The dangers of relying on chatbots

The use of live chat for customer support services has become popular in recent years, often replacing voice support services. Many companies now recognize the benefits it brings, such as

• the ability to address customer needs more clearly

• greater time and cost efficiency

• better customer satisfaction

However, with the growth of chat customer service came the creation of AI software that could take on the responsibilities of a human customer service agent: the chatbot.

For large companies that often handle hundreds if not thousands or even millions of customers in a day, a chatbot can save them a lot of time and resource allocation. They don’t have to hire large teams of human customer service agents to serve every single customer who comes to them with a query. Another great advantage for companies is that chatbots do not get tired. They don’t need to work shifts, they can work 24/7 for as long as the company uses them.

But even though chatbots can be a great help to a great brand, they can also be a great detriment.

Artificial intelligence is still flawed, just like anything man-made. Sometimes the AI ​​gets too good to the point where they seem to have become sentient, or may be completely unable to help a customer in need, as was the case with Telstra, an Australian-based telecommunications company. .

Various news sources such as the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Mail and Yahoo! News has reported that many customers have been infuriated by the quality of Telstra’s customer support chatbot, Codi, which was launched last October. Since then, customers have been posting their discontent with Codi on social media.

For starters, the chatbot has a lot of trouble processing simple requests, such as when a customer requests that a human agent handle them. Codi also had a tendency to repeat itself and is prone to system crashes. There is a memorable anecdote of a man named Paris who requested a human agent and was instead asked if he wanted data roaming. Apparently, Codi confused his name with the French city.

While this is not the same for all chatbots that businesses use, Codi is a reminder of the potential trouble that awaits them, no matter how good the algorithm is. These types of issues can be a serious factor in a customer’s satisfaction (or lack thereof) with a company, no matter how good its products or services are.

While AI has proven useful and full of potential, it is wise to proceed with caution and not completely rely on it, especially when it comes to customer support. Yes, hiring human support teams can be more expensive than a chatbot program, but while bots can automate the entire process and handle simple queries more efficiently, they still can’t deal with issues that require a more human touch.

There is no better return on investment than good sales and a happy and satisfied customer. Using an AI today may give you the former, but what about the latter? This is important to keep in mind when deciding how to handle your chat customer support.