What are the best practices for using chatbots in contact center operations?

It’s important to gather all the data you need to support your bots goals and use them effectively. I think bots work best by directing your customers to the information you have readily accessible for them in your FAQs or blog they may not have read. In my opinion,even the new AI technology bots are not meant to replace humans and be cheap rather than to decrease the number of incoming emails and save your team time to focus on the more complex tasks and create the more personalized experiences instead of rushing through using the same basic macros.

Here's my concise guide on defining chatbot goals based on Best Practice during my career to date: 1- Identify Business Objectives- What is priority - resolve queries or answer queries? 2- Understand user needs- Analyse the needs and expectations of your target audience 3- Define your KPI's 4- Integration with existing systems- ensure the chatbot aligns with broader organisational infrastructure. 5- Regularly analyse feedback, identify areas for improvement, and implement updates to enhance overall performance 5- Scalability and Expansion. Defining chatbot goals involves a strategic alignment with business objectives, a deep understanding of user needs, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

Choosing the right chatbot platform is crucial for successful implementation. Some key factors to consider: Define Objectives: 1- Clearly outline your chatbot objectives 2-Prioritise platforms with robust NLP capabilities 3-Select a platform that supports various communication channels, such as website chat, messaging apps, and social media. This ensures a consistent user experience across platforms 4-Ensure the platform can scale as your chatbot needs evolve. 5-Choose a platform that seamlessly integrates with your existing systems. Whether it's CRM, databases, or other tools, smooth integration enhances the chatbot's functionality.

Training your chatbot and agents is crucial for providing a seamless and effective customer experience Key notes to remember: 1- Foster collaboration between your chatbot and human agents. Initiate joint training sessions where both entities learn from each other. 2- Leverage historical customer interactions to train your chatbot. 3- Implement a system for continuous monitoring of chatbot interactions 4- Train human agents to work seamlessly with the chatbot. 5- Conduct training sessions with simulated scenarios and role-playing exercises. It is very important to create a synergy between chatbots and human agents, ensuring they complement each other's strengths.

At my previous role as Head of customer success at Keebo, I optimised as follows: 1- Keep your chatbot's knowledge base up to date. Incorporate new FAQs, product details, or changes in policies promptly. 2- Integrate personalisation features to make interactions more tailored to individual users. Use data such as user preferences, past interactions, and purchase history to customise responses. 3-Define clear escalation paths for scenarios where the chatbot may struggle or when users require human assistance 4- Optimise your chatbot for multi-channel interactions 5- Implement mechanisms for collecting user feedback on chatbot interactions.

You should always be reviewing how the chat bot is performing, otherwise why did you bother putting one in...... Its needs to constantly be reviewed, tweaked and updated to make sure its able to actually be useful. Seen too many examples still, where they fall over too quickly and become useless and frustrating to the user.