Providing automated self-service where customers (and agents) want it most

As customers trend towards becoming more self-sufficient, they’re becoming more accustomed to interacting with AI-powered tools for the support they need (especially with 75 percent of executives looking to actively implement AI in the next three years). The benefit of customers engaging with these tools means that agents can get involved with fewer support requests and focus their attention on the ones that truly need a human touch. Not only does this free up time for agents, but it ultimately results in a better, seamless customer experience.

Automated self-service can be accomplished with the help of virtual customer assistants like Answer Bot. Answer Bot is built into Zendesk Guide and uses machine learning to respond to questions with content from your knowledge base. The automated assistance of AI tools like Answer Bot can help companies shave down their ticket volume and enable customers to better help themselves. For example, Dollar Shave Club has benefitted from nine thousand monthly resolutions via Answer Bot with a 14 percent resolution rate.

There’s also an increased demand to help customers where they want to be helped. As customers seek assistance in a way that makes the most sense to them, a proactive support organization can offer automated support where it would be the most beneficial to their customers.

Figuring out where automated support can help your customers

Think about where it is that customers often seek support. Are they having difficulty finding relevant articles in a Help Center? A steady influx of support tickets and a high rate of bounces from the front of Help Center might be indicative of that. What if customers often seek help during a critical point in the buyer’s journey or prefer to seek help on their phones?

This is where businesses can be strategic with where automated self-service is offered. Beyond offering assistance after a support ticket is created via email or web form, Answer Bot’s new features allow it to be embedded into the Zendesk Web Widget and offer assistance through an in-context help window from anywhere on a website. It can even be implemented into a mobile site or app via the Mobile SDK. This allows businesses to decide where customers can access automated help; perhaps from within a Help Center or from within their shopping cart directly within their mobile app. Or, if developers want to fully leverage the automated recommendations provided by Answer Bot, they can build out an experience that connects with their own unique channels through open Answer Bot APIs.

AI-powered knowledge sharing for agents

AI tools can help a support organization craft a more tailored knowledge sharing experience for their customers. But what about sharing knowledge amongst the agents as well? They too need quick access to help articles for both internal and external knowledge sharing.

Answer Bot for Agents gives agents a shortcut to the recommended help articles by displaying them within the ticket interface. The articles can be external or internal for businesses that utilize an agent-only knowledge base. An agent can provide a quick link to an article as a resource to educate the customer on self-service options in the future. And, more importantly, it keeps agents updated on the help articles available for their customers, giving them a more holistic view of their support offerings so they can fill in gaps as needed.

For internal knowledge needs, automated self-service can be leveraged with the Answer Bot for Slack integration, which enables employees to easily locate help articles from a knowledge base using shortcuts in Slack. This helps to save time for employees looking for information so they don’t need to dig through sections or bug their coworkers.

Many are expecting that the widespread implementation of AI will be incredibly disruptive, so it’s important for support leaders to stay on top of automated support options that can help them improve their customer experience to meet the increasing demands and needs from customers. By leveraging tools like Answer Bot and its new features (that are currently available in early access), customers and agents can find the help they’re looking for when and where they need it the most.