Boost Your Customer Retention With User-Friendly Chatbot Technology

Did you know that it costs 7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one?

But as powerful as that statistic is, perhaps the most important one for all businesses and organizations is the fact that 69% of US consumers say customer service is very important when it comes to their loyalty to a company, brand or service provider.

Integrating bot technology into a digital payment infrastructure can provide significant upside for any organization that bills consumers directly. The bill payer’s chatbot engagement could begin as simply as saying or typing “get bill.” From there the chatbot takes over, unleashing a cascade of capabilities that benefit both the consumer and the business.

Addressing the Limitations of Human Customer Service Agents

While most consumers are accustomed to a human connection when it comes to customer service, troubleshooting and billing issues, there are limitations on how many customer service agents a company can hire, based on availability and cost.

So how can an organization ensure that they are providing the kind of customer service which leads to customer retention if they are limited in their ability to hire human customer service representatives?

Chatbot technology is not only the ideal solution for addressing customer needs and concerns, it can also help correctly funnel customer inquiries based on their needs. Some customers who reach out for help have questions which are most efficiently and quickly answered by a chatbot.

That ensures that those customers receive support more quickly while also freeing up human customer service representatives to address more delicate or complicated issues that other customers may be facing.

Meet Your New and Improved Chatbots

Now is a good time to point out that chatbot technology has advanced dramatically in the past few years. Bots can now understand and triage problems and, if a customer needs to be turned over to a live representative, arm their human counterparts with insight and data to make informed and swift decisions.

In a situation where a customer has a billing-related question, the intelligent chatbot can scour billing information and provide insight presented succinctly and precisely. Over the course of time, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning helps each chatbot encounter become more tailored and productive. Built in emotional intelligence and natural language processing enable chatbots to understand, respond, and drive conversation and customer engagement on human terms – not robospeak.

Chatbots Give Your Business a 24/7 Customer Service Advantage

Availability is also a huge component of the increasing popularity of chatbots. In a recent survey, 64% of internet users say 24-hour service is the best feature of chatbots. In addition to the availability of chatbots, according to a report by CNBC, they are also expected to save businesses more than $8 billion in operating costs over the course of two years. That’s a win/win for both the bill paying consumer and the biller.

The affordability of chatbot technology and the fact that it is now provided as part of a robust bill-payments technology package means that organizations of any size can utilize them.

And the adaptability of the technology means that these chatbots are not a “one size fits all” solution but rather one which can be tailored to the most commonly asked questions, needs or concerns of any organization’s customers.

The Hidden Upside of Chatbots – Consumer Data and Trends Insight

Lastly, let’s not overlook the fact that chatbots are data-goldmines. Every customer question, answer, and interaction – whether resolved by the bot itself or put through to an agent – is captured and available for analysis.

This data can power insight into customer preferences and satisfaction, as well as identify areas of customer friction – all of which can be operationalized to build stronger, more enduring, and more profitable customer relationships.

The Paymentus Instant Payment Network® includes a fully integrated, AI powered chatbot feature suitable for businesses of any size.

For more on how Paymentus can help you Bill Better, visit paymentus.com or to request an Instant Payment Network® demo, visit www.paymentus.com/contact.