8 Keys to Implementing a Successful Omnichannel Chatbot

Build a Chatbot is increasingly available to companies. There are even applications that allow you to create conversational interfaces without having to write code. However, to successfully implement a chatbot and enhance the customer service strategy (especially in contact centers that serve numerous campaigns and a high volume of interactions), it is important to consider several factors.

It's not just about creating the chatbot itself, but about its integration with the ecosystem of media, channels and data that the company uses. Only then, does self-service truly provide value to users and to the operation as a whole. In this article we share them The main keys to successfully implementing a chatbot, based on our experience developing omnichannel bots for various types of contact centers.

1) Define your goals to find the perfect type of chatbot

There are many types of bots, based on technologies with different levels of complexity. In fact, in this article we talk about”chatbots” because the most common use of bots is through chat or instant messaging. But there are also Voice bots (called voicebots or Voice portals), for which these recommendations apply.

In addition to the medium used, bots can be classified according to the application (or not) of artificial intelligence. Los cognitive or intelligent chatbots are based on NLU (Natural Language Understanding) systems for processing and interpreting natural language; while “Dumb Bots” or “ITR chatbots” they work based on a pre-configured response system, without using artificial intelligence. 👉 In this note, we'll tell you in detail about the types of chatbots that exist.

‍How to know the most suitable type of chat for your business? Being very clear about your objective.

If the purpose of your bot is to provide a pre-service system before contacting an agent, or to answer frequently asked questions such as opening hours or address, you probably don't need it to have artificial intelligence.

If you need to solve more complex operations, with a wide variety of possible queries or requirements (such as booking a hotel, for example), the ITR bot will not be enough. In these cases, you'll need an intelligent bot, capable of covering multiple care scenarios.

2) Make up an interdisciplinary team

A common mistake in implementing bots is thinking that they are only the responsibility of IT technicians. A fundamental key for a successful chatbot is involve experts in different areas and generate multidisciplinary work. In addition to engineers, it includes linguists, artificial intelligence experts, customer success specialists, marketing analysts and designers. From managerial positions responsible for defining objectives, to service representatives who have extensive experience dealing with customers, everyone provides their expertise to make the chatbot functional and provide an excellent customer experience.

3) Create customer-centric conversational flows

Behind every interaction with a chatbot, they are deployed pre-configured conversational flows. Work with your team on the diagramming of those workflows, detecting possible “loose ends”, unexpected customer responses, and ways to steer the conversation.

‍Get to know your customer well it's vital for designing workflows and applying conversational logic that really works. You must anticipate their needs, concerns and expectations, so that the bot can provide satisfactory answers. This includes the bot's personality and communication style, aligned not only with the values and tone of your brand but also with the socio-demographic profile of your customers.

‍→ Read more: How to give personality to your bot

4) Integrate your chatbot with other business systems and applications

In many cases, for the bot to be able to provide an efficient service, you will need Solve certain operations by yourself, from coordinating an order in an e-commerce to approving a credit. For that you will need a transactional chatbot, who in addition to talking naturally, integrate with your company's information systems (ERPs, CRM or other business applications) to solve certain cases.

In addition, this integration of the bot with management systems and applications makes it possible to provide a personalized conversational experience when accessing personal data or customer history. Or conversely, it also allows you to capture customer data that is then processed in the subsequent stages of marketing, sales or customer service.

5) Train your chatbot

Chatbots that use Artificial Intelligence have as a central feature their ability to”active learning”. This means that they can not only interpret the natural language of users to extract the intentions of each sentence. They also continuously learn from interactions to interpret and provide increasingly accurate answers.

That is why it is so important to bot training stage, prior to its start-up. This is done on “bot training” portals, where, based on a knowledge base, the bot is “taught” the expressions of each type of intention, for example, or in which cases it should ask for certain information in order to give a more accurate answer. This training is more intense in the pre-launch phase of the chatbot. But it's something that never ends, and must be carried out constantly as maintenance to ensure their proper functioning and also to incorporate new products, services or business processes. -

->🦾 Read more: How to train your bot

6) Define the channels where the chatbot will be present

We can generate the most sophisticated and friendly chatbot, capable of solving millions of queries. But if we don't let our customers know that a chatbot is available, or integrate it into the right channel, the self-service strategy will fail.

It's important define in which environments your chatbot will interact: if it will be on your ecommerce page, in WhatsApp, on social networks, on a specific landing page or app, on the home page of your website, or if you require a telephone voicebot. To find out what the best usage scenario is, analyze your operation data and define the most user-friendly channels for your customers. If the majority of your customers already use WhatsApp to communicate with your company, it may be more convenient to implement a bot on this channel, rather than creating a specific page to implement it.

7) Test, Measure, Optimize

Before you launch the chatbot, test it out. First internally and then with a segment of your audience. Review potential flaws in conversational flows. After its official launch, it is important to continue collecting data (engagement rates, abandonments, resolution, etc.) so that the improvement of the bot is continuous.

Pay attention to all the details, from typing errors that the chatbot is misinterpreting, to new capabilities that you could incorporate according to customer concerns. A good idea is to include a satisfaction survey at the end of each interaction to analyze compliance with service levels.

8) Leave the path open for interacting with an agent

One recommendation that we always highlight when we talk about a successful implementation of chatbots, is leave the possibility for a human agent to intervene if the customer so requests, or if the bot detects that it is unable to resolve the customer's question or request.

When the chatbot is integrated with the omnichannel service platform - as is the case of inConcert - the user experience remains optimal because The agent taking the interaction receives the previous chat history, in addition to other customer data that help them to move forward with the most efficient resolution.