Chatbot is one of the big buzzwords in the tech scene right now. However, it cannot be emphasized enough that the chatbot solutions that are now on the market vary greatly, are sometimes highly specialized in specific areas and have very different functions and mechanisms. For example, there are different types of chatbots: rule-based chatbots, AI-based chatbots, digital assistants, voice bots or even hybrid chatbots.
That is precisely what this text is intended to be about. These chatbots are particularly popular right now as they have several Chatbot types Combine in one solution.
What is a hybrid chatbot?
Just as a hybrid car is an electric vehicle, which, however, can also rely on an internal combustion engine, hybrid chatbots also combine several forms of dialogue: This allows both a conversation with a chatbot in the classic sense, i.e. dialogue software that is often based on artificial intelligence — as well as a conversation with a person via live chat. Both forms of dialogue are displayed in the same chat window (Widget), so that the transition from person to chatbot (or vice versa) is seamless and pleasant and uncomplicated for the user. By the Way, the Transfer from Chatbot to Live Chat Agent is called “Human Takeover.” For a hybrid chat, the motto is therefore not “Chatbot vs. live chat”, but “live chat & chatbot — the ideal combination.”
What are the benefits of a hybrid chatbot?
A hybrid chatbot combines the best of both worlds. It provides users with human contact when needed. This is worthwhile, for example, when users are very upset and frustrated, have a very complex issue or require individual and personal advice from an expert.
At the same time, a hybrid chatbot offers the advantages of automated customer communication: There is a 24/7 point of contact for users and customers — because even when the live chat agents are at work, the chatbot remains online and is available to all users. In addition, the Chatbot Relieves Live Chat Agents, because not every question that a live chat agent receives must also be answered by them. In fact, 80% of inquiries are recurring, so an automated answer (from a chatbot) would be completely sufficient and human contact would only be required for complicated cases.
If a chatbot is connected upstream, it can answer recurring questions in a matter of seconds and at the same time pre-qualify contacts, i.e. find out the user's concerns and forward this information and the contact to a live chat employee. The chatbot acts as a firewall, so to speak, which “lets through” or forwards concerns that require help from an employee.
This is very worthwhile, especially during peak times. Whether in e-commerce at Christmas or at gyms at the beginning of the year: At some times, inquiries pile up, making it very difficult for the customer service team to respond quickly. Will there be a Live chat Offered, it is often not possible to adequately serve it permanently. However, the combination of live chat and chatbot can work optimally in these cases.
Practical example of a hybrid chatbot
Many companies are now using the combination of people and artificial intelligence Back and use a hybrid chatbot to competently assist (potential) customers and users at any time. One of these companies is BLS, the Swiss Standard Gauge Railway Company, which, among other things, offers trips by train, bus, boat and car transport. BLS operates an extensive network and therefore receives a variety of questions every day.
Starting position
Michael Rieder (Application & Knowledge Manager, Customer Care Center BLS) explains the decision to combine live chat and chatbot in moinAI Webinar as follows:
“You should be aware of the contacts and interactions you have with your customers. If you sort this out a bit, you can see that there are very different interactions — not only in terms of content, but also in type. For example, there are those that are desired by both sides and those that are not so interesting from a company point of view and where customers also say 'it is not necessary for me to communicate with the company in person. '”
The latter are usually simple and recurring inquiries for which brief information is sufficient — whether this is provided by a service employee is of secondary importance. It is more about the question being answered quickly and correctly — and this is what a chatbot can offer in most cases. This has the advantage for customers that they receive an answer to their question around the clock and very quickly. For the company, in this case BLS, this means that customer service employees have more time for more complex issues and therefore no longer have to “deal with” recurring and simple questions.
It was also important for BLS never to make contact more difficult:
“We are deliberately very interested in interactions with our customers because we can learn something from them, because a customer can place their fingers on a blind spot that we are not aware of. It was therefore important for us not only to have a chatbot solution, but also to be able to communicate seamlessly via a live chat tool.”
— Michael Rieder.
Lösungsweg
Among other things, the corona pandemic, increased use of smartphones and digitalization in general mean that users and customers expect a company to receive an answer around the clock and in the fastest way possible. At the same time, the number of inquiries is increasing and the majority of customer concerns are recurring.
Another challenge: BLS has set itself the goal of providing an answer to incoming questions within one hour — but this cannot be achieved exclusively with live chat agents, who are of course not present and available 24 hours a day.
All of these factors and challenges can ideally be overcome with an AI-based addition — in the form of a chatbot. This is also shown in the following diagram, which describes the challenges and the solution.
Successful launch and next steps
It will be really exciting after the chatbot is launched,” explains Michael Rieder. In this way, you would not only see the performance of the previously determined topics, but also recognize what users are asking apart from the familiar topics. moinAI clusters these insights and suggests them to BLS (Dreaming feature).
“You learn a great deal about other topics that customers have not previously received as tickets” — Michael Rieder. Based on these clustered AI suggestions, BLS was able to constantly add topics to the chatbot that were previously unknown or not highly prioritized — but were considered important due to active demand from users.
Results:
After just two months, BLS was already able to achieve impressive results with the chatbot:
- The level of automation is 86%. This means that the chatbot automatically answers 86% of incoming messages and only the remaining 19% need to be clarified with an employee.
- Chatbot responses are rated positively 81% of the time. At the end of each conversation, the chatbot receives feedback on how the answer has helped.
3 tips: What do you need to consider?
Customers want personal and appealing interaction. You know it from private life and now from work — you are used to get in touch with other people quickly and easily. Nowadays, this is often done via chat, the reasons for this are obvious: Messenger services are easy to use, a dialogue can be started and ended within a very short time, and the answer from the other person in the chat is usually not long in coming. We are used to or expect this, especially in the private sector, but this movement is now also finding its way into the working world. Accessibility is therefore an important key to success for companies. “We are all world champions in chatting by now” — Björn Bauer.
According to Björn Bauer (Senior Manager Solution Consulting, Zendesk), it is always important To prioritize the customer's perspective. Companies must make it as easy as possible for customers to interact. The main question is therefore: Are the steps that the customer must take to act with the company easy to handle and easy to understand?
It should be ensured that this is easy not only from the company's perspective, but above all from the customer's perspective. “And that's exactly where BLS [using live chat and AI chatbot] took decisive steps that make it easy for customers to get in touch with them.” — Björn Bauer (Zendesk).
Address customers in a way that's appropriate to the context. Using a teaser, a chatbot can welcome website visitors with a short message and use buttons to suggest topics directly. These topic buttons can and should switch from subpage to subpage — and that is exactly how BLS handles the teaser configuration. Depending on the subpage, the user is greeted with an adapted teaser.
→ Would you like another practical example? Read the VELUX case study. VELUX uses the hybrid solution of chatbot & live chat in various online stores and was thus able to achieve impressive results. For example, reducing live chat conversations from 16 to 2-3 manual chats per 100 orders.
How does the transition from chatbot to live chat agent work?
As already mentioned above, this transition is called Human Takeover Or is also used in some places as Human Handover Referred to.
From the customer's perspective, the transition is very straightforward. The customer stays both in context and in the same chat window. All he has to do is wait a short time until the chatbot has handed over to the employee and then receive an answer.
But what does it look like “behind the scenes”? In other words, when a company like BLS uses Zendesk as a live chat tool and moinAI as a chatbot solution?
Thanks to interfaces, moinAI is easy to connect to almost any live chat software, so that companies can take full advantage of a hybrid chatbot solution. The video shows what the user interface for live chat agents looks like in practice and how they can take over the conversation from the chatbot and then return it again.
Hybrid chatbots in practice — 2 solutions, 1 chat window
Most Solutions, Both Chatbots and Live Chat, offer a chat window/widget that appears on the company's website when the respective solution has been integrated. These widgets are usually freely editable: headlines, sub-headlines, an avatar and the color scheme can be defined, among other things. Another advantage is that interfaces make it possible to use both technologies but combine them in a single widget. For example, there are companies that play live chat and chatbots in the Zendesk Widget. Or even customers who have opted for the moinAI Widget and also play out the live chat solution in there (e.g. Zendesk, Userlike or LiveChat).
Conclusion: Promising collaboration between humans and AI
Hybrid chatbots have the advantage that they can respond to a wide range of different user requests. They are therefore a central tool for good customer service, because customer service often deals with a variety of questions and concerns. Hybrid chatbots help to save time and effort in daily work, and to permanently optimize customer satisfaction and service levels.
A hybrid chatbot offers the best of both worlds and combines the convenience and ease of use of an intelligent personal assistant with the adaptability of a rule-based chatbot and the learning ability of AI — the ideal addition to this solution is the option of integrated live chat with a service employee.
