Chat bots have become an increasingly popular tool for businesses to provide customer service and support. But let’s be honest – we’ve all experienced the frustration of chatting with a bot that just can’t seem to understand our problem or provide a satisfactory solution. It’s a pain point that many businesses and consumers alike have been grappling with. Fortunately, the rise of AI-powered conversational robots or Virtual Assistant is poised to change the game, offering a solution that promises to deliver more efficient and effective customer experiences.
Estimated reading time: 18 minutes
What is wrong with old school chatbots that are menu based or flow based?
The chatbots that are menu-based or flow-based may be easy to implement and more cheaper than their AI counterparts. These bots are built like decision trees, where the user follows a predetermined conversational path by selecting options provided by the bot, rather than typing out their own query or question. This pre-decided guided path can lead to less room for error or miscommunication between the bot and end-user, ensuring a smoother customer experience.
Instead of typing their own query or question, the user simply clicks on the options provided. The user is essentially forced down a pre-decided guided path, meaning less room for error or miscommunication between the bot and end-user.
This might be ideal for directing the user towards the correct live agent, or capture lead generation data. I used dozens of them over the years with really good results with out of hours leads capture.
However, true Customer eXperience begins with a conversation. In 2023, the old school method of having a spammy bot collect your personal data for building a mailing list simply does not work.
So what exactly is a Virtual Agent?
Before we delve into Zoom Virtual Agent, lets define what a Virtual Agent is, and where and when you would use it and how it works.
A software applications that mimic human speech for the purposes of simulating a conversation or interaction with a real person to enhance the Customer eXperience (CX).
Virtual Agents are offered to visitors either via web-based applications or standalone apps
Today, Virtual Agents are used most commonly in the customer service space, assuming roles traditionally performed by living, breathing human beings such as tier-1 support operatives and customer experience agents. Often they come with options to escalate to a real human during office hours.
At the heart of chatbot technology lies natural language processing or NLP, the same technology that Chat GPT uses to answer your questions… However, the hard part is training them and feeding with enough data for the Machine Learning.
And the final challenge is integrating it with back end CRM system to pull customer service data and tight integration to a Contact Centre for seamless flow of Customer eXperience from the Virtual Agent to a real person.
Picture this: a bot with access to your customer data, product and service details, and a deep understanding of customer pain points. Now imagine it seamlessly integrating with your employees and contact centre. That’s the power of Zoom Virtual Agent – the ultimate Customer eXperience solution.
An in depth look at Zoom Virtual Agent
First Impression
I was truly impressed when I first saw Zoom Virtual Agent in action. Its sleek design, responsiveness, and incredible conversational ability were nothing short of amazing. What’s even better is how seamlessly it integrates with Zoom Contact Centre, their premium offering in the Customer Experience space. At first, I had my doubts since Virtual Agent was a result of a recent acquisition of Solvvy by Zoom, and sometimes big tech companies struggle to integrate the apps from their acquisitions effectively. But not Zoom. The way the Virtual Agent could seamlessly escalate a customer’s engagement to a real agent on the Zoom Contact Centre, who could switch the chat to voice or video, left me thoroughly impressed.
Yes it integrates neatly
Yeah. Out of the box for some CRM / service apps (SalesForce / ServiceNow / Xendesk)
How is Zoom positioning Zoom Virtual Agent in the Customer eXperience market?
Zoom is positioning Zoom Virtual Agent as a no-code chatbot that provides ‘Intelligent Support’ aimed at any business that value customer engagement. It is priced at a mid tier compared to other AI based chat bots and Virtual Agents that has machine learning built in.
This is how Zoom describe the Virtual agent:
“Ready 24/7 to provide quick, personalized help and boost your team’s productivity.
Zoom Virtual Agent is an intelligent conversational AI and chatbot solution that uses natural language processing and machine learning to accurately understand and instantly resolve issues for customers. Zoom Virtual Agent works around the clock on multiple support channels to deliver fast, personalized customer experiences, reduce call volumes and handle times for human agents, and drive significant cost savings for organizations.
Unlike many chatbots on the market that require extensive coding, Zoom Virtual Agent uses proprietary AI and machine learning technology to accurately interpret what customers or employees are asking, even if they use everyday language. With this extra level of intelligence, our virtual agent requires less maintenance and has a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than traditional, “rules-based” chatbots — and it delivers a better user experience. “
How does Zoom Virtual Agent resolve customer support issues so quickly?
Efficient and Accurate Customer Support
With Zoom Virtual Agent, your customers can get faster and more accurate resolutions to their inquiries.
The machine learning algorithm automatically learns from your knowledge bases and FAQs, delivering accurate answers immediately. NLP technology enables customers to use conversational language and end-user intents, rather than specific keywords, for an improved customer experience.
Elevate your customer experience with personalized service beyond self-service
Zoom Virtual Agent provides consistent 24/7 customer service across all channels: Web, mobile, and social – to meet your customers where they are.
Create customized flows and messages for unique segments based on their profile or data attributes. When needed, Zoom Virtual Agent guides your customers to the correct channel or live agent when needed, with the key details to keep everyone on the same page.
Get powerful customer insights with Zoom Virtual Agent
Zoom Virtual Agent empowers you with valuable customer insights that help you make informed decisions. With this robust analytics, you can quickly uncover insights about product changes and marketing initiatives. These insights allow you to identify gaps and make critical changes to improve your support operations.
The user-friendly analytics dashboard makes it easy to track your results and optimize your Knowledge Base content. By updating your content, you can improve customer experiences and drive better business outcomes.
Ready to get started with Zoom’s Virtual Assistant?
Let my team at Automate.CX™ help you take the first step with our expert guidance and support.
And while you’re at it, check out our Automate.CX™ service – designed to take your customer experience to the next level. Join us today and unlock the power of conversational AI for your business.
Yeah. It is now available in New Zealand. If you want to jump on a discovery call followed by a product demo, get in touch with a Zoom Certified Partner such as Automate.CX.
Zoom has not announced the NZ list price, but a Zoom insider told me it is US$4.5k / month based on 5,000 AI conversations.
This works out at $1.45 per conversation. Given the processing overhead of an AI call against a custom data set, this is pretty competitive pricing.
Click on the link below to book a slot for a CX Strategy session and we can drill into your use case. >>>
It depends on your goals, and the Customer eXperience you are trying to achieve. It is not for everyone, and we can help you decide if it is a worthwhile getting, and whether you should bundle it with Zoom Phone or Zoom Contact Centre to get a better Omni channel Customer Experience across all touch points.
Automate.CX have multiple engagement models depending on the outcomes and the goals. We can certainly help you work out the ROI, and help you design the workflow, help you with the machine learning, link it up to your phone / contact centre and train your Customer Experience team. Or we can train you to do it yourself though our CX Program which is 50% government funded for qualifying businesses.
Click on the link below to book a slot for a CX Strategy session before we organize a demo.
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How do I determine if Zoom Virtual Centre is a good fit for my business?
- Decide on your Customer Experience goals.
Is Customer engagement really important for your business? The first step is to identify your business goals and CX requirements for implementing a Virtual Agent solution.
- Map the use cases that can be resolved by Virtual Agent engagement.
Some questions to consider are What are the key pain points that you are trying to address? What are the main use cases that the virtual agent should support? What are your expectations in terms of customer experience and engagement?
- Evaluate your existing customer service infrastructure
Assess your current customer service infrastructure, including your existing CX channels and tools. Consider how a virtual agent could fit into your current workflow and complement your existing customer support channels and integrate.
- Analyze your customer data
Review your customer data to understand customer behaviour, frequently asked questions, and areas where your customer service team spends the most time. This analysis can help you identify the best use cases for a virtual agent and inform the design of the agent’s conversation flow.
- Talk to a Zoom Solution Partner about organizing a product walk through
Automate.CX can help you with this and help you guide you through all above tasks and help you implement the solution that maps to your Customer eXperience goals.
Click on the link below to book a slot for a CX Strategy session and organize a demo. >>>
Zoom Phone: +64 9 8867620
Mobile: +64 21 2767727
Email: [email protected]
Automate.CX™ is an Auckland based Customer eXperience specialist Certified in Zoom Phone, Zoom Contact Centre and Zoom Virtual Assistant. Talk to the team about automating and humanizing your Customer eXperience (CX)
