How to support your customers at scale?

Automated customer service is familiar to everyone. Getting help from brands often involves navigating automated phone menus or interacting with support bots.

However, much has changed, both in usability and customer perception. Voice recognition technology has improved, AI solutions can interpret customer feedback and chatbots have started to answer the questions they receive, not just pass them off to a human. With this increase in functionality comes a change in how customers actually view automation: less as a nuisance, and more as a bona fide personalized option for getting help with their issues.

As the head of our support ops team, I work daily with my teammates to develop automated solutions that do not frustrate customers but empower them. Our goal is to personalize every experience through automation – to deliver exactly what each specific customer needs, when they need it and without anyone yelling in frustration for a human.

Here is an inside look at how we have implemented personalized automated customer service at Intercom, and ideas about how to successfully implement automation as part of your own support offerings in the future.

What is automated customer service?

Automated customer service is a type of customer support which is provided by automated technology such as AI-powered chatbots, not humans. Automated customer support works best when customers need answers to recurring straightforward questions, status updates or help to find a specific resource.

One of the most popular automated support options here at Intercom is chatbots. Our bots use machine learning to provide customers with links to existing resources, like knowledge base articles and FAQs. They can also route customer conversations to the team best equipped to handle their questions and can even provide answers to simple customer questions like, “How can I add more users?”

Armed with this type of intelligent self-serve support, you can provide faster resolutions for your customers and reduce customer inquiries for your team – without sacrificing a great experience.

How to support your customers with automation

Over the last decade, live chat has become the de facto standard for companies wanting to offer top-tier conversational support. Chat is faster than email, more personal than traditional knowledge bases and far less frustrating than shouting into an automated phone system.

However, live chat is not always the most convenient option for busy customers or time-strapped support reps. Some customers might be multitasking, in the middle of their work day, or on the go. For customers who do not have time to have an in-depth conversation with a support rep, automated support options – like chatbots – become just as important as real-time support.

The advantages are significant for your support team too. When most simple queries and tasks are handled automatically, it frees up your support reps to spend their valuable time resolving complex queries that require their expertise and empathetic touch.

These are the benefits of automated support that we have found particularly impactful here at Intercom.

Allows customers to multitask

Customers can ask your chatbot a question and read the answer between meetings, or get a link to a helpful article and read it when they have time. There is no pressure to take action immediately.

Customers can choose the option that fits their needs

To us, automated support does not mean directing customers to an endless loop of scripted responses. Some customers love rolling up their sleeves and digging into help center articles, while some customers are not interested in more than a quick scan. Serving both types is key. If they need more help, your customers can still follow up with a support rep. With both live chat and automation in your arsenal, you can truly meet your customers anywhere and at any time they need you.

Reduce labor costs

Automation helps both your customers and your company. It lets you employ a smaller support team, reduce your labor costs, and save money.

Less room for human error

Automation rules allow customer questions that cannot be answered by a chatbot to instantly be routed to the right person and team, ensuring there is no confusion over who handles what or which questions have already been answered.

Improved efficiency

When implemented well, automated customer service allows businesses to help more customers at scale without drastically growing headcount. This, in turn, can also free your support team up to answer more complex queries like emotionally-charged complaints, VIP queries, and tricky troubleshooting issues that require a human touch. The speed and cost and time savings can be game-changers for your business if you implement those solutions thoughtfully.

Implementing automated customer service that feels personal

A recent study by Smart Insights stated that 63 per cent of customers will stop buying from brands who offer poor personalization tactics, which means you cannot just automate customer service.

You have to make sure automation still feels personal. That takes time and thoughtfulness. You have to make sure to strike the right balance to avoid having your personalization come across as creepy. It is great when websites suggest support articles before you reach out to support and chatbots offer resources based on the page you are viewing. However, a chatbot using data enrichment tools to address a customer by name is probably not a good idea if this is their first visit to your site.

How automated customer service is paying off

Using instant resolution and contextual routing has led to some pretty big wins for our support team. Here are some specifics:

• Our rate of automated resolution (ROAR) is about 4.5 per cent. This means 4.5 per cent of all customer issues are resolved without a human being involved.
• Every 1 per cent of ROAR roughly equates to a savings of US$100,000 per year, so that 4.5 per cent resolution rate translates to US$450,000 saved annually.
• 75 per cent of our automated resolutions come from Resolution Bot, while the remaining 25 per cent come from suggested articles.
• 60 per cent of our routed conversations land in the right inbox on the first try. This is something we are constantly working to improve, both for our support team and our customers.

While a 4.5 per cent ROAR might sound low, it is actually a pretty huge number for us as you might guess from those annual cost savings. 4.5 per cent is also on par with B2B companies like ours that tend to see more complex questions from customers.

B2C companies can get their ROAR up to 10-20 per cent, since many of their questions are far more transactional in nature and thus are more easily resolved by automation. We have seen customers for whom Resolution Bot resolves 33 per cent of the queries it gets involved in and improves customer response time by 44 per cent.

Ultimately, we think this 4.5 per cent ROAR and 60 per cent routing success rate are just the start. We are confident that we can continue to improve these KPIs and route even more customers to the correct place on the first try, all without ever involving a human.

When automated customer service is not the right solution

Ultimately, there are some situations where automation is not useful. This is usually when you are in a situation where you cannot personalize the kind of support you are offering. This might be because you do not have the necessary context on your customer to treat them individually.

It could also be because your current chatbot cannot interpret that information to make the appropriate routing decisions, like sending customers knowledge base links or automatically routing them to a member of your support team. In these situations where it is not personalized, automation becomes a blocker instead of a valid support method.

Here is what I mean by a blocker: think back to the hours-long phone calls with your cable provider or bank. Have you ever yelled “customer service” into a phone five times, trying to get to a human being? By the time the phone menu gives up on trying to resolve your issue, you were probably too frustrated to properly articulate what your problem was.

What you needed in that situation was an “escape hatch.” Therein lies the danger of poorly implemented automation. If your customers get blocked by a chatbot or get routed to the wrong team, they will be just as frustrated as you were when you yelled at that phone menu. However, this time the risk is even greater, since it is so much easier to cancel, tell friends about your unhelpful support, or both.

Poor personalization can turn satisfied customers sour, to the point that they cancel their account and take their business to your competitors. Alternatively, they may instead flock to your real-time support options, increasing the need for staff and raising your associated costs. It is a lose-lose situation.

Customers who should not be subjected to automation:

• Customers with sensitive issues: Requests for upgrades or cancellations should be answered by a human. When a customer is trying to give you money, you cannot allow a chatbot to jeopardize the relationship before it even begins. If they are thinking about canceling, poor automation might make any negative feelings even worse or ruin any chance at saving the relationship.
• High-touch customers: Customers with lots of questions, and those who need hand-holding through difficult processes or explanations, would benefit from working with a human. Most of the time, these customers are more than willing to wait for a person to talk to if they know they will get the help they need.
• New customers or trials: Your newest converts might end your relationship early if they find themselves continually blocked by chatbots, no matter how “helpful.”

To prevent issues with these three types of customers, my team maintains a list of questions that we do not allow to be answered by automation. Customers who ask about pricing, who are identified as at-risk or “high-touch,” or our trial users, are automatically routed to a team member for assistance. Though AI is learning to handle complex problems, for the time being, these customers will get the best service possible if you send them to a human, not a bot.

Automated customer service is useful, but it cannot stand alone

Automation empowers you to scale your support and provide customers with the answers they need, when they need them. But it is only one piece of the puzzle for delivering fast, personal support to your customers at the scale your business needs.

On its own, automation will not solve all of your customers’ problems – it needs to be supported by a strong knowledge base and answers from your support team. Without those resources backing it up, your bots will do little more than annoy customers who are desperately trying to seek solutions to their problems.

To ensure your automated customer service is effective, you need a thoughtful, cohesive strategy that provides customers with the right kind of help they need, exactly when they need it. We recommend using our Conversational Support Funnel framework to seamlessly combine proactive, self-serve, and human support capabilities to provide personal, efficient support at scale. Armed with the funnel, happier, more loyal customers and a more productive team await.