Customer service chatbots: the secret to manageable scalability

Mike Priest
Last updated 22 January 2024
Insights

90% of Americans use customer service as a factor when deciding whether to do business with a company. (Microsoft)

With technology integrated into every facet of our daily lives, consumers rely on self-service portals to pay bills, shop and spend money online. Along with technological advancements, the pandemic also accelerated consumer trends that point towards extreme growth in the popularity of online self-service, especially around chatbot usage.

By 2026, the conversational AI market is expected to eclipse $18.4 billion at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.8%, up from $6.8 billion in 2021. This explosive growth confirms what we have seen in online trends – consumers are more tech-savvy than ever and expect instant, accurate, around-the-clock access to businesses and customer support.

The ability to meet consumer demands at scale is what makes customer service chatbots so successful for businesses. Chatbots are helping companies in nearly every industry scale their customer service AND improve customer satisfaction at the same time.

In this article, you will discover:

  • The costs of poor customer service and the value of exceptional customer service.
  • How scalable customer service chatbots are the key to keeping up with tech-savvy consumer demands.
  • Why conversational AI provides the best of both worlds for companies AND their consumers without compromising personalized services.

Keep reading to learn why every industry needs a scalable chatbot for customer service and how real businesses have revolutionized their customer service processes with chatbots fueled by conversational AI.

The costs of poor customer service

It’s no secret that poor customer service can hurt businesses. The statistics speak for themselves:

  • Only 1 in 5 consumers will forgive a bad experience at a company whose customer service they rate as “very poor,” but nearly 80% will forgive a bad experience if they rate the service team as “very good.” (Qualtrics XM Institute)
  • 78% of customers have backed out of a purchase due to a poor customer experience. (Glance)

How we define excellent customer service in 2023 has changed significantly compared to years past. With newer generations of consumers fully invested in technology, excellent customer service is now defined by speed, accuracy, and efficiency.

When customers expect immediate answers 24 hours a day, this instant accuracy is only guaranteed with assistance from a customer service chatbot that can help carry the weight of increased web traffic.

The benefits of excellent customer service

The flipside to the immediate and costly impact of bad customer service is the reward and value of great customer service. In fact, 94% of American customers will recommend a company whose service they rate as “very good.” So the customer service experience is not only crucial for overall consumer satisfaction, but word-of-mouth referrals and reputation too.

Additionally, striving for excellent customer service can spare companies the loss of loyal customers in the first place due to good standing. Consider this – if a company’s customer service is excellent, 78% of consumers will do business with a company again after a mistake.

Investing in scalable customer service chatbots is one of the ways companies can leverage technology to give customers the immediate results they want – and increase customer satisfaction along the way.

Going deep and broad with scalable customer service chatbots

The best part about customer service chatbots is their ability to help businesses grow and scale with ease, especially when web traffic volume increases.

At boost.ai, we help businesses integrate chatbots that don’t just function on a surface level to answer consumer questions. They are fueled by conversational AI, which transforms a simple chatbot into a sophisticated virtual agent that can perform the work of 100s of human agents without becoming overburdened or overwhelmed.

Our philosophy is that the most effective customer service chatbots must go both deep and broad. This is possible when chatbots operate on conversational AI, powered by Natural Language Understanding (NLU). This technology makes chatbots more intuitive and helpful to customers that need a mix of deep and broad inquiry results.

Historically, the first generations of chatbots could only go broad or go deep. If a chatbot goes too deep with its knowledge, it can only answer a limited number of inquiries. If a chatbot is too broad in its capabilities, it can’t accurately detect customer intent or come up with an appropriate answer. Both limitations lead to one major problem – dissatisfied and frustrated customers.

With a chatbot for customer service run on conversational AI, deep AND broad customer service is possible and provides consumers with the precise, instant, and accurate results they expect.

Scalable customer service chatbots in action

Case Study: MSUFCU

MSU Federal Credit Union used a customer service chatbot to scale and automate 2,000 employee-to-employee interactions per month. Their scalable chatbot saves the company a significant amount of time and greatly increases their operational efficiencies.

Read the Full Case Study

Case Study: TRYG Insurance

Tryg is the second-largest non-life insurance company in the Nordics, covering three principal markets across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. After deploying their customer service chatbot, they serve nearly 4 million customers with an automation rate of up to 95% for select markets.

Read the Full Case Study

Conversational AI in 2022: scalability for the future

Lars Selsaas, founder and CEO of boost.ai, recently spoke on the future of conversational AI and the challenges it can solve. Watch the video now to discover more about how boost.ai specializes in scaling chatbots for enterprises.

A modern solution for scalable customer service

The ability for businesses to scale effectively has become imperative. Technology is the center of our lives and the primary medium through which businesses and consumers communicate and interact. Chatbots offer business the integrative solution they need to grow, scale, and keep up with consumer demands.

Customer service chatbots are becoming prevalent in every industry, including banking, telecommunications, insurance, e-commerce, and more. Get in touch with boost.ai to learn more about how chatbots for customer service can improve customer service outcomes and reduce costs.