4 Ways of Scaling Customer Support With Automation
Hi dear reader 👋
Interested in automating, but unsure of where to get started? Here’s how to scale your customer support using AI-powered automation through our new partnership with Ultimate.ai
The hype around AI technology makes it hard to cut through the noise. Some automation providers promise the world — without explaining how support teams can put this technology to best use. In this article, we will focus on bringing clarity to that for you.
For forward-thinking CS teams, automated support is a no-brainer. But it can be hard to know where to get started. That’s why we’ve put together 4 ways of scaling customer support using automation.
1. Identify and deflect frequently asked questions
Most companies offer FAQ pages and how-to guides, to help their customers self-serve. Despite this, support teams are still swamped by repetitive requests — with 70% of agents feeling overwhelmed.
Automating these queries frees agents to work on more complex and rewarding cases. But how do you know which questions to automate first? Your own historic support data holds the answer.
Historic data is a goldmine of customer information. Conversational AI can analyse this information, to determine the topics and issues (or intents) your customers most regularly need help with. This gives you a data-driven roadmap of where to start automating.
After using historic data to identify their customers’ most frequent queries, fast-growing German e-commerce company Purelei deflected 50% of their intents — all within 3 weeks of launching chat automation.
“Simple requests like, ‘How can I return my product’ were taking up so much of our time.”
- Sofie Werner, Customer Service Automation Manager, Purelei
The online jeweller was able to reach these automation rates so quickly by deep-diving into their support history and identifying which intents would yield the highest ROI. They began with the most common intents, and those that could be fully handled by their bot: like ‘order status”.
2. Serve new markets and time zones with 24/7 chat
Customers expect to be able to interact with brands around the clock. And as companies launch in new markets, they need to extend their support offering too.
With automated chat, both businesses and consumers can do exactly that. A virtual agent handles queries instantly, 24/7 — so you can continue to support your customers when your team punches out for the day.
Chat automation pushes information to customers when agents aren’t available. With Ultimate’s virtual agent platform, you can set an out-of-hours message for queries that come through outside of your working times. In cases where a human touch is needed, the virtual agent lets customers know exactly when a person will get back to them.
UK-based stationery company Papier was able to expand their business by implementing 24/7 chat automation. Their virtual agent could serve US customers across the pond, while Papier’s human support staff remained in the UK.
On top of this, Papier’s virtual agent slashed resolution times by integrating with Sorted, their delivery experience platform. This allowed the virtual agent to fetch information like tracking numbers and shipping status, and instantly pass these details to customers.
We live in an age of instant gratification, where 90% of consumers want an immediate response when seeking support. Chat automation allows you to give customers the answers they need: wherever they are, whatever the time.
3. Offer native-level support around the globe with multilingual AI
Multilingual support is a must when serving an international customer base. But it can be difficult (and costly) to hire support staff with native-level language skills in every market you serve.
As 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from companies that personalise customer experiences, localised support is becoming more of a necessity than a nice-to-have. With the help of a multilingual virtual agent, you can scale your support without scaling your team.
We empowered Superbet — Romania’s leading sports betting and gaming company — to create an industry-leading customer experience with AI-powered automation. The transition to a technology-first company also supported their growth plans in Poland and other Central European markets.
Superbet went live with a virtual agent that was able to serve customers in flawless Romanian and improve first response times by 74% with automated chat.
“Romanian is a complex language and Ultimate is the only AI provider we found that could support it at native fluency.”
- Elena Husar, Customer Service Lead, Superbet
As Superbet continues to grow internationally, its virtual agent will seamlessly scale alongside them.
4. Cut average handle time (AHT)
The time it takes to resolve a customer’s issue has a huge impact on their overall experience. Automated ticketing and partial automation allow CS teams to cut handling times and serve their customers more effectively.
Ticket Automation can slash AHT by solving simple email requests. And for more complex questions, the virtual agent automatically tags and routes tickets — fast-tracking resolution times.
Partial automation also reduces AHT by collecting customer information such as order numbers or email addresses. If the virtual agent can’t solve a customer’s query, these details are passed on to a human agent when the case is escalated.
Pockit cleared 95% of its massive email backlog in just two months using Ticket Automation. After implementing our automation solution, the leading Fintech company was able to lower their AHT from several weeks to under 48 hours.
Similarly, we guided sustainable banking company Tomorrow in building on a strategy of escalation-by-process — after attempting to deflect first. They applied it to queries where human agents need to verify documents, like card activation and unblocking accounts.
When customers enter the chat, their virtual agent requests critical information upfront, before automatically routing customers to the correct department. This partial automation resulted in a 50% reduction in AHT.
The world of AI technology can seem overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. If you want to know more, our automation experts are here to help.