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20 Dec 2022

5 steps to implementing a chatbot right

It has already been 5 years since we started helping companies implement chatbots. Now we'd like to share some of our experience in how you can make a chatbot bring the maximum benefit to your business, so that your customers stay happy.

When implementing a chatbot is worth it

You need to reduce call center maintenance costs.

The average salary of a contact center operator in Russia is about 46K roubles. Even still, an operator can process no more than two to three text requests at a time. Because of this, you may need a lot of employees to process requests during peak hours.

Chatbots can take on most of the requests, and they have virtually no limits for the number of requests processed simultaneously. An overstaffed call center is no longer needed — with chatbots, operators will only be called in to solve uncommon issues.

Ready-made solutions for implementing chatbots are quite budget-friendly: they cost from a few thousand to 15–20 thousand rubles per month, depending on the functionality.

A large percentage of requests are simple similar questions.

Chatbots can help track an order, look at order status, select delivery time, book a table, buy and exchange tickets, and respond to frequently asked questions.

This is beneficial both for the company and for its customers: many customers find it more convenient to resolve simple issues using a chatbot than calling the hotline.

You need to improve customer service quality.

Chatbots can reduce wait time during peak hours. It only takes a couple of seconds for a chatbot to answer a customer's question.

What can be improved

Passenger support used to be provided by the company hotline only. Call service was expensive, and users were not happy with it: many people prefer text messages to phone calls, and for some, calling is simply inconvenient, for example, if the passenger is in roaming mode.

  • 62% — this is how much the call center operator workload was reduced at CDEK. The company saves money thanks to lowered call center costs.
  • Up to 63% of text-based customer requests are processed by chatbots at Ural Airlines.
  • Customer requests are processed 24/7 with no staff involved.
  • Personalized request processing: chatbots can retrieve all necessary information about customers and their orders from a corporate CRM system (in case of integration).

Chatbot implementation algorithm

1. Define your company's needs.

For small businesses with no plans for major expansion, simple chatbot builders offered by many services would be the best solution. They can be used create a simple button bot with a linear scenario that would cover your basic needs.

If your company receives 6,000 or more requests per month, you may want to look into a service with some extra features. Pay attention to such features as integration with IT systems for automating order processing, bot connection with AI for random text recognition, voice bot connection, etc.

The best solution is a service that offers a wide range of options. This way, if need be, you can easily scale your project: you won't have to transfer the data, and all your business needs will be covered by a single contractor.

Our team can offer their support in implementing a chatbot. For example, when customers order turnkey solutions, Flomni takes care of all technical issues and settings.

2. Identify the most problematic request topics.

There's no use trying to automate everything at once. First, select 5 to 10 most frequent topics of your customers' requests — those that take the most time for the call center operators. That's where automation should start: this way would be the most beneficial for your business.

Then, for these topics, outline the Q&A logic applied by human operators when they handle similar requests. It needs to be introduced into the bot algorithm.

3. Think through necessary integrations.

For example, if your customers frequently ask about the order status, the bot that works with these requests will need information from your corporate CRM system. Sometimes integration can be one-way: you simply transfer data from the system to the bot. Sometimes it is two-way: if a customer changes delivery time or pickup time in the bot, the updated data should be sent back to the CRM system. Chatbot implementation partners can help you keep all details in mind and implement the integration seamlessly.

4. Determine your business needs.

The first thing to do would be conduct a test run at a company level. After that, you can use the bot to serve real-life customers.

Today, regular chatbots and AI-powered bots are used to process text messages. Our advice would be to launch a button bot first: it's fast, it's inexpensive, and it allows you to immediately assess the effect of automation. For your customers, this could cover basic needs and improve service quality as they will no longer have to wait in line.

In the future, button bot capacity can be expanded to add a Smart Bot. Then, customers will be able to type their requests in a free form rather than just choose from several proposed options; the bot will recognize the wording and offer appropriate solutions.

5. Evaluate the implementation results.

Analyze what can be improved and how request processing can be optimized in the future. For further automation, you can expand the list of topics or add an AI chatbot.

You can decide on that on your own or ask our team for suggestions — based on their experience, they will know what direction would bring the most benefits to your business.

How to your make customers happy with a chatbot

Here are three basic tips.

  1. Provide your customers with convenient communication channels. Use various messengers as well as a simple website chat. Accordingly, the platform you select should support them too.
  2. When choosing topics for automation, assess what would be more convenient for your customers: human interaction or chatbot interaction. For example, most users would find it more convenient to use chatbots to change order data and delivery time because it's fast and easy. The corresponding topics are definitely a must in terms of request automating.
  3. Reserve the handoff option. It is important that you configure the Q&A logic so that chatbots can hand off chats to operators only when it's necessary. Operators should be able to look through chat history so as not to waste their time and energy on clarifying the details all over again. A chatbot platform that you choose should provide such an opportunity — this is how we at Flomni operate.

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