Increasingly, businesses are starting to look to chatbots as a way to provide elementary customer service elements at extremely low costs. That's a good way to add value, and the chatbots are starting to get more refined to reflect the growing demand for these systems. Linc recently announced a new chatbot system that offered a complete roster of customer engagement tools to give businesses a better chance at long-term profitability.
The new Linc platform offered chatbots for not only Facebook Messenger, but also for Apple iMessage and WhatsApp, allowing businesses to cover some of the major online messaging tools in one fell swoop. Additionally, the system can offer support for voice-based options like Siri, Alexa and Google Home, which further adds capability to the system and potentially better connects with some customers. There are even new options offered for those who want to use text messaging—a growing segment of the shopping public—as well as email and Web-based options.
With all these different channels provided for, it improves the conversion rates from return to exchange to complete salvage, getting users who might have left for good to come back. It improves customer satisfaction, which also improves customer loyalty, and even helps keep costs contained as it reduces the total numbers of returns.
The Linc program uses a breed of artificial intelligence (AI) trained in retail-specific issues, backed up by natural language understanding methods to produce a system that can operate at least somewhat like a human being can. Included are some pre-built integration measures to help speed up the onboarding process and make it that much easier—and faster—to put the system in place.
Linc Global's CEO, Fang Cheng, commented, “Engaging consumers where they prefer to be served is a top priority for retailers who want to meet expectations and build a loyal customer base. Linc has created a platform that will help retailers engage effectively with their audience and provide an immediate ROI, without an overwhelming upfront investment.”
Omnichannel customer service—the practice of reaching customers via whatever type of communication they want to use—is still a valuable part of business operations, and businesses that embrace an omnichannel philosophy are more likely to derive return in the form of greater customer loyalty, improved customer relations, or even just more sales. Staffing every channel a customer can use, however, can often be prohibitively costly, and that has some reasonably smart companies looking to automate some of these channels.
Here, automation can deliver new value by supplementing a regular workforce. Chatbots do have some room to offer value, and businesses that want to cover all the bases find a ghost runner or two can be very handy.
If you’d like to learn more about AI and chatbots, be sure to check out TMC and Crossfire Media’s newest conference and expo, Communications 20/20, happening July 18-20 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The event will focus on the next wave of technology and innovations that will transcend the importance of person to person contact, disrupting the future of the entire communications industry. Find out more HERE.
Edited by
Alicia Young
