Chatbots: the six biggest advantages for your organisation

Many organisations would like to incorporate chatbots into their organisation, and it is only logical to want to know more about what this virtual colleague can do for your company. For many organisations the pilot phase is now over and the results are clear. Based on the experiences of, amongst others, Univé, NCOI, RTL/Videoland and the Erasmus University, we will take you through the six biggest advantages of chatbots for your organisation.

In recent years, organisations have been struggling with the increasing volumes in webcare, because more and more customers know how to find companies on social media and messaging channels. Chatbots prove to be an excellent solution to tackle these increasing volumes. As an organisation, you want to provide a fast service, but you also have enough time for your customers. The Dutch company HEMA saw a volume increase of 60% in the last couple of years, and they knew they needed a solution to be able to continue to offer their customers a good service. Right now their chatbot is used for most questions about orders and ‘more HEMA’ to request additional information from the customer, so the employee can use this information. Also RTL realised that chatbots could be of assistance to them. This company uses a chatbot for 25% of all messages concerning webcare, to assist customers of Videoland. In the different industries, we see that a chatbot can completely or partially answer 20% to 40% of the volume.

Getting started with chatbots is an investment that will pay off in the long term. For example, HEMA saw a cost reduction of 17%. Within the e-commerce branche we have even seen a cost reduction of 36% and a rise of 20% in the amount of customer interactions the employees have per hour. The secret? Using personnel for complex questions from customers and chatbots for simple questions and routine work. The proper use of chatbots moreover immediately leads to this next advantage.

After the launch of a chatbot for service, the customer satisfaction rate is of course one of the things you want to measure. Experience shows that chatbots ensure a 10% higher NPS score. The Erasmus University in Rotterdam made its own KPI for this. Christa van der Kruk explains:

“About 10% of the page visitors use the bot and around 80% of the customers who use the bot also fully finish the conversation. The bot is fairly complicated, there are a lot of questions in it and some questions are pretty difficult. 90% of the people who use the bot are satisfied with it, which means we are well above our KPI!”

Yet with the right application, chatbots do not only contribute to an increased customer satisfaction, but also to the employee satisfaction. After all, chatbots ensure that routine work is taken out of your hands. This way there is more time to answer complex customer questions and employees can go the extra mile to address any issues customers may have. Chatbots are therefore not a substitute for the employees in the customer service department, they supplement them. You achieve the best results with a good balance between people and technology! Bas Vogels, supervisor and trainer of the DHL Customer Service team, says:

“The webcare team thinks the bots are fantastic. Employees have much more time to sort out complex customer questions and prevent escalations. The employee satisfaction rate has also increased enormously.”

In a digitising world with increasing expectations of service, chatbots ensure an extension of your accessibility. RTL/Videoland saw the advantage of chatbots outside of opening hours. Whereas service agents are available to customers daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., many questions that do not require an employee can also be answered outside of these opening hours, thanks to chatbots.

Chatbots are available in all shapes and sizes. We distinguish between three types of chatbots:

Chatbots can take work off your hands both in front and behind the scenes. For example, think about a bot that automatically answers questions and that does not require any action from an employee, or that automatically tags messages based on smart technology. A chatbot can also route specific questions to the right employee, so that the question immediately goes to the right department or employee. These bots can operate in the background, do not have conversations with the customer, but are a valuable addition to the service department when it comes to efficiency.

A chatbot as work planner has more contact with the customer. It recognises the question the customer asks, looks if all necessary information (such as an order number or email address) is present in the message and asks the customer for missing information, if necessary. The chatbot lays out this information for the employee, who can then answer the question.

Finally, a chatbot can also be used to conduct complete conversations with the customer. For example, think about frequently asked questions, such as questions about opening hours or delivery times.

For each of the 3 applications, we see that the level of efficiency has increased. The proper use of chatbots saves employees precious time, and that time they can spend helping customers.

The development of chatbots is increasingly shifting to the organisations themselves. You control the extent to which you outsource the development of chatbots or whether you do it yourself. The development of chatbot platforms is growing, and a good chatbot platform allows you to create a chatbot yourself. Do not settle for a simple chatbot that can only provide standard answers to questions, but invest in a chatbot platform that ensures that your chatbot will still be able to do its work in the future and that it can grow with your organisation. Also consider the skills your chatbot team needs.

As you have read, chatbots have plenty of benefits. Do you want to get started yourself? Start small, but think big.

Do you want more information about smart chatbots or are you curious about the solutions of Spotler Engage for your organisation? Request a free demo or contact us via contact-engage@spotler.com or +31 (0)85 210 50 60.