assistants will better your business outcomes.

Dependables

The Team That’s Always There

Just like distress calls to Batman, you can’t predict when customers may reach out. But most small businesses work with limited support staff, who often juggle between in-store customers and online requests. Enter AI chatbots, and you can be available round the clock as no rush hours or after-hours apply to them. In case of unexpected crises, they can quickly alert the staff and hand over the conversation with full context.

And this is crucial. Unlike chatbots, humans are equipped to handle critical scenarios with empathy. They can frame creative and measured responses that are helpful to the specific case at hand. Thus, while AI assistants empower your employees by taking over repetitive tasks, a crisis scenario would call for your support staff to step in.

Fast & Efficacious

One for Customer Choice

As more prospects discover you and customers return regularly, you’d want to optimize the way you work. An AI chatbot can help manage the influx. It not only aids with enhancing your processes but also frees your staff from repeating answers or doing the same tasks a million times over. This is great because customers too love interacting with chatbots that understand them.

But users come in all variants and some may specifically want to talk to a staff member. As a brand that values its clients, you should be open to letting them pick their experiences. So, while the chatbot functions as a time-saving resource, boosting employee productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction, your staff themselves form the human face of your business. And they should be accessible to your customers on demand.

Uncovering Qualified Leads
and Other Gems

Incessant traffic is good news for any business. What’s better? Traffic that converts. This is best managed with a chatbot that can screen users to narrow down the ones that match your target persona using their superpowers and erm.. qualifying questions.

AI chatbots are great at interpreting varying contexts and questions framed in a number of ways to educate prospects on the fence, and yet users can trump them. Users may deviate from your regular flows or have specific product or service queries where you’d need the support staff to intervene. To win at the game of conversions, have your key players as well as their sidekicks in your team.

Analysts & the Art
of Making Data Speak

Over a period of time, your conversational assistant not only answers customer queries but collects tons of useful data that can help improve your processes and inform your business strategy. These can be anything from the top of mind user queries, unanswered questions, most requested services, trending products, or more.

The assistant can also consolidate this data in a meaningful form, but you’d need the support staff to make sense of it and put it to good use. Regular quality checks and content updates will improve the chatbot’s efficiency and give you great results. Think of it as Batman imparting his worldly knowledge to prepare Robin for superhero shenanigans. The support team can further ideate new functionalities for the chatbot and refine business communication as required.

In Conclusion…

AI chatbots are excellent multitaskers and there’s a lot they can bring to the table, but human problems sometimes need very human solutions, which makes support staff an indispensable part of your team. By investing in a conversational chatbot that simplifies your staffs’ life, you’re signing up for the best of both worlds. Equipped with robust conversational modules, Concerto chat assistants are easy to build and deploy. They can enhance your internal processes, extend a great human-like chat experience to your customers, and act as loyal Robins to your support team’s Batman. Want to know more about Concerto AI? Drop us a line!

Request Demo

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]]> Drive your business with a WhatsApp chatbot https://www.concerto.ai/drive-your-business-with-whatsapp/ Fri, 18 Mar 2022 08:24:29 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=12100 Drive your business with a WhatsApp chatbot 2 billion active users. 100 billion messages sent every day. A humongous 50% rise in usage since 2018. Sometime during the past decade, WhatsApp emerged as the world’s most popular messaging app, and for good reason. It’s intuitive, easy to use, and highly accessible, and a majority of […]

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Drive your business
with a WhatsApp chatbot

2 billion active users. 100 billion messages sent every day. A humongous 50% rise in usage since 2018. Sometime during the past decade, WhatsApp emerged as the world’s most popular messaging app, and for good reason. It’s intuitive, easy to use, and highly accessible, and a majority of its users spend at least 30 minutes on it every day. So as a customer-centric business, if you’ve been thinking of ways to boost your customer experience, it’s time you took the WhatsApp Business plunge — like 50 million businesses across the globe. And we’ll tell you why a WhatsApp Chatbot is the best way to do it.

But what exactly is WhatsApp Business?

Simply put, this is WhatsApp’s offering for businesses to clinch the WhatsApp advantage. As customer experience has become the key differentiator, brands that simplify interactions stand to gain big.

And in this regard, WhatsApp’s appeal is undeniable.

It offers the kind of personalization that today’s digital generation expects from brands and businesses. When you set up your WhatsApp storefront, you get to display your products, answer common queries, make product or service suggestions, share details specific to your store or location, and more. It’s like making your best front desk representative available to customers at any time of the day. Moreover, your customers are already on the app, so they know exactly how it works. No onboarding hassles or need for special training. Just let them know you’re live on WhatsApp and get chatting!

WhatsApp supports businesses via two products: WhatsApp Business App and WhatsApp Business API.

WhatsApp Business App

WhatsApp Business App works much like WhatsApp Messenger. Once you set up your business account, you can easily start sending and receiving customer messages. There are also a set of tools that help make these interactions easier from a business perspective. You can add product cards and get user feedback easily. And by setting custom quick replies, you can help users ask relevant questions about your business.

But here’s the catch. You can only use the Business App on a single device and WhatsApp Web. No access for multiple admins, no scalability options. You might find that as your business expands, responding to individual user queries from a single device gets limiting. It is still a great way for small businesses to test the business messaging waters and explore the possibilities of WhatsApp Business.

Now, if you want to get into the big leagues, automation is the way to go, for which we’d like you to meet WhatsApp Business API.

WhatsApp Business API

Wait, what’s an API?

As Amazon explains, API stands for Application Programming Interface. APIs are mechanisms that enable two software components to communicate with each other using a set of definitions and protocols.

Now, WhatsApp Business API helps you automate interactions and build a WhatsApp Chatbot with tons of capabilities to transform your business. Whether you’re an SME or an established corporate player, this will be a pivotal step in your business messaging journey.

So, what is a WhatsApp Chatbot?

A WhatsApp Chatbot is an AI-powered software program that interacts with customers to answer their queries and provide support. Much like website chatbots, it does everything a well-conceived AI chatbot should do such as automating conversations, easy product and service booking, 24/7 customer support, and more. Except, it’s on WhatsApp — right within your customers’ palms. That’s a whole new level of “personal” as far as business messaging is concerned.

But building a fully functional WhatsApp Chatbot by yourself can be tricky, and that’s where we come in. With a no-code system, Concerto helps you deploy your WhatsApp Chatbot in no time. Once live, not only can you automate repeated processes but handle specialized tasks like product recommendation and troubleshooting without involving your staff. Yet to a customer, it simply feels like chatting with one of your staff members.

The biggest advantage of a WhatsApp Chatbot is that customers need not go elsewhere looking for you, but that’s not all.

The key benefits of a WhatsApp Chatbot

Right from ease of accessibility to trustworthiness, your WhatsApp Chatbot brings much to the table. Additionally, we have some of the finest pre-packaged conversational modules at Concerto that improves the chat experience for your users and allows easy two-way interactions. This can do wonders to how customers perceive you and how you do business. 

 

The benefits of a WhatsApp Chatbot can be grouped into three: customer engagement, sales and marketing, and business scalability. While the chat interface serves the customers, the custom Concerto dashboard directly assists some of your key teams like support, content, and sales and marketing. For business leaders who see value in tracking KPIs, there are huge benefits too.

Improved Customer Engagement

Customers interact better with brands that value them and their time. These are a few ways your WhatsApp Chatbot will help boost your customer engagement.

24/7 instant support allows customers to reach out to you at any given time.

With true two-way conversation, customers can start a conversation whenever they wish to.

The green badge of verification and WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption assure them your brand is trustworthy, thus encouraging them to readily interact with you.

Contextually aware, the chatbot understands user intent and responds accurately even when users shift between topics.

Human-like conversations make sure that users are better engaged as they don’t have to follow a rigid path set by the chatbot.

WhatsApp is familiar ground. It does away with apprehension as customers already have the app, know how to use it, and don’t need to download a different app to engage with you.

Marketing and Sales Advantage

Once in place, your WhatsApp Chatbot becomes one of your best representatives by handling specialized tasks and processes at scale.

Deliver both personalized messages and bulk campaign promotions with ease in your customer’s inbox.

Upsell and cross-sell products by introducing relevant products during the chat without seeming forceful or intrusive.

Use custom messages for greetings and fallback to express your brand identity for better recall value

Unlike traditional channels, make use of rich media messages such as images, GIFs, and videos to spruce up your communication

Scaling Your Business Efforts

No matter what the size of your business, being accessible to customers and optimizing processes will pave way for better outcomes.

Make your customers feel heard, be it after hours or on off days without adding to your overheads.

Collect customer feedback within chat instead of redirecting them to a different interface that they may not be willing to trust.

Assign any number of admins in the backend to monitor and optimize responses.

Glean insights from analytics to plan your communication strategy accordingly.

Get ready to take your business global with the most popular messaging app in the world.

How Concerto offers a top
WhatsApp Chatbot experience

All said and done, a successful WhatsApp Chatbot is a well-designed and implemented one. Unless ideas translate to implementation, even the best channel can leave you wanting.

At Concerto, we have dived deep into the possibilities of WhatsApp while designing features that can help transform your business. We’ve done the heavy-lifting so you can get the best out of the channel with a simple no-code setup that is easy to deploy and manage with little to no technical know-how.

And If you already have a Concerto dashboard, your WhatsApp channel will simply be added to your existing inbox. So you can manage the conversations and track KPIs on the same dashboard. You can also link to your previously uploaded knowledge base, thus simplifying the process further. Ready to be at the fingertips of your customers? Ping us for a demo!

Request Demo

The post Drive your business with a WhatsApp chatbot appeared first on Concerto.

]]> What missed business calls are costing you and how to fix it https://www.concerto.ai/what-missed-business-calls-are-costing-you-and-how-to-fix-it/ Wed, 16 Feb 2022 09:07:57 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=11885 What missed business calls are costing you and how to fix it That customers value businesses that care is a no-brainer. What isn’t is how easily you can achieve this and what the negative business impact of the opposite could be. It rings all the more true in uncertain times, where no less than 90% […]

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What missed business calls
are costing you and how to fix it

That customers value businesses that care is a no-brainer. What isn’t is how easily you can achieve this and what the negative business impact of the opposite could be. It rings all the more true in uncertain times, where no less than 90% of customers vouch for companies that demonstrate trust during a crisis. This is where automation comes into play. With an AI assistant, you can ensure that every time a customer contacts you, you are there to hear them out. It’s also a lot like a live agent — extremely trainable and able to respond immediately to customer queries, yet wholly unlike them, in that it can serve customers 24/7 with zero breaks.

By engaging a chatbot that can easily respond to natural language conversations on any text or voice channel, missed calls will become a thing of the past. On that note, let’s see why automation is your best friend and how an AI assistant can help steer your business on the growth path.

Why you should care about
missed customer interactions

It isn’t just another missed call. The rookie mistake that small businesses commit is downplaying the consequences of an unanswered call. Or a delayed response to an emergency query. Every customer-initiated action is a demonstration of their trust in your ability to solve their problem. And if you seem unavailable, they’ll simply reach out to a competitor — definitely something you could avoid with some deliberation.

Considering how acquiring a new customer costs 5% more than retaining existing ones, for a small business, missing a business call means burning the money you don’t have. This could end with anything from lower customer satisfaction to distressing churn rates on your quarterly reports. Well, that need not be your reality. Here are a few actions you can immediately take to escape it.

Automate your business calls
with a conversational assistant

A customer call could mean a sale, a new prospect, feedback, an enquiry, or a customer concern. An unresponsive front desk may then be perceived as neglectful, and reflects negatively on your company. Employing an AI call assistant not only solves the issue but helps customers find the help they were looking for.

Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology have taken us far. You can now offer empathetic, human-like responses to customer concerns and guide them throughout their journey. It simplifies service processes like appointment booking, recording feedback, and raising complaints right during a telephonic chat with an AI chatbot. 

Allow switching to
on-the-go responses

While automated voice conversations help you do away with missed calls, it can be seen as time-consuming by some customers. An option to deflect calls to SMS might just be the solution that does the trick for you. It seamlessly fits into your call automation process. The AI assistant asks the customer to choose between continuing on the call or proceeding with a toll-free SMS interaction, allowing them to pick a journey of their preference. This consideration for user preferences demonstrates your thoughtfulness.

The SMS conversation can further be customized to meet your requirements. Include personalized greetings, highlight your top services, share links to specific sections of your website — the possibilities are endless.

Introduce customers
to other convenient channels

Customers often rush to your website for contact information, and out of habit, they tend to look for a phone number. Break this learned pattern by deploying a conversational assistant on your website to greet them. Make it lively with sound and motion so it easily grabs user attention. Introduce your chat assistant and it’s capabilities to them. You can also showcase your other channels such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or smart speakers.

AI assistants have a clear advantage over rigid rule-based chatbots. Instead of forcing users to stick to a set number of commands, it lets them frame their questions in natural language, thus emulating a conversation with one of your front desk assistants. Once introduced to the flexibility of conversation with the AI assistant, users will stop relying heavily on phones as your primary contact channel.

Get started now!

When customers reach out to you, it’s an opportunity. Do not let go of it owing to a lack of infrastructure. Enhance your customer service by managing your rush hours and after hours better. At Concerto.ai, we build powerful AI assistants that will engage your customers 24/7 with delightful human-like conversations on multiple channels. The no-code interface lets you customize and monitor your chatbot without prior technical knowledge. Worry no more about missed calls stealing from your business. Schedule a demo!

Request Demo

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]]> Do away with call waiting: Automated SMS add-on for your IVR a… https://www.concerto.ai/do-away-with-call-waiting-automated-sms-add-on-for-your-ivr-and-business-phone/ Mon, 27 Dec 2021 15:20:41 +0000 https://www.concerto.ai/?p=10905 Do away with call waiting: Automated SMS add-on for your IVR and business phone A practical customer service solution for small businesses such as salons, spas, doctor’s clinics, labs, restaurants among others. IVR has been the double edged sword for small businesses ever since it came into existence. Can’t live with it, can’t live without […]

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Do away with call waiting: Automated SMS add-on
for your IVR and business phone

A practical customer service solution for small businesses such as salons, spas, doctor’s clinics, labs, restaurants among others.

IVR has been the double edged sword for small businesses ever since it came into existence. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Giving full credit to the ways in which the technology makes life easy, everyone and their mothers would agree that by the time the instruction goes “press 1 for...” you’ve probably considered ways to live with your concern instead of waiting further for a representative to answer.

That said, delete IVR from the scene, and no one — neither the company nor the customer — likes the idea of a phone call that goes unanswered. And mind you, the phone is here to stay and will continue to rule the roost for the foreseeable future.

So if you’re considering new customer service solutions, your best bet would be to integrate it with existing phone channels. Better still, club together existing channels for improved results. That got you thinking? Good. Because among the channels that small businesses employ, there is one emerging winner with new age customers: SMS. Not only is it arguably the most successful outbound communication channel, over 81% of customers across industries choose texting for self-service options.

What that essentially means for you is, if you put together the ever-dependent IVR with the highly convenient SMS in an automated form, it changes your customer service game for the better, in a flash.

Give customers the autonomy to pick a different journey

No one likes feeling stuck. Which is why customers appreciate any response, even one that puts them on hold indefinitely, over no response. In that sense, IVR has stood the test of time despite its woes because its benefits are undeniable for any business:

Phone calls never go
unanswered

Customers get step-by-step instructions to resolve issues

When in a queue, customers know the approximate wait time

Besides, a well-designed IVR system can guide users to their goals seamlessly, and in most cases, the experience never breaks. Integrating an automated SMS agent with IVR is the most efficient and cost-effective way to capitalize on the benefits of IVR customer service while letting customers choose the journey they like — talk to an agent, continue with IVR instructions, or switch to a faster SMS response system. More than anything else, it is this sense of autonomy that will pay off in the long run.

Majority of today’s consumers rate texting as their preferred mode of communication with a business. Over 60% admit they’d book a salon appointment or a travel ticket via text and switch to companies that offer updates of financial transactions on SMS. This is their natural turf. And by putting SMS to better use, you’re essentially hitting the vibe of your audience

How SMEs can tap into the fruits
of this technological symbiosis

Small businesses thrive on grounds of good customer service. SMS and IVR play their part to add to the experience in their own ways. And when put together, these channels can fill the gaps that limit them individually and offer your customers a more empowering experience.

Triggering automated SMS on an existing IVR channel is easy. The option to continue the conversation on SMS can be set up as one of the menu options. As a user interacting with IVR opts for SMS, the automated SMS agent triggers a greeting message along with a few options to help them proceed further. The experience is simple, streamlined, and flexible.

Visual prompts have the added advantage that users can follow their own pace and also scroll back to previous choices while completing the process. Routine self-service tasks like booking a table at a restaurant, rescheduling a doctor’s appointment, familiarising with a salon’s cancellation policy, etc. can be managed using SMS triggers with step-by-step instructions or a related link that guides them to do it by themselves.

This not only saves time for customers, but brings in very practical gains for the business. The workload on the staff can be reduced significantly, letting them focus on their core tasks. Additionally, the company can deflect all after hours calls to SMS, reducing missed call rates and allowing them to truly be open for business all day and night.

Show your customers you care. Pay heed to their preferences and be where they are while effectively reducing your overhead costs. Want to learn how else you can benefit from better tech intervention in customer service? Ask us for a demo!

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