Chatbot Customer Service capabilities chasing Phone’s tail

Whether you view Chatbot/ Messenger technology as a passing fad, or believe that chatbots will revolutionize how people communicate and interact, the impact chatbots are having on online experiences is real…and it’s measurable. More recently, the rise of real-time messaging has led to a fundamental shift in how people prefer to connect with businesses.

In the on-demand, real-time world we live in, where everything seems to be just one click away, consumers expect to be able to find the information they’re looking for quickly and easily. The benefits reported in association to Chatbots is that 64% prefer the opportunity to have 24 hour service, and 55% like both an instant response and simple questions being answered instantly. It’s clear that consumers see chatbots as being able to provide that real-time, on-demand experience that they’ve been craving. However, that doesn’t mean chatbots are poised to replace humans. Because when it comes to getting expert answers, answers to detailed questions, and overall friendliness/ approachability, chatbots ranked much lower. Those are areas where humans will continue to shine. Based on a 2018 North Group survey, The phone is still the most popular way to connect with customer service for dealing with payment or billing issues (56%), resolving a problem (54%) and making account changes (43%). What’s important here to note however is the shift in attitudes, as the number of consumers citing the phone as their preferred channel slipped from 49% in 2015 to 43% this year. This shift is being driven in part by younger consumers. Millennials were the only age group to prefer digital means (44%) over phone (34%).

So, just like any emerging technology, chatbots will only become widely adopted if it’s shown that they can solve real problems. Otherwise, the novelty will eventually wear off. Given a lot of Jack locations are 24 hours a day, how are we combating bringing our customer service to 24 hours too? We have the opportunity to bring Jacks character and personality alive too, which could add a playful PR capability to the customer service.