The War Between Chatbots and Support Agents

A war has been unfolding in the world of online customer service in recent years. Human support agents have come under attack from AI-powered chatbots that are now starting to threaten their existence.

It is said that using chatbots instead of customer support agents could save a business upwards of 30% on their customer service costs. However, while saving money is always important for a business, when it comes to customer service, there is a fine line to consider. Chatbots carry a lot of benefits including cost, but they are still behind their human counterparts in many areas.

In fact, surveys suggest that over 50% of people would rather speak to a human customer support agent when compared to chatbots. This means there is a balancing act for any business that wants to ensure they make some savings while also not upsetting its customers too much. This is why it is a solid strategy to use both rather than going fully in one direction or the other.

Perhaps we can live in a world of peace whereby chatbots and support agents work together to deliver high-quality customer support? If you think this is a strategy that could work for your business, let’s first look at the pros and cons of using a chatbot.

Pros of Using a Chatbot

• The other key advantage of a chatbot is that it can automatically respond to visitors’ queries. This means that a human agent will be available for other customers while a chatbot can handle dozens of queries at a time.
• A chatbot can answer questions for multiple customers at once. A chatbot can match language to the available agent and can also be set to appear online when an agent is not available.
• When you make chatbox for customers to interact with your business, it could save your business substantial money due to the reduction in costs, including hiring, training and infrastructure.
• Another major advantage of chatbots over human agents is that chatbots are better at solving repetitive queries.
• Chatbots have no downtime, so do not need to use the bathroom or go on lunch breaks. They can work 24/7 without ever complaining.
• It is far cheaper to use chatbots than pay human support agents

Cons of Using Chatbots

• While chatbots can handle a lot of tickets, they don’t understand certain human emotions. In addition, they can’t pivot when unexpected situations occur. A human agent can help many customers at the same time.
• When it comes to customer experience, a human agent is still a top priority. A human agent is familiar with the language of customers and can answer complex questions.

As you can see, there really is only a few negative to using a chatbot for your business. Still, you should not rely solely on this AI-powered software if you value the overall satisfaction of your customers. Instead, perhaps use chatbots as an early part of the support process to establish what the customer wants. The bot can continue if the issue is something easy or repetitive while the call can be passed to human support agents when more complex issues need answering.