24/7 Customer : The High Cost of Cheap Chat

Anything free costs twice as much in the long run or turns out worthless.
- Robert A.Heinlein

Chatbots have become incredibly popular in recent years, and for good reason. They provide instant access to information and help customers quickly and easily self-serve and complete their journeys. This convenience and accessibility has helped make them the channel of choice for many customers, especially millennials.

To capitalize on the chatbot trend and give customers what they want, a number of companies have been quick to deploy free or cheap chat solutions, believing that offering customers something is better than nothing. But, as is often the case, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

When it comes to chatbots, you get what you pay for, and if you pay next to nothing, that's likely what you'll get.

How Cheap Chat Will Cost You

Not all bots are created equal, and using free or cheap chat solutions will likely end up costing your company a bundle in the long run (not to mention the losses you'll incur from frustrated, unhappy customers.)

Though vendors will often promise you the world, cheap chatbots aren't capable of providing the experiences consumers have come to expect. They're unable to understand intent, they can't identify when to engage a customer, and they can't seamlessly transition customers to call agents. All too often, cheap chatbots are nothing more than a futile attempt to address the increasing demand for self-service customer support options, and not a functional customer service tool.

Customers who are engaging with these cheap chat solutions will not receive the assistance they need and will likely be unable to complete their journeys. This is frustrating and often leads to total journey abandonment or to customers escalating their queries to a human agent where they'll have to start from scratch.

These are not the experiences you want to provide your customers.

Similarly, your agents will have to spend more time authenticating customers and determining their intent - things they would already know if they were working with intelligent chatbots. Increased time spent with agents increases costs to your business, which is the exact opposite outcome chatbots should provide.

The Right Chat Solution

Chat is a strategic investment that must be implemented thoughtfully and carefully. Getting it right might mean a greater cost to your organization up front, but the investment will save you money in the long run and ensure you're providing optimal experiences with every interaction.

The right chatbot solutions replicate all the best qualities of your top human agents - they allow your customers to self-serve and find the answers they're after quickly and easily - just like they would if they were interacting with a live agent.

Intelligent chat can also empower your call center agents to perform more efficiently, help eliminate up to 40% of post-order inquiries from other channels, and enable more customers to solve problems and find answers on their own, in the shortest amount of time. These are the chatbot experiences consumers expect - these are the experiences that will improve customer satisfaction and boost NPS.

Start the New Year right - Learn more about how [24]7.ai chat can offer intuitive insights, drive automation, reduce contact center costs and help you deliver the experiences customers want.