Tag: blog

Broadcasts and Triggers in chatbots
Articles

Broadcasts and Triggers: How to Sell with Your Chatbot

Do you want to know what broadcasts and triggers are? How they can enhance your engagement with your clients and potential consumers? So you came to the right place. For more, keep reading this article!

How you interact with your audience depends mainly on how you communicate with it. These interactions can determine the user experience as well as brand loyalty. It is, therefore, essential to have a close relationship with the consumer.  For that, you can use chatbots.

Proximity to customers allows you to collect detailed information about their behavior and research. You can then send them recommendations for products or campaigns that best suit their profile.

To improve your advertising interactions, Visor.ai offers you two options: Broadcasts and Triggers. The choice of one or the other will depend on the campaign you want to do.

Broadcast and Triggers: What are they?

Broadcasts, as the name implies, treat the transmission of information on a broad scale.

The term “broadcast” is widely used in the radio world, as it was there that the first ones happened.

With the evolution of technology, many of these transmissions began to be shared on the Internet. Mainly, for music and video dissemination, like Youtube.

It’s still broadcasting, although the means of delivery changed.

We can say that Broadcasts are more focused on the message. On the other hand, Triggers are more concentrated on the parameters to trigger the signal.

The former has a more general character. Triggers activate according to the actions the client took during his interaction with the chatbot.

That said, these strategies are used to enhance customer loyalty and engagement strategies.

The Differences Between Triggers and Broadcasts

Triggers are ideal when you already know the customer’s behavior. They go by this name because the messages come from the paths that the client takes when he goes to your company’s chat.

For example, you are an insurance company and have a potential client who opens the chat and regularly consults about housing insurance and its coverage. In this case, using previously defined criteria, you can send him a message regarding this matter.

You can also activate the trigger message using links from your website. That is, you can combine chat interactions with a particular web page. Imagine, if the client goes to your contact page and, using the previous example, is searching about home insurance in the chatbot, then he’ll receive the trigger you set for these specific requirements.

This tool is interesting when you want to trigger messages that depend on the user’s actions.

Such as sending a message after the customer has passed an “x” number of times for a given theme or product. Or even send an ad when the user runs a specific path in the conversation flow.

On the other hand, Broadcasts are ideal for when you want a campaign that covers the general public, almost like a Newsletter. That is, anyone who accessed your chatbot, and has consented to the collection of their data, will receive these messages.

Broadcasts are great when you have one-time campaigns or want to let your customers or prospects know of specific dates for special discounts.

Messages that Promote Curiosity

As we have already mentioned, Broadcasts and Triggers result from fulfilling parameters that activate messages.

The messages can have any information you want, from updating privacy criteria to launching new products or even informing customers that your system is down (nobody wants it, but it can happen!).

For it to always be a fluid conversation, even when it is not in direct dialogue with consumers, it is crucial to have a well-defined conversational design. To learn more, read the article Conversational Design: What It Is and How to Apply to Your Bot.

That said, you can take advantage of your chatbot and start interacting with your consumer through a conversation, counteracting those impersonal and unattractive campaigns.

Why not, perhaps, ask about the subject they’re researching? “Hi! I see you want to open an account with us. I’m so glad! May I present the many advantages you can enjoy with our new product?”

Are you interested? Well, that’s the feeling you want to promote to your customers.

Programming

On the Visor.ai platform, there are two distinct places where you can create each of these tools.

Triggers

Triggers are created directly in your knowledge base, along with the most frequently asked questions. These can be permanently part of the database, as they compile lengthy campaigns.

The conditions for triggering the response will always be the same, so there is no need to be elsewhere than in the corpus.

Once created, you choose how to present the interactions to your client, to make the conversation more dynamic. They can be in text, image, galleries, gifs, as you prefer.

For this type of interaction – the triggers – it is necessary to deploy. Implementation for the Live environment can be harmful when you don’t have everything aligned within your knowledge base yet.

That is, imagine you have a trigger to launch, but at the same time, you have a section of your bot that is not yet ready. If you do the update, you’ll post both of these interactions, and it can be a nuisance to have one of them still incomplete.

Broadcasts

Broadcasts, compared to Triggers, are more punctual and general campaigns. They have a section dedicated exclusively to their creation but have a limitation when assembling them.

When you create a broadcast with an instant response block, you only have the text and image option.

But don’t despair. You can send more complex messages if you use an existing conversation flow. That is, you must first create the interaction and then attached it when you set up the Broadcast. This way, you can use galleries and gifs and make it more dynamic and attractive.

Unlike the Triggers, you can schedule the launch of campaigns. These are only sent to your customers at the time you define.

Since you don’t need to deploy, it doesn’t interfere with updates you are making simultaneously in your knowledge base.

Additionally, there is no need to erase them, as they aren’t saved in your permanent knowledge. Once they’ve fulfilled their purpose, they’re attached, without taking up space, in your database.

What You Need to Know

In the Triggers tool:

  • Send messages to specific customers
  • Combine website links and chatbot interactions
  • You need to deploy the knowledge base
  • Use different message formats (text, image, galleries, etc.) in its assembly
  • Send messages automatically, according to the path chosen by the user.

In the Broadcast tool:

  • Send messages to the general public
  • You can only send text and images in its instant assembly
  • No need to deploy the knowledge base
  • You can schedule your shipments.

If you want to know more about these and other tools of our platform, contact us now!

Healthcare Customer Services with Chatbots
Articles

Healthcare Customer Services: How to Optimize it with Chatbots

Chatbots for Healthcare Customer Service can be a great lever for process automation.

Healthcare is one of the industries that evolves the most every year. Both at the pharmaceutical level and at the level of technologies used in medicine itself.

The use of robots to perform surgeries or the use of Artificial Intelligence for the collection and analysis of patient data are scenarios that, in times, could seem distant. However, nowadays, they are becoming a banality.

Although these machines are still only an aid, according to studies carried out by the Instituto Coordinadas de Gobernanza y Economía Aplicada of Spain, it is expected a great evolution at technological levels.

In this article, we will put aside these kinds of robots and talk about chatbots – conversational robots.

Chatbots for Healthcare: the Different Types

Chatbots can be a great option for automating services. In any sector, but especially in those that involve a large volume of interactions with people.

When talking about the health sector, in this case, we are referring to the service to users. But also the attendance to doctors, nurses, and health assistants.

Generally, when we think about interactions with the public, we immediately think about big companies, but we forget the health system.

Hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s offices are the busiest places, both in-person or not.

Many procedures in these places are done through online systems. Whether you call and make an appointment or schedule it through the company’s website. Not all healthcare establishments have the latter option, but they’re increasingly moving in that direction.

There are already a number of different types of chatbots to support the health area. We present you with some examples down below.

Chatbots for Drug Dosage Help

In a world where the quantity of medicines is increasing, it becomes difficult for doctors to be aware of all of them and their dosages depending on the patient.

SafedrugBot is a chatbot to support healthcare professionals. It helps when they need information about the correct dosages of medicines, especially during pregnancy or when breastfeeding new mothers.

Chatbots for Weight Management

We find ourselves in an age where people care more about weight control and staying healthy.

To do that, there’s Forsky, a chatbot who advises you on nutrition. Using Artificial Intelligence, it collects your eating habits and helps you to have the diet that best suits your needs.

Chatbots for Symptom Evaluation

These days, before people go to their doctor, they google them to try to notice their symptoms. However, not all information found online is reliable.

The Buoy Health application provides a chatbot that offers reliable information to those looking for it through a full survey. It uses an algorithm supported by a huge medical database and Artificial Intelligence.

From the collection of the user’s symptoms, it helps to direct the person to his next steps. If it is something easy to treat or if you should go to a doctor.

Chatbots for Customer Service

Applications with virtual assistants can have numerous functions, as we have seen. But what about administrative assistance?

Well, a chatbot for administrative assistance would be an asset.

The administration has to be on top of several events, be it customer service or doctor service.

Although there are several departments of that administrative service, it is very complicated sometimes to attend to everyone.

Therefore, internal and external chatbot would be the most obvious solution.

 

Internal Chatbots

We call internal chatbots those who work inside the units, in this case, a hospital or clinic.

Internal chatbots are very useful when it comes to automating internal procedures.

Imagine that a doctor, as often happens, has an unforeseen event and needs to cancel his scheduled appointments.

He calls the hospital, informs them that he will not be able to attend and the administrative staff has to update the service that they are with one less doctor and then the users.

With a chatbot, unforeseen situations like this are much easier to process.

The doctor informs through the bot and it sends the information directly to the hospital, alerting all the people involved.

Scenarios like these can be totally automated and save a lot of work for those in charge of this kind of function. For the most part, they are repeated and programmable tasks.

 

External Chatbots

When it comes to external chatbots – chatbots that connect patients to the health service – the service would be similar.

Through these, users can schedule appointments and examinations without waiting time, as is the case with telephone calls. They have an immediate return and can even choose their own times.

Following the example of internal chatbots. If the doctor was at fault, the chatbot warns the patient and reacts to the next appointment.

They are also useful when it comes to collecting tests. Through the chatbot, you can access your client area and consequently access your exam results without having to travel. This is possible because the bot links to the hospital network.

 

Visor.ai Case Study

At the beginning of 2020, the National Health System had many difficulties in answering all calls. These contacts were a consequence of the SARS-Cov-2 outbreak.

People knew little about the disease and its symptoms, so they immediately called SNS 24 (the National Health System telephone line). These doubts caused the lines to become clogged, despite the increase in attendance at contact centers.

In an attempt to ease the flow of calls to SNS 24, Visor.ai joined Zaask.

The two companies together set up a chatbot that screened patients, asking them what symptoms they had.

After that triage, there were two possibilities. Either they were given directions on how to proceed at home, or they were referred to health professionals who made the diagnosis by video call.

This initiative became very popular as people started looking for alternatives when they saw that they were not being treated.

In addition to the screening, the bot provided official information from the Health Authority and the respective preventive standards imposed by the Portuguese Government and State.

If you want to make your company more digital and automate the processes of your health professionals, talk to us!

AI Trainer
Articles

AI Trainer: How to Train a Successful Chatbot

Just as humans need practice when they’re learning to talk, chatbots need the training to improve their communications. 

It’s the simplest and most efficient way for a chatbot to succeed. In this article, we will introduce you to some basic concepts and the different phases of training a chatbot.

A chatbot is a conversational program. It allows you to provide information to consumers without having to queue up or resort to FAQs.

The implementation of chatbots in companies is a growing trend. They are typically used in customer support or information gathering.

An Oracle survey shows that 80% of companies already have or want to have a chatbot in their company by the end of 2020.

Data like this makes companies that specialize in chatbots want to offer the best possible product. 

With AI or without AI

We can consider two types of chatbots: those with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and those without AI. 

Chatbots with Artificial Intelligence are the most complex chatbots. These allow a fluid conversation between bot and user.

This type of chatbots uses technologies such as Natural Language Processing (commonly referred to as NLP) and “machine learning”. 

In short, NLP is an area that studies problems related to the automatic understanding of human languages. 

Machine Learning is a method used in the construction of automatic models for data analysis.

Through these processes, the chatbot can respond, even when the input is not part of the knowledge base.

Chatbots without Artificial Intelligence are more basic, with limited interactions than the ones with AI. They rule by rigorous rules and always follow the path defined for them.

Do you understand the difference? In this article, we focus only on chatbots with AI, because they are the ones that need training.

AI Trainer: What comes before?

Before we reach the training stage, we have to go through two steps: building the knowledge base and launching the chatbot.

It’s in the knowledge bases that all the “inputs” you have with your consumers will be. This data often corresponds to the most frequently asked questions to your company. 

They can also be in the database, elements that facilitate the processing of the language. For example, compound words or synonyms.

Compound words are expressions that have more than one word but together have only one meaning. 

See, for example, the case of the expression “citizen card”. “Card” and “citizen” have the respective meanings, but when combined, they have only one, corresponding to the card that identifies a person.

This type of information is essential because it helps the AI to process incoming entries more easily.

As one of the goals is to have a perfect simulation of human dialogue, it is convenient for your chatbot to notice social clues. When they greet you and say goodbye, or when they give a stimulus that is not related to the product.

That’s why the “small talk” block is so important. It’s not part of the database, but it gives the bot personality.

In short, to have a great knowledge base, it needs to have:

  • Frequently asked questions and their answers
  • Synonyms
  • Compound words.

And to have a chatbot with personality, just define the modules you want it to answer. For example, talking about the weather, telling the time, and telling jokes, among others.

After all this, just launch your chatbot. Learn how in the article Chatbot Templates: How to Have a Faster Launch.

So how do you train a chatbot?

After passing the first two phases of creating and publishing your chatbot comes the central part of this article: the training of the AI.

Like everything in life, only after knowing the theory can you apply and train the knowledge. The same happens with chatbots.

As people interact with the bot, it collects the so-called “user says”. The “user says” are nothing more than the different ways of making the same request.

As unique people, it’s infrequent to ask the same question in the same way.

At the time of collection, the bot arranges the request according to its existence in the knowledge base. That is, if it is already in the database, it gives the indicated answer. If it does not exist, it processes the sentence and provides the most appropriate response.

It is in the AI Trainer – the focus of this article – that all new “user says” are stored. 

And, as the name itself indicates, it is where you can train the artificial intelligence of your chatbot.

In the AI Trainer, you can find information like:

  • If the bot made it, had difficulty or could not respond
  • In the cases where you replied, what was your response
  • To which category does the question belong
  • In general, which is the most frequently asked question category
  • Among others.

It’s from this data that you can train your AI and increase your knowledge base.

In cases where the bot did not react as it should, you will teach him the correct way. 

Imagine, if he had doubts about the answer and still gave one. Your role is to make sure it was the right one. If it weren’t, you would tell him what the correct answer is.

The same happens for those who couldn’t answer or answered wrongly.

Think of AI Trainer as a school. Where, despite previous knowledge, there is always room to learn more and keep your chatbot updated.

The Visor.ai Tool

To optimize the training of your virtual assistant, Visor.ai has designed a feature called “AI Trainer”, which is very intuitive and easily accessible.

It was designed with the information we mentioned above and some more in mind. 

In Visor.ai’s AI Trainer, besides analyzing the answers given, you can add new FAQs directly. 

The term FAQ is used here as a kind of group. That is, it is almost like a folder. Each FAQ has a theme, and inside it’s stored all the ways to ask about it. 

In other words, FAQ corresponds to a “use case“, a specific problem.

Imagine that many customers start asking a question about a particular topic, but there is still no answer in your knowledge base.

Well, in AI Trainer, you can add this FAQ, without having to go to the knowledge base, and instantly attach the respective “user say”.

You can also analyze “user says” received between specific periods. For example, you run a campaign between X and Y days. You can select these days and examine whether the “user says” you received were about your campaign and whether they were well answered.

With a modern design, you do not need technical knowledge to be able to use it.

The AI Trainer Results 

As already mentioned, it is essential to increase the knowledge of your chatbot continually. 

It is with regular training that you can see the results. The more you train, the more results you will get.

But what are the results of your AI training?

Well, the answer is simple: efficiency.

The response efficiency of your chatbot increases exponentially, and so does the capability of your team.

By bot efficiency, we mean responsiveness without the involvement of human assistance. In other words, the bot responds to a request with only its intrinsic knowledge. 

There is an improvement in efficiency due to the increasing acquisition of “user says”. The higher the variety of requests for a response, the more likely it is to get the right solution.

The bigger your knowledge base is, the less training time you’ll have to spend with your chatbot.

Take the Best Bank chatbot, which has an efficiency of about 80%. These numbers allow the team in charge of the bot to spend no more than 10 minutes a day on its maintenance.

It also increases the efficiency of your team as you have access to a variety of functions. If your chatbot is highly efficient, you only have to solve the most complex cases that the bot has missed.

If you want to know more about this fantastic tool that is the AI Trainer from Visor.ai, contact us now!

WhatsApp Chatbot
Articles

WhatsApp Chatbot: How to Win with This Innovative Channel

WhatsApp is one of the most used communication apps in the world, with over 2 million users. With a chatbot in it, your company can benefit from all its advantages with very little work!

Most likely, like me, you have the app on your smartphone. So if you have it and use it daily, why not do the same in your company?

In this article, you will learn some information about WhatsApp and why your company should join this means of contact.

WhatsApp: the communications channel with the most traffic

WhatsApp is an instant messaging app and also features functions like voice and video calls.

Although Facebook is the most popular social network, WhatsApp is the most widely used communication app on mobile devices since 2019.

If you think about it, count the messages you exchange with a particular person. Now multiply by two billion people. That’s a lot of messages, don’t you think?

It’s an app that comes with us anywhere and keeps us connected to who we want. For this reason, it’s currently the app with the most traffic.

So, if there’s so much adherence to this communication channel and your company wants to be where your customers are, it just makes sense to adhere to WhatsApp.

Why Bet on Digital Channels?

Keeping in touch with customers is the most effective way to keep them involved and interested in your brand.

According to studies by the National Institute of Statistics, revenues from Internet services have increased exponentially when compared to television.

The greater expenditure on Internet access is a significant indicator of Portuguese preference. They increasingly preferred digital means of communication over traditional ones.

Digital media have many advantages. Besides having information available anywhere, they’re faster and more efficient. The user gets exactly what he is looking for instantly.

Still, within the “Internet” category, mobile access has predominance, as opposed to fixed.

Therefore, considering that customers increasingly use their mobile devices, it’s clear that your company must bet on digital channels.

7 Reasons to Invest in a WhatsApp Chatbot as a Contact Channel

By adding digital media and the app with more use, it becomes clear which option your company should follow.

But why should your company use a chatbot on WhatsApp?

Digital Presence

It shows your customers that you’re willing to serve them in any situation because you’re always with them.

Automation of Interactions

The most advantageous factor of a chatbot is to be able to speak for yourself and your team. By programming the answers you want to give, it automates your interactions. So you don’t need to have human assistants dedicated to chatting full-time because you have your virtual assistant.

Fast Customer Support

According to Salesforce, 69% of consumers prefer to talk via Chat. This preference is justified by the fact that it is the quickest way to contact a brand.

Personalized Service

With the information you get from customers, you can customize your service. Thus, you can direct them to products that fit your profile or that may be interesting to explore.

Message Encryption

WhatsApp, with its encryption technology, only allows the sender and recipient to access the information that has been exchanged.

Leads Generation

Although many companies use chatbots for customer support, they can also generate some sales. The disclosure of the products made indirectly or directly by the bot arouses curiosity and customers’ possible purchase interest.

Increase in customer satisfaction

Have a fast and efficient service, and you’ll see that customers will have no complaints about your service.

WhatsApp on Visor.ai Chatbot

Visor.ai provides a solution for automating interactions using Artificial Intelligence.

In other words, it offers a chatbot that can be integrated into any platform you want. From your website, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, choose the platform that Visor.ai has the solution.

The first companies Visor.ai worked with( and still works) privileged Facebook Messenger. This decision makes perfect sense as it is the most widely used social network in the world.

However, as time goes on, more and more customers are looking to integrate their chatbots into WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Business API

WhatsApp integration into the Visor.ai platform is possible thanks to WhatsApp Business API.

This interface was released in 2018 and had been winning over medium and large companies ever since.

The ability to scale communications by automating interactions is an increasingly important factor for companies.

With this integration, you can benefit from a hybrid solution. We call it hybrid because you can have the chatbot and Live Chat together.

Live Chat is a feature of Visor.ai that provides human assistance. That means, in the most complex cases, where the chatbot has doubts in the answer, it redirects to a human being that takes over.

This option is an added value because it never leaves your client unanswered. If the chatbot does not answer, an assistant operator will.

Visor.ai Cases with a WhatsApp Chatbot

At Visor.ai, some customers use WhatsApp as a form of contact.

The companies that have integrated their chatbot into this app have seen a 50% distribution among their digital channels. It is a good investment because the subscription rate is quite high.

This acceptance only corroborates what has been said before. Being where the customers are is the way for brands to evolve and get closer to their audience.

Chatbots can be helpful in customer support, such as Tranquilidade. But they can also be used in advertising campaigns, like the FOX campaign.

This campaign, which used the chatbot to collect new voices from the TV channel, was the most successful ever.

In addition to the insurance and marketing sectors, this implementation is possible in the banking sector.

Reference banks will make, through the bot, banking transactions, such as money transfers, among others.

Contact via WhatsApp can be the way to differentiate your company from others. Integrate your chatbot into the world’s #1 communication platform. To learn more, talk to us!

Milaneza's Chatbot - a chatbot for a pasta company
Articles

Milaneza’s Chatbot: The Way to Get Amazing Recipes

Milaneza is a brand that has always been with us, and now when it comes to deciding what to cook, it helps with a chatbot that gives you recipes!

It arrived on the market in 1933 and is the favorite of the Portuguese people, being the leading pasta brand in Portugal.

The brand has a wide variety of products and is continually bringing innovation to the public. However, to get a little closer to its consumers, it decided to invest in digital contact channels, namely Facebook Messenger.

That’s how the chatbot that gives recipes was born, developed by Visor.ai in partnership with NOSSA, a marketing agency.

Recently, with the confinement at home, many people take the opportunity to learn new hobbies and enhance talents already acquired.

While some adapt to do physical activities in their homes, others take their chef’s hat off and become authentic chefs.

From bread to more elaborate dishes, the most complicated thing is choosing what to do. Well, this is where Milaneza’s chatbot comes into play on social networks.

The Chatbot of Milaneza: How does it work?

Through Milaneza’s chatbot, provided by Visor.ai, you can discover healthy and innovative recipes for every meal. To do this, register some ingredients you have available in your pantry. With just two elements and Milaneza products, you have immediate access to numerous recipes. You only have to make the difficult decision of which one to choose.

In addition to the recipes, you can also learn a little more about the brand’s history, its first logos, and other interesting facts about its evolution.

The chatbot also offers the chance to talk to an assistant. If you have any questions about the products or other issues, go to the Milaneza chat on Facebook Messenger.

The Advantages of Visor.ai’s Solution

The chatbot’s implementation in Milaneza’s Facebook Messenger allows the brand to have closer contact with its customers. With the consumer’s answers, the company knows which ingredients are the most searched for and can thus increase the number of recipes with those same elements.

This solution allows the brand to make people know all its products and possible ways of making them, increasing its spectrum of consumers and being more attentive to them.

The result is another great marketing campaign powered by Visor.ai. If you want to have one as good as Milaneza, don’t wait any longer, and contact us!

Conversational Design in chatbots
Articles

Conversational Design: How to Apply to Your Chatbot

Conversational design is one of the most relevant points to capture the attention of your client. In this article, we tell you what it is, how to apply it, and some tools you can use. When you talk to someone, it’s very dull when they don’t interact much with you. It is also not pleasant when your tone is monotonous and uninteresting. It’s disheartening as well when the same happens with a chatbot – a technology that can be programmable. It can be unattractive and very damaging to the customer’s experience and involvement with their brand. It’s essential to keep the customer interested and make them want to talk to their virtual assistant about their product.

But what is Conversational Design?

According to Google, Conversational Design (or “Conversational UI”) is a type of language based on human conversation and experiences. The more natural and enjoyable the interactions, the fewer aversion customers will have to your chatbot. Nobody likes to ask a question and have a completely different answer, right? Well, the essence of Conversational Design is to have defined and logical conversation flows. That is, flows that resemble the reasoning and execution of a dialogue. Betting on Conversational Design is essential to build a consistent content strategy in your chatbot. The goal is to stimulate and keep the user interested in your product and your virtual assistant. Satisfy your clients’ requests and facilitate their curiosity. Indeed, you will have greater adherence.

Good Conversations Generate Good Business

The following situation already happened to you for sure. You go to a store, and the employee is unkind, or even rude to you. In the end, he may even have solved his problem, but the impression he left with was not satisfactory. What remains in people’s memories is the behavior someone has towards them. The way the company they go to treats their customers and what they do to keep them. In essence, whether the company applies a consumer-centered strategy or not. Customers want to feel consequential and special whenever they communicate with your company. So bet on providing them with a good conversation and, of course, solve their problems as well. All conversations you have with a customer are business opportunities. If your chatbot is well programmed and has good Conversational Design, your company will undoubtedly benefit from this investment.

5 Steps to Create Your Conversational Flows

Before forming your conversation flows, you must stipulate and follow some points. This way, you will have a consistent chatbot that will always be in tune with your brand.

1) Set Your Chatbot Goal

Know what you want to achieve with your chatbot. An assistant who doesn’t have well-defined goals is usually not successful. A chatbot can have many different functions. It can be programmable according to the purposes you are going to have, like customer support or product sales. They can also just be marketing chatbots for advertising campaigns or internal support within your company, such as for the HR department.

2) Identify Your Persona and Your Chatbot Tone

Knowing whom you’re addressing is a crucial point. If people don’t identify with your brand, they have no reason to get involved. Find out who your target audience is. Understand your age groups, and your professions. You can even be more thorough (if it makes sense for your brand) and know particular factors, such as preferred music styles. This data will be useful when you try to approach them and create some kind of relationship. From these parameters, you identify your chatbot’s tone when talking to your clients. If you are going to address younger people, maybe a less formal manner is the answer. If your persona is elderly, use a more formal tone. Or, why not, an informal and relaxed tone for older people? That’s what you’ll find out.

3) Choose Topics

It is essential to have the topics of your conversations well structured so that there is a line of reasoning. If your bot starts at one point and goes to a different one, the client gives up and will look for another means of contact that does not have the same problems. The client giving up is not what you want, because the preferred means of contact for users is by message. More specifically, chatbots, as shown in The 2018 State of Chatbots Report. Let us know what paths your chatbot can take a right from the start. Show the options you have and the services you offer. Use the hierarchies between categories and specify the themes for each subtitle. If you have a start menu, where one of the options is “Contract Changes”, the branches that follow you will be something like, “What data do you want to change?”

3) Write the Text

When writing the text, have this information in mind: for whom you are writing, what formality to use, and, of course, the product. Write according to the questions users ask or the doubts they have. Do not try to guess what the customer wants or needs. Follow the clues, and you will easily get your answers. You will write and create your products according to what the customer is looking for. Remember, the customer is at the center of decisions.

4) Manage Natural Language Processing (NLP)

It is crucial to have good knowledge of Natural Language Processing, especially in chatbots with artificial intelligence. NLP is the component that allows the bot to understand the “inputs” that clients write. Chatbots with NLP allow the user to have a normal conversation, providing a much more natural dialogue. On the other hand, in chatbots without NLP, free conversation is not possible. They only act according to scheduled interactions, where consumers can only choose the options. Your virtual assistant is intelligent, but it is up to you to increase your level of intelligence. Train him frequently and feed him with new ways to make an order. Only then can your “Machine Learning” algorithm improve.

5) Accept the Chatbot Mistakes

Keep in mind that chatbot is fallible. It’s a program, and yet it has its limitations. When you don’t have the answer, it’s better to say you don’t know than to try to answer and leave the customer dissatisfied. On those occasions, you can resort to suggestions, such as “did you mean X?”, or simply switch to a human assistant. These suggestions show the client that he is ready for any scenario and that he will do everything to serve it.

Visor.ai Tools for Conversational Design

On the Visor.ai platform, you can choose your interactions with your client in a simple, fast, and intuitive way. That is, instead of just having monotonous answers, you can make the conversation more dynamic. In addition to simple text answers, you can choose from galleries, images, or even “gifs”. Any of these options makes communication with the user more stimulating and attractive. Consequently, it leads the customer to invest in your product and possibly become a regular customer. These enhancements are possible with Visor.ai’s back office. For this, you do not need to know how to program or have specific knowledge because it’s accessible to anyone.

Conversation Flows

The critical piece, however, is the conversation flow. On the Visor.ai platform, you have access to several blocks, each with its particular functions. You can streamline your interactions in the way that best suits your company and your use cases. To do so, you need to have your knowledge base (questions customers ask, expressions used in your sector, among others) already defined. This way, you can link the interactions of your chatbot with the information in your database. As you can see in GIF, there are four primary hypotheses of interaction with your client: Text, Image, Quick Reply, Galleries, and More. When the answer is straightforward and direct, you can use a block of text. For example: “Our store hours are from 9 am to 6 pm”. You can use the tab indicated for images if you need to “embellish” your conversation or simply complement your text block. You can easily copy and paste a picture of your choice. For a multi-purpose offer, you can use the quick reply option, the galleries, or a multi-purpose alignment. With these features, you give the customer the choice of the path they want.

More Advanced Options

In addition to these four response options, Visor.ai has more advanced options. With these, you can perform some actions that may be useful for your company. Imagine that the customer intends to make a simulation of the purchase of your product. To give you an answer that fits your profile, you need to collect your data. For that, you can use the “User Input” tool. This option allows you to collect the data provided by the customer and send him a personalized reply. In this case, with a simulation that fits the customer’s profile. This tool saves work to your customer support team, and the customer has an instant and satisfactory response. Another option that may be essential for your company is “Tags“. These allow you to count the number of people passing through a certain category. Knowing this information can be fundamental for improving and updating your product.

Integrations with API’s and Other External Systems

Visor.ai also offers slightly more technical options, such as Webview or Integration Hub. These make it possible to integrate the conversation with external systems. The Webview allows the customer to view a web page within the chat. This functionality is interesting in some cases. For example, you need to collect user documents or request “login” to access information in your service’s customer area. Integration Hub is the feature that has won over our customers the most. Indeed your company already has several systems with which it works daily. With Integration Hub, you can integrate any system into your chatbot without spending too much time on your IT team. So you can send and receive data automatically. These tools allow the chatbot dialogue and service to become more complex and, therefore, more efficient. Having a well-structured and interactive Conversational Design is essential for your company to stand out in the market. With Visor.ai, you can achieve this and much more. Contact us, let’s talk!
Chatbot Templates - chatbot knowledge bases for each sector
Articles

Chatbot Templates: How to Have a Faster Launch

Launching a chatbot with Artificial Intelligence and relevant content can be a complex and time-consuming process. Giving it a good basis and structure is fundamental to get the best results. In this article, we show you some templates of knowledge bases that Visor.ai has.

The implementation and adaptation to your company’s needs are very easy to do. Also, the templates speed up the initial creation process.

To have a good chatbot, you need to follow three key steps: creating the knowledge base, launching, and maintaining it. For everything to work smoothly, it is necessary to have the foundations well laid. 

The first and possibly most crucial step to launching your bot is to build the knowledge base. In there, you will have all the information needed for the chatbot to be able to respond to users.

The knowledge base contains the most frequently asked questions that contact centers receive and the answers to them. It is essentially a list of questions and answers that companies have, such as the history of conversations they have obtained from written interactions with clients. On this database are also concepts and expressions intrinsic to their sector. 

Specific Templates for Your Business

Most of Visor.ai’s clients are from the insurance and banking sectors, so we created pre-trained models for these same areas. Thus, when new clients arrive, they are already more than halfway done in terms of their knowledge base. 

In each template were compiled all questions from all customers in each sector. Of course, we treated the information in such a way that it is as generic as possible, keeping the respective topic. The only task left to the customers is to validate the questions they want the database to have and add the corresponding answers.

The answers are not included in the templates because each customer has his individuality, and we want to show it to their consumers. Another reason we don’t include the answers; it’s because each client has its particular products. However, some products are common to all, and others that are particular to a certain brand. Therefore, the client has free access to customize their interactions with customers.

A Chatbot that Distinguishes Concepts and Contexts

To get a little better understanding, we’ll present you with the following cases. In the insurance template, for example, there are questions like “What are the car insurance covers?”. On the other hand, in the banking template, you will find questions such as “How can I open a savings account?”. 

In addition to the questions, the Visor.ai templates also contain specific words and expressions used in the different branches. Let’s look at a concept widely used in Insurance Companies, which is that of “acts of God”. At first glance, you can see it as a religious saying, but as it occurs in this specific context, it has the sense of accident or damage caused by natural disasters.

In the insurance context, “acts of God” are the same as an accident caused by an earthquake or a violent storm. So whenever a user says something like, “The earthquake damaged my car,” the chatbot will automatically know the type of accident it is and will direct the client to the problem solution.

An example in the banking sector is the concept of “branch.” In everyday life, a branch can have the meaning of a part of a tree, but in a banking context, it means office or agency. Visor.ai’s synonyms lists already have about 100 entries, which consequently helps a lot in the chatbot’s response efficiency.

Grow Your Chatbot’s Intelligence

It must be taken into account that behind these models, there is a whole system powered by Artificial Intelligence, and with knowledge in Natural Language Processing (NLP). These factors allow the bot to distinguish the different question contexts.

Still, it is necessary to keep the concepts and expressions updated on the platform always to obtain the best results.

We talk about expressions, as we recently added a new feature to our Back Office. In this one, you can add all the compound words that often integrate the vocabulary of an industry. 

We call “Compound Words” to all expressions that consist of more than one word but have only one meaning. For example, in the insurance industry, the term “car insurance” is used. When the words are separated, each one has its meaning. However, when followed by each other, they have only one sense. This new update allows Artificial Intelligence to be, even more passing the redundancy, intelligent.

Templates Advantages 

In these two models, the questions are always generic. They can fit in your company because they have no identification whatsoever. Of course, after implementing it, you can change it and adapt it to your brand as you wish (customize the interactions and answers). It is 100% editable, being only a method of accelerating the process of creating the knowledge base.

To get an idea of the time you can save, the creation of a database on Visor.ai without adopting these models is, on average, three weeks. A process that is already fast when you look at the competition. However, with the incorporation of the templates, this time decreases significantly and can be reduced to half.

Contact us!

Chatbots for Human Resources
Articles

Chatbots for Human Resources: The Uses and Advantages

Technological advances are growing and are increasingly present in society. Statistical studies show that 89% of companies want to invest or have already bet on a digital business strategy. This article will show how chatbots can benefit your company’s Human Resources department.

Chatbots for HR Services Automation

The adoption of chatbots for the optimization of services is expanding. Most companies focus on external consumer interactions, namely, customer support. However, these same companies would have much to gain from internal processes automation, bringing value to both the company and its employees.

When we think of a support department, which intervenes directly in all the others, we immediately remember Human Resources (HR). Whether it’s the IT, sales, or operations department, if there are any problems regarding people management, it’s HR that we will talk to.

Whatever the company’s size, but even more so in larger companies, a chatbot is a great solution to optimize the answers to the most frequently asked questions, which can be easily programmed. Think of the chatbot as a manual, where you compile all the relevant information. You can then ask your questions and clarify your doubts. It will answer you instantly. If it’s a more complex subject, it will pass on to the professionals who will answer it through live chat.

Thinking about the tasks themselves, Human Resources professionals manage the whole human part of a company. They act mainly in the company-employee relationship, managing all professionals, from hiring to retaining talent. At the same time, they implement favorable environments, which enhance the motivation and creation of employees, among others.

HR Chatbots Use Cases

Assuming your company has 200 employees, imagine the amount of documentation per person that Human Resources managers have to support.

Recruitment

Let’s start with recruitment, one of the most critical HR responsibilities. It can be a lengthy process, depending on the number of interviews each company requires. When there are many applications for a single position, it can be complicated to manage. A chatbot with Artificial Intelligence can facilitate this selection by performing a kind of initial screening. You can find the ideal person for the requirements you want. Additionally, tests can be incorporated into the chatbots to evaluate the candidates.

Centralizing Information

Secondly, a chatbot can be very useful in centralizing information. As already mentioned, it can be a handbook containing all the HR procedures of the company. If an employee has a specific question or doubt, the bot will automatically answer it.

This point is directly related to the third: the automation of processes.

Processes Automation

Imagine that an employee goes to the bot asking questions about the remaining vacation days. With some integrations and the user’s data, the chatbot answers him automatically without a human being’s intervention. The same can happen with salary receipts and other matters, increasing the privacy of confidential information.

Workers Satisfaction

The fourth use concerns the welfare of your employees. Through chatbot, you can interact more with your employees. In medium and large companies, it is sometimes difficult to be aware of the company’s environment. So you can conduct surveys to find out how your employees are doing or even send out invitations to attend social meetings.

The Advantages of Chatbots

If virtual assistants already brought value when they were only part of your customer support, imagine the wonders they would do to your company internally. Chatbots can be very beneficial to both the company and employees.

Automation of interactions and task programming

Be in doubt on any topic, as long as it relates to Human Resources, the bot will answer automatically.

Increase the productivity of your HR team 

With the automation of your HR team’s processes, they will have much more time to perform tasks that require more concentration and energy. Therefore, just leave them the complex duties. Save them the repeated questions and increase their productivity.

24/7 customer service

Your employees don’t need to be worried about opening hours or waiting until Monday, the next working day. With a chatbot, that is a problem of the past. Your virtual assistant is available to answer any questions 24 hours a day, including weekends.

Cost reduction

Calls are the primary way of communicating with the HR team, and it would be an immediate saving on telephone bills. The chatbot service would not need exclusive professionals; there would also be a reduction, opening the possibility of investing in other areas.

Being closer to employees

This implementation can bring you closer to your employees and colleagues. Also, it can be a more dynamic way of inviting your teams to social gatherings or events.

A Solution for Teleworking Times

A chatbot for your company’s Human Resources can be a great help when adopting the telework regime. In addition to maintaining productivity levels, it promotes employee service.

Visor.ai’s platform is an easy system to implement and use. The fact that it does not require any technical knowledge allows anyone from any department to work without problems. It also helps your IT team because they don’t need to spend time with integrations and complications.

Incorporating this type of technological solutions in your company should be a subject to think about and, who knows, to invest in.

In short, Visor.ai’s solution automates repeated interactions and processes. Due to its artificial intelligence, its efficiency is maximized. This way, it speeds up the work of those who are part of the HR team and wants clear doubts.

Visor.ai offers a solution that fits perfectly in any sector or department. Do you want your company to be more efficient and benefit from the advantages of having a chatbot? Contact us for more information.

Customer-Centric Strategy
Articles

Customer-Centric Strategy: The Amazing Results of this Approach

For companies, more than ever, having a customer-centric strategy is crucial. Listening to and taking into account consumer opinion is the only way to keep your brand in focus.

 

Long gone are the times when having a good quality product was enough to be the best in the market. If such a product doesn’t solve the problems of a specific target audience, it will hardly bring the desired value and quickly cease to be necessary and go into decline.

The product is vital, of course, but there is something that is more valued by the customer and that significantly influences his decision-making: the business-client relationship. Meaning, the behavior that the company takes when facing the consumer, both in person and in the digital world. The way it communicates and how it demonstrates its willingness to keep it as a regular customer over the years.

Product development should result in a consequence of interactions with customers and potential customers and not the other way around. Companies that focus exclusively on the product rather than on the customer’s needs quickly fall into decay.

 

But What Does It Mean to Have a Customer-Centric Strategy?

A customer-centric strategy is nothing more than a form of business that offers the best experience both when buying the product and during its use.

The American Marketing Association says it’s essential to focus on some factors, such as experience, loyalty, and communication with the customer, as well as the product and the customer’s opinion.

Offering a positive experience and winning consumer loyalty should be the goal of companies. Although the customer is not always right, the customer service should treat him with sympathy and respect. In a situation where a problem may not be solved entirely, these may be the factors that make you stay and continue to invest in your company.

It is essential to maintain a close relationship with the client from the beginning. Make him/her feel special and not just another one. That’s why customizing the content according to the person, is crucial. Listening and taking into account what the customer is looking for and needs.

It has already happened, for sure, to buy a product and a few days later receive a message about other promotions that may interest you. Well, this is what we are talking about: having all the attention focused on the customer. Knowing what you want and giving you a possible answer. If you were satisfied with the first one, why not a second purchase?

 

Being Where the Consumer Is

Nowadays, with technological advances, it is necessary to be where the customers are, and that means: in social networks and communication applications. Studies show that the most used applications by the Portuguese are WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

It is on digital channels that companies have to bet, both in terms of customer support and lead generation. The use of chatbots is one of the fastest ways to reach the user and be constantly with him throughout the various phases. Whatever your industry, it is one of the most beneficial ways to get closer to your consumer, wherever they are.

Take, for example, the case of Banco Best. They say that BEA (chatbot powered by Visor.ai) allows them to get closer to the customers. It allows them to listen and understand what clients wanted. In this way, it manages to keep consumers satisfied and loyal.

 

Keeping the Client Interested and Updated

There are other ways to keep your customer interested and up-to-date with your brand. Let’s talk in particular about newsletters.

Newsletters are widely used by marketing, as in the situation mentioned before. After making a purchase, you will receive e-mails that forward you to other products and news.

You must always consider the customer’s needs, and it is essential to stand by the customer. If you don’t think the strategy out and send the newsletters without much treatment, the most certain thing is that the customer stops subscribing or marks it as spam. And we don’t want that. We must take care of and pay attention to detail because the customer will consider this.

If the customer is well taken care of and has a positive experience, he will undoubtedly be attentive or curious when he receives your communications.

In the end, you know you have a great customer-centric strategy when all mentioned above happens.

 

The Example of the Visor.ai

Visor.ai thought it was time to change its face and, as always, considered the opinion of its customers. As a result, the website has a new modern design. And because looks aren’t everything, it also has more information about the company and who works there. Because we want to keep our customers always updated, we also launched a new newsletter. It’s full of novelties and exclusive information, like webinars and much more!

If you want, on the other hand, a one-on-one talk, contact us anytime!

 

How to Help Your Customer Service in Pandemic Times
Articles

How to Help Your Customer Service in Pandemic Times

In times of crisis, it’s common for people to have a greater need for customer support services. However, do we know what impacts this increase has on customer service teams?

The new coronavirus pandemic has affected many companies in different ways. Consequently, it has also harmed the different departments within them in different ways. While the finance department tries to do the cash-flow management of the company, the Human Resources department draws plans of who goes to the layoff regime. The sales department strives to keep the consumer buying and the technology department finds ways for colleagues to work from home. However, one of the hardest-hit was the customer service department.

 

The Impact on Customer Service

For you to get a better idea of the impact on customer support, Tethr conducted a study. In this, it analyzed about one million calls to contact centers from approximately 20 companies from different sectors. This research occurred in the first two weeks following the World Health Organization‘s pandemic declaration. Its objective was to analyze, through an algorithm, the level of effort of consumer interactions to reach its end. The spectrum ranged from “difficult” to “easy.”

The results of this study report that the average level of difficulty passed 20% when the usual average was only 10%. Most of the subjects dealt with were a consequence of the virus situation. In particular, the cancellation of travel, insurance, or other matters, such as the suspension of payments for services.

The level of difficulty in completing orders and the increase in customer anxiety are just some of the factors that complicate customer service activity. Working from home (many for the first time) without the conditions and help of colleagues only hinders their performance more.

 

B2B and B2C Business Reports

Other reports, such as Intercom‘s, inform that there has been an increase in interactions via chat with customer services. Despite the increase, this channel managed to support the volume of requests received. The same did not happen with companies that only had customer support via phone call. These had an increase of 72% in the volume of contacts, compared to the 38% of companies that used messaging solutions. Companies that bet on alternative channels, such as chat, had a smaller increase. This happens because the contacts were slipt by phone and messages.

This data could also be seen in companies that work with Visor.ai. They marked an increase of 40% in digital contacts.

Intercom adds that there was an increase in waiting times both in B2B and B2C companies. This reality goes against one of the objectives imposed on the customer support teams: to respond as quickly as possible.

Many companies choose to automate their interactions and processes because they want to maintain their high levels of service and satisfaction. Almost half of them claim that they will achieve the company’s goals despite the situation in which we find ourselves.

 

Ways to Help Your Customer Service

It is important, above all, to keep your workers happy and satisfied with working conditions. Otherwise, numerous situations can occur that will harm your company. Of course, customers are the source of income for all companies, but without workers, they do not work. Therefore, certain aspects should be considered so that everything works out for the best.

  • Adapt your workers to the circumstances in which they find themselves

If you were one of the companies that opted for the remote working regime, empower all the necessary tools for your employees. From technologies to office equipment. We must take into account that most people do not have at home the materials they have in the company and that these greatly improve the comfort of the worker.

 

  • Do not give in to the pressure of society’s anxiety

Most people panic easily and take their frustration out on the people who serve them. Don’t foster that pressure on your team either. Try your best to support them and be sensitive to the situations they face.

 

  • Be flexible with workers who have young children

At this time, when parents and children have to stay at home, make working hours easier for those who have people in their care. Those who say children also say elderly parents who need the help of relatives.

 

  • Optimize the work of your team by automating processes

The efficiency of support services is critical and therefore, can help your workers by automating part of their work. Repeated interactions with the public can be programmable and instantly responsive. So you let your employees have only the most complex and responsive requests.

 

Visor.ai Helps

Visor.ai may be your biggest ally at this stage!

You and your team can access our online platform anywhere. Whether the employee is in the company office, your living room, or at home. Its use is quite simple, without the need for computer knowledge and also saving your IT team worries.

Implementing Visor.ai’s platform will allow your company to obtain an efficiency rate of 70%. Moreover, you will always have our team at your disposal to assist you anytime.

 

Enhance your customer service, both inside and outside your company, with our solution. Contact us at info@visor.ai.

How to Maintain Productivity and Motivation in Teleworking
Articles

How to Maintain Productivity and Motivation in Teleworking

Teleworking or remote working is a working regime that allows employees to operate without having to go to the company premises. It is often associated with working from home, but this is not always the case. People can work from home or in shared places, such as a café or a co-work space.

Fortunately for us, Visor.ai, we are a digitally native company and can easily apply the home office system. But like other companies in the same situation, we had to consider certain challenges.

Preparation and Challenges

Even before we left home, we decided to lay down certain guidelines. This way, our daily lives would not be that different from what we were used to. At the same time, we wanted to maintain the company culture: rigorous but relaxed.

To get everyone in tune, we planned three points that could be more challenging: communication, organization, and monitoring.

Transparency in communication was essential. As in the office, we must be contactable and accessible to colleagues during working hours. We must be able to discuss and exchange ideas without distance being a problem. That’s why we adopted some communication tools, namely those available in the Google G Suite.

Meetings and Collaborative Work

The second essential point was how to organize people and their work. To make everything go smoothly, we agreed that each department would meet in the morning in brief “Daily Meetings,” with a maximum duration of 30 minutes each. These meetings happen via video call (Google Hangouts Meet) and aim to organize the teams. Know what they have to accomplish that day and the partnerships that need to happen between colleagues.

It is important that everyone has access to tasks and their record, so we use the Trello tool. This works as a task board, and everyone is aware of its changes. This type of application is very beneficial for companies working remotely, as it allows the monitoring of individual and collective work.

We store work documents on shared drives on the company’s Google Drive. Thus, the entire team can access it anytime and work collaboratively.

Finally, we monitor the work by video call at the end of each day, in “Wrap-up Meetings”. Each employee reports on what has been accomplished or the status of their tasks. These meetings also allow the manager to help their workers with any difficulties they have.

The stipulation of daily goals and monitoring allows employees to remain focused and motivated. With the necessary guidance to perform their work without falling into micro-management, which is one of the main threats to remote work.

Maintaining Visor.ai’s Culture

One problem encountered during this space change was the interaction between people from different departments. People who are not from the same division of labor do not interact with others. Therefore, and to maintain the relationships that existed in the office, we decided to maintain our “TEDbeers”.

“TEDbeers” is a Visor.ai event that happens every Friday. The aim is to promote relations between workers and increase interdepartmental interactions. It starts with the visualization of a TEDTalk, chosen by one of the workers, and consequent comments and analysis of each one to the presented theme. Of course, all this is accompanied by a cold beer or a glass of wine!

With the impossibility of being all in the same place, we meet by video call. Each one with their favorite drink and in the safety of their homes.

Through small (for us, who have the possibility of teleworking) changes, we are able to maintain the links created in the office and ensure the culture of our company.

The Lucky Ones

We are fully aware that we are lucky to be part of the 9% we have already mentioned. But it is important that companies that already have their systems online adopt tools that allow them to work remotely.

Visor.ai chatbots, for example, have made it easier for its clients to transition from office to home and have also managed to increase their numbers in digital contacts.

The Teleworking Overview

There are still many people who are reticent about working remotely, but it brings a lot of advantages if you look at the whole. One of the added values is that the worker can work anywhere. Whether at home, in a café, on a train, or in a park. The possibility to choose allows you to be more comfortable, and that comfort results in a better job done.

Another point in favor of teleworking meets the previous one. The possibility of hiring people from other regions. Without going to the company’s office, there is the possibility of including people from other cities or countries. This makes it possible to increase the range of contacts and the company’s cultural diversity.

The geographical difference can bring difficulties when it comes to the coordination of schedules. If we talk about employees on the other side of the world, the time zone will be quite different. Therefore, it is imperative to have a well-defined working schedule. Both on an individual level – knowing the “in” and “out” times and having time to take breaks. On a collective level – knowing how to manage the time with the rest of the team and try to get everything moving at the same pace.

Finally, it is essential that there is mutual help and that each one fulfills their role. This is the only way to succeed in teleworking!

Digital Contact Channels
Articles

Digital Contact Channels: What They Are and Their Advantages

Whether by website, chat, email, or phone, it is essential to have several communication channels so that your customers and employees can talk to your company.

This article will introduce you to the different types of communication, which channels you should invest in, and some results from companies that invested in new means of contact.

What are Digital Communication Channels?

At first glance, when we talk about “communication channels,” it may seem that we are referring to television channels.

Although these are also media, they speak to a larger group. In this case, the population of a country. And that is not the focus of this article.

The focus of this article is the communication channels of companies. That is, the means that a company makes available so that its customers and employees can get in touch with it.

Digital communication channels are those that take place through digital. That is channels that involve the internet (email, virtual chats, social networks, etc.).

2 Types of Business Communication

As we mentioned earlier, it is important to provide means of contact for both customers and employees. And it’s in this sense that the types of communication differ.

Internal Communication

As the name suggests, it is the communication carried out internally. That is, inside the company.

It concerns the various means of communication that your employees can use to talk to other employees or departments—namely, human resources.

External Communication

On the other hand, there is external communication, which, unlike the previous type, is directed to customers, such as Customer Service.

This type of communication refers to all the means of contact that consumers have to communicate with your brand.

Direct vs. indirect communication

Both external and internal communication can be direct or indirect.

We call direct communication with an immediate response—for example, exchanging messages between two entities.

Conversely, indirect communication is communication that has no immediate response. It is, for example, what happens in marketing campaigns.

The receiver receives the message but does not respond (directly, at least). These are means of transmitting information mostly focused on the customer. But they can also be done internally.

This is the case with internal newsletters, where the company sends out communications to its employees but does not expect a response from them.

Consumers’ Preferred Communication Channels

According to the Microsoft report, most consumers use between 3 and 5 means of contact to solve their problems.

The most preferred means of contact is undoubtedly voice (telephone). This is followed by email channels, Live Chat, online self-service, and social networking.

However, according to the same study, the use of the email channel has started to decrease due to the increase in self-service (53%) and chat (48%) channels.

This aligns with the nearly two-thirds of respondents who use self-service first before moving on to other communication channels.

It’s Super Simple to Optimize Your Digital Channels

One of the reasons users leave self-care options is the lack of information and the basicity of the systems.

Once elementary solutions that only referred consumers to other means of contact.

Today, with the advancement of technology, these channels are much more responsive, namely, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

These self-service systems are now solutions called chatbots.

Find out more about the technologies used at Visor.ai in the articles below:

Chatbots

Chatbots are intelligent virtual agents that help users solve their problems and queries.

Another factor that gives preference to these automated solutions is the speed of response. And the disuse of email channels is related to this.

Email response time is very high, and in contrast, chatbots are much faster.

However, it is possible to optimize your email channel with email bots.

Email bots

Email bots are solutions for automating processes that take place over the email channel. In particular, they decrease response time since they triage, extract document information, and forward it to the correct departments.

In addition, social media channels are increasingly being used for query resolution and problem reporting.

Social media

With users turning more and more to social networks, it is normal that their contact with brands is done there.

Channels such as Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, among others, are the most used in this type of interaction with brands. Facebook has up to 32% of Customer Support contacts.

Lucky for us, it’s possible to integrate a chatbot into these social networks and thus offer an automated service without necessarily increasing costs.

What are the Benefits of Optimizing Your Digital Channels?

As we have already mentioned, AI and machine learning are the tools that optimize your contact channels.

In chatbots, these technologies allow the systems to have a fluid conversation with the user.

The machine understands what is asked of it and responds with the corresponding information.

Beyond Customer Support, these automated chat solutions can be a great option to integrate internally in your company. For example, in situations of Employee Support, when it comes to large companies. Or even for the optimization of Human Resources services.

You can learn more about chatbots for Human Resources here.

Good communication inside and outside the company is necessary for its smooth operation and consequent success.

Internal advantages:

  • Faster responses
  • Ease of obtaining documents/information
  • Increased productivity of the teams
  • Creation and maintenance of the company-employee relationship
  • Easier management of human resources
  • Possibility of remote work
  • Increased employee satisfaction

External advantages:

  • Faster and more efficient problem solving
  • Greater personalization of contacts
  • Easier feedback collection
  • Increased lead generation

Companies that gain from the expansion and optimization of communication channels

Companies that choose Visor.ai solutions optimize and expand their contact channels easily because they are modular and scalable. That is, they adapt to any customer depending on their needs.

All companies obviously started with traditional contact channels, but quickly and over time, they saw that the answer was digital.

As they increased their digital transformation and wanted to be where their customers are, they bet on Visor.ai solutions. And the results have been great!

On average, companies working with Visor.ai have a 40 % increase in their interactions through digital communication channels.

What are you waiting for? Increase your communication channels as well and reach more customers! With Visor.ai’s chatbot and email bot solutions, automate your communications and see the results with your own eyes!

Talk to us now!