08.06.2022 |
Chatbots have become essential in the age of service automation. Many online stores also use these smart assistants to answer questions concerning shipping costs and delivery status, or to provide product advice.
It is not only possible to use a virtual assistant as a chatbot in eCommerce: The customer service bot can also be used as a phone bot to answer inquiries via the hotline. To do so, it simply needs to be activated for the voice channel.
In this article, we answer the most important questions about service bots: How does customer service automation work? What are the advantages of eCommerce chatbots / voicebots? How can bots be used in eCommerce? How do you create a phone bot? And how can an existing chatbot be used for telephony?
Service automation in eCommerce
By implementing a chatbot that answers incoming inquiries via web chat, many online retailers have already successfully integrated intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) into their customer service. In this context, they handle a wide range of tasks that significantly reduce the workload of human customer support staff.
Now it’s time to take the next step and make the virtual helpers accessible via another channel as well: The telephone. The popularity of the phone as a contact channel and consumers’ preference for communicating via voice make the use of a phone bot a must-have for a successful customer experience.
In telephone customer service, bots can help to automate processes and support service staff – just as they do in web chat. They may replace, for example, the classic selection menus via keystroke or IVR (Interactive Voice Response).
This is called Conversational AI. Using state-of-the-art speech technologies, the caller’s voice input is first translated into text (speech-to-text). The bot processes the request and sends its response back in text form, where it is converted to speech (text-to-speech) and played back to the caller.
Phone bots for customer service without queue
By using a phone bot, callers receive round-the-clock phone service without being put on hold. This means that not just a high call volume at peak times can be handled: Inquiries can also be answered automatically outside regular business hours. This is especially relevant for standardized recurring inquiries. These often do not require the support of a human employee and can be completely resolved by IVAs. If this is not the case, the bot can forward the call to a human employee (bot agent handover).
Using bots in eCommerce
Also in the field of eCommerce, there are various use cases that are ideally suitable for processing by a bot. A sample of use cases for chatbots and voicebots in online retail:
- Check stock availability
- Address change
- Password Reset
- Request delivery status
- Invoice request
- Returns management
- Query FAQs
When these repetitive requests are answered using IVAs, concerns can be handled without time delay, as callers do not have to wait until a service representative is available. This gives human employees more time to focus on more individual concerns. A win-win situation for customers and employees.
TENIOS turns chatbots into omnichannel bots
If a chatbot is already in use, it can be enabled for the voice channel in just a few clicks by connecting the TENIOS VoiceBot API. This allows the existing bot to accept and process both text-based requests – for example via webchat or or SMS– and requests via voice interface on the phone.
This allows companies to benefit from greater reach and improved targeting by offering different contact channels. The special feature of our VoiceBot API: Unlike other providers, where bot implementation often requires a high initial investment, integration at TENIOS is done via a single https request. High integration and deployment costs are eliminated.
WHY TO USE THE TENIOS VOICEBOT API:
#1 Telephony channel for bots as a basic service.
Using our API, existing bots (e.g. chatbots, messenger bots) can be quickly and easily enabled for the voice channel. For the use of the phone bot, we only charge the actual usage costs.
#2 Compatibility thanks to Open API infrastructure
The integration of the bot system into the telephony takes place using standardized interfaces. For this purpose, we use https requests, which are also available for other channels and services.
#3 Individual & flexible dialogue control
Incoming calls to the bot are controlled via our Voice API. This means that all cloud communications services for intelligent call routing, including menus, forwarding, etc., can also be made use of in the bot integration. This means that the phone bot can also be deployed, for example, as an IVR replacement for pre-qualification with subsequent forwarding to a human employee.
#4 Expertise & competence in telecommunication over years
Voice response systems are our field of expertise. As a cloud communications provider, we offer interfaces for telephony as well as for voice technologies such as TTS and STT, PBX solutions and call center applications (ACD).
Extend your bot with a voice channel and make your service team complete!
