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Online customers have come to expect superior customer service but the complexity and volume of information available on the Web has created a need for businesses to boost their service options and look to the next-generation of online self-service tools. This new generation goes beyond search and FAQs to provide humanized, guided customer service and interaction, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
 
Businesses across all industries have turned to virtual agents to provide outstanding customer service by humanizing the Web experience and boosting the capabilities of traditional search engines. These businesses face a heavy volume of customer calls and emails and need a more intuitive Web self-service strategy that decreases cost while increasing customer satisfaction.
 
Are Search Engines and FAQs Enough?
As Internet use continues to expand, the amount of content has grown exponentially, becoming unwieldy for the average user. While many sites created lists of FAQs to help resolve common visitor issues, these quickly became inadequate, especially as customers grew to depend on Web sites for information and service. Search tools leave customers with few options after failed search attempts because they lacked integration to corporate knowledge bases, automated self-service tools, and live support systems.
 
Search engines can be a useful tool for companies wanting to provide their customers with a way to find information, but this solution treats all customers and queries the same. Search technologies were designed to find related information on Web sites, not to answer specific questions from individual customers with specific histories or needs. As a body of knowledge grows, search begins to lose accuracy and effectiveness. Unless a site's content has been well structured, the results of a search are often unpredictable and users end up with multiple documents instead of one best answer. Search engines provide a research-oriented solution that cannot escalate to live chat, email or phone support if needed.
 
FAQs and search engines are useful for helping customers in some situations, but they are limited when it comes to creating a superior customer experience - one that lives up to heightened consumer expectations. As a result, companies are increasingly turning to new kinds of self-service technologies.
 
The Next Generation of Online Customer Service
The customer has always been king, but this mantra has become even more important as the need to win customers, retain customers, and maintain customer satisfaction has become the driving force for most companies. Some businesses have turned to online virtual agents to provide customers with fast, succinct answers in natural language.
 
Virtual agents act as online guides, pointing users in the right direction to relevant information, including product recommendation engines, Web forms, calculators, etc. But virtual agents are also sophisticated enough to manage interactions and conversations so users may be escalated to higher support channels such as phone or live chat if an inquiry is more suited for a different channel. For some companies, virtual agents can also act as sales and marketing tools by generating, pre-qualifying and driving sales leads. The customer insight that is gained by looking at actual customer conversations can also help to customize sales opportunities to increase revenue.
 
Research studies have shown that a conversation with a live customer representative can cost upwards of $30 per incident. Using a virtual agent, customers can receive answers 24x7 and at a fraction of the cost. A typical conversation with a virtual agent can cost 10 times less than speaking with a live rep.
 
To remain competitive, businesses must seek ways to improve overall customer service and provide superior online service. More customers are demanding these service improvements and expect a higher level of guided support. Virtual service agents give businesses one way to grow beyond conventional search capabilities to create a more effective, engaging online service experience.