AI chatbot sounds a lot like Chatbot 2.0

Only those who’ve been living under a rock could have missed the biggest disruption of 2023: the massive uptake of artificial intelligence. AI is turning established technologies on their heads — and that’s a good thing. Chatbots, for example, have major limitations that can hamper customer service. But when powered by AI, the right technology could transform your customer experience while delivering cost savings and helping you make smarter business decisions.

Going beyond traditional chatbots

In the early days, the promise of chatbots got people excited about just how streamlined customer service could become. Business owners envisioned seamless interactions and rapid issue resolutions. But the reality was not quite so transformative. The limitations of these automated systems were immediately apparent, and according to Taimoor Khan, director of customer experience at Mad Paws, the “incomplete journeys, robotic responses and a lack of personalisation” often left customers disengaged.

Of course the original chatbots were replaced with seemingly better versions, but the cyclical nature of CX leaders substituting one chatbot for another only served to prove the ongoing struggle. Setting up, updating and resetting chatbots absorbs an excessive amount of time, and customers aren’t satisfied with enduring six or seven steps to reach a human agent.

“Chatbots were marketed as a two-click setup with great impact potential,” Khan says. “But the industry saw incomplete journeys, customers stuck in loops and a lack of personalised responses. About 90% of companies aren’t doing their due diligence and setting up those edge-case journeys, resulting in customers having a bad time.”

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Redefining the customer experience with AI

Khan says Mad Paws had to endure this very common challenge themselves. During a period of rapid expansion, there was a decision to be made: stick with what they knew, or take a risk on AI with the goal of completely transforming their customer experience. For Khan, it was a no-brainer.

“The level of risk involved in experimenting with AI is extremely low in customer service,” he says. “The effort to implement an AI solution is very low too. Customer sentiment is quite accepting of AI as long as it’s trained to provide a good response.”

Enter Brainfish and its AI Help Centre. The solution marked a distinct shift from relying on conventional chatbots. After working to understand Mad Paws’ business structure and unique CX requirements, Brainfish presented a customised approach — one that would efficiently deflect repetitive queries while ensuring customers felt engaged, not estranged, by automated responses.

What happens when human expertise meets AI precision

The collaboration between Brainfish and Mad Paws immediately yielded strong outcomes: a 22% reduction in inbound ticket volume and an 80% query deflection rate. But the benefits went beyond just improving the customer experience. The solution actually helped Mad Paws minimise internal hiring costs and focus on what’s most important to the business.

“We saw a 50% drop in queries, especially those with one-line responses,” Khan says. “This enabled us to scale without the need to hire at the same rate as the business grew. It gave us the ability to focus on quality and reduce operational costs.

“Queries requiring a single response back in order to be solved by a customer service agent reduced by 65%. People searching for an answer and then leaving happy improved significantly. And one-word searches from customers have reduced by 37% since the latest update.”

The future of customer service looks brighter with AI

Khan believes in taking a measured approach when tweaking your customer service strategy. He says it’s more about leveraging human capabilities rather than substituting them for technology outright. AI should be used to empower customer self-service while allowing humans to focus on resolving issues that are beyond the reach of automation right now.

True power lies in harnessing AI as a tool to augment human capabilities, not replace them. It’s instead about empowering agents to provide empathetic solutions while leveraging AI for its efficiency.

For other decision-makers who are not seeing the benefits of chatbots that they expected, or are perhaps on the fence about adopting AI solutions into their CX operations, Khan reiterates that “the cost of not trying AI in customer service is so low”.

“Brainfish combines personalisation, fast setup and quick adjustments,” he says. “That means you can reduce the risks and be able to prototype faster.”