noHold's Artificial Intelligence Alleviates Live Chat Shortcomings

May 31, 2018, MILPITAS, CA – noHold is introducing a Virtual Assistant specialized in pre-empting the Live Chat channel. Throughout the years, various companies have come to noHold looking for a solution to solve some of the concerns related to Live Chat. Here is a list of the three most common issues:

• Misdirected Chats- about 60% of live chat sessions end up being irrelevant to the live agents' scope of knowledge. For example, live agents that handle pre-sales questions receiving end users asking for support. 
• Ghost Chats- An end user clicks on the Chat button, but then never interacts with the live Agent. This accounts for about 20% of all sessions.
• Pre-Chat Questionnaires- often live chat agents ask end users a number of questions to pre-qualify them. This process can be automated.

noHold now offers a Virtual Assistant specialized in pre-empting the Live Chat channel.  The Virtual Assistant is conversational and helps companies reduce misdirected and ghost chats, while capturing key pre-qualifying information from the end user.

“The agents at your call center are the most sophisticated resource available to help customers better experience your product.  It is important to engage them only when absolutely necessary so that companies can reduce cost and improve customer satisfaction,” adds Diego Ventura, CEO and Founder of noHold.

Customer Journey Mapping Toolkit: noHold's Experience

To wrap up our final post to the Customer Journey Mapping series, I wanted to share with you the experience a few of us here at noHold had doing the Customer Journey exercise using the "Jake" story. 

A few of us gathered in the board room to complete the customer journey map. It was helpful to have a group of people to bounce ideas back and forth, and get different perspectives.

Together, we went through the 11 steps to creating a successful Journey Mapping experience. Here are some photos sharing our experience: 

Step 4: Writing down the emotions the customer (Jake) might feel during each phase of his journey.

 Step 5: Vote for the moment that you feel is the most impactful, both negative and positive.

 Step 8: Write out the wins or needs of the customer during that specific, impact moment

Step 9/10: Determining the desired experience and ideas of how to achieve that desired experience.

After going through the steps, we concluded with step 11, proposing a new experience in a statement."This experience will address customers feeling frustrated waiting for live chat. We can accomplish this through improving agent resources, implementing a customer facing Virtual Agent, and scheduling a call back time. These changes will reduce wait times by 20% and increase customer satisfaction."

It was a great process to go through as a team to better understand what Customer Journey Mapping really is and how it enables us to better understand our customers. Let us know how your experience went in the comments below. What conclusions did you come up with? Did you face any challenges? 

For more information regarding customer journey mapping/customer care, please contact us. 

noHold Enhances Customer Service with the Integration of Virtual Assistants and Live Chat

March 26, 2015, MILPITAS, CA – As a recognized leader, with over 15 years of experience in the Virtual Assistant space, noHold has developed a list of best practices; the integration between a Virtual Assistant and live chat through live chat connectors is one of them.

noHold’s live chat connectors are a set of open API’s that link noHold Virtual Assistants to any live chat application. The integration of the two provides a way for companies to better support their customers, while getting them most out of their investments.

First, the end user asks the Virtual Assistant a question. The Virtual Assistant will either provide the end user with the correct information (ending the interaction for that customer), or if it does not know the answer, it can provide the option to escalate to a live chat agent. If the latter occurs, the chat log is sent to the live chat agent. This will provide the agent with an understanding of the customer’s need and can address the issue quicker; without the end user having to repeat the problem. Once the live chat agent is available, there is a seamless transition between the Virtual Assistant and live agent within the same interface, improving the experience for the end user.

There are many advantages to integrating a Virtual Agent and live chat together:

• Resolve abandonment issues
• A web-based, self-service tool is available 24/7, while a live agent is only available during business hours
• Queue pollution 

“Our objective is to create the best self-service experience possible for our customers’ end users.  In some cases it is appropriate for the Virtual Assistant to escalate a session to a live agent either to help resolve a problem, or to up-sell a pertinent product or service.” -Diego Ventura, CEO and founder of noHold.

About noHold, Inc.

noHold is a privately held company established in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA, USA (Silicon Valley). noHold is the acknowledged leader in Web based self-service solutions with a mission to deliver real answers to real questions – real fast. Simple to use, easy to implement and as close to human as you can get, noHold turns automated customer support into cognitive customer interaction. noHold customers include Toshiba, Lenovo, Cisco and a host of industry leaders. Most information can be found at www.nohold.com.

Press Contact

Veronica Cech

Marketing Associate

vcech@nohold.com     

408.946.9200 ext. 356

All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners.

Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Streamline Your Support Site Using a Virtual Agent

"While reading this sentence, hum your favorite pop tune while writing down the first 15 prime numbers, in order.

Those are three tasks, easy to do separately, basically impossible to do at the same time. If you try, you'll just end up slicing each one into little bits and alternating, almost certainly decreasing the speed and quality of work of each" (Cognitive Load). 

It is hard to do things all at once. Seth Godin recently wrote a blog referencing cognitive load, and mentioned that too many distractions can result in unproductive work.

The same concept holds true in regards to website designs, especially support sites. It can be frustrating to navigate through support sites that offer so many options (live chat, phone numbers, emails, etc) and you don't know which one is the right option for you. By implementing a Virtual Agent, it can streamline support and customer service so your customers can get to the correct information, in the fastest amount of time. Think of a Virtual Agent as the concierge to your website. 

When creating a support site, it is important to keep the user in mind. Eliminating distractions and/or adding productive distractions helps customers get the best use out of your support site. The end result is a reduction in volume to costly channels, less queue pollution, and increased Customer Satisfaction, among other benefits. 

How is your support site set up? Have you thought of a 'concierge' approach as visitors enter your site? Why not ask one simple question such as "how can I help you?" 

www.nohold.com

CEO Blog: The Chat Abandonment Syndrome

I remember when I started my career as a SW Engineer and most of my focus was around technical issues.  As I became a CEO, a lot of my time was spent addressing business challenges, but now that the business is growing, Human Dynamics are taking center stage.  It is fascinating and I love it.  

Human Dynamics related to all the constituencies I deal with: Shareholders, Investors, Employees, Customers and their Customers (we are a B2B company), etc. As an example, I am noticing an interesting pattern.  Many companies use Live Chat as a way to provide service to their customers.  It is convenient, fast and less expensive than other communication channels. It makes sense... 

However, what’s happening is that many companies complain about the same issue.  It appears that end users click on the Live Chat option, but then disappear and do not engage in the chat with a live Agent.  The issue is significant.  Some of the companies I have been talking to experience 50% abandonment.  I named this phenomenon the “Chat Abandonment Syndrome” and it is costing companies millions.  The reason being that Agents are compelled to respond to every incoming chat and wait for at least a couple of minutes before declaring the contact DOA (Dead On Arrival). In doing so, the Call Center efficiency takes a dive for the worst. 

The reasons are unknown.  Some claim technical glitches with the Live Chat platform, other confusion in the way a company sets the expectation for the experience.  Nobody knows for sure. I would be curious to know if your company also experiences Chat Abandonment Syndrome and if you have figured out the cause.  We don’t know the reason for it, but the good news is that we have found a solution. 

-Diego Ventura, CEO, noHold, Inc.

Throwback Thursday: AOL Instant Messaging Opened Doors for Live Chat Vendors

Photo credit: drjays.com

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Who remembers the little guy in the picture to the left? This is the icon for AOL Instant Messaging, or AIM. I remember this software as the "must-have" to stay connected with friends in that late 90's to the early 2000's. If you didn't have AIM, you weren't in the loop. AIM was, in a way, the Facebook of that time. 

Instant Messenger came out in 1997 and was one of the first of its kind to successfully allow users to communicate via the Internet in real time. In the eCommerce and Support industries, Live chat has come a long way since AIM. Below to the right is a screenshot of an AIM chat window. It was as simple to use as typing what you wanted to say, pressing enter, and the person on the other end of the computer screen would receive it...instantly! Another cool feature of AIM is having the ability to pick an avatar that would symbolize yourself. A lot like what we do with our Virtual Agents. We often include a face/avatar to the Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to add personality. AIM also utilized A.I.'s for people's entertainment, questions, etc. Just sending a message to the specific screen name of the A.I. (which can be found by looking on the web) and you get a response back from a robot, just like our Virtual Agents!

Photo credit: Franklypenn.com

Instant messaging has matured since AIM of course. Now, there is chat on Facebook and other social networking sites, Skype, and a plethora of software that makes it easier to connect with people in real time. 

In today's era of technology, trusted brands use live chat for web customer support. When people have a question or concern, they can typically find support on a company's web page in the form of live chat. Click on the hyperlink to view our blog post, "Live Chat MVPs: An Insiders Look at the Top Live Chat Vendors and Best Practices." This link will provide you access to our document about key features to look for when selecting a live chat vendor and also a PowerPoint presentation titled, "Best Practices for Complementing Live Chat with a Virtual Agent." 

Whether live chat is being used from a support or sales stand point on a website, in the call center, or even at the Help Desk (Albert!), the benefits surpass the value of just staying connected with friends. Integrating live chat with a Virtual Agent provides a cost effective way for companies to establish and/or maintain relationships with consumers without seeing them face to face. InstantSupport(TM), like instant messaging, gives consumers answers to the questions they have instantly, and on their own terms. Thanks to AIM and other early live chat providers, the doors for web customer service opened, leading to one of the top resources people use when looking for online support.

Throwback Thursday: noHold on Salesforce Appexchange

Happy Throwback Thursday!

This week I wanted to share one of our applications available on Salesforce's Appexchange. noHold has been integrating with CRM solutions like Salesforce.com since 2004 - This specific Application is called Live Chat Sidekick. In short, this Virtual Agent App augments live chat by maximizing agent productivity, prequalifying and right channeling prospects.
To find our more details about this Virtual Agent click here.
To watch the Salesforce connector demo click here.

Have a great week!
 

Live Chat MVPs: An Insiders Look at the Top Live Chat Vendors and Best Practices

                   

Millions per day? Billions per day? How many customers prefer chat? A recent interview shows that a Fortune 500 company in the Telecommunications industry reaches an estimated 8 million website visits per month. Based on recent chat log statistics, a similar company handled upwards of 7,500 Live Chat conversations in one month, for one product line. The truth is your audience prefers the web, and these visitors expect chat as an option. 

 Leading brands have found a way to shorten the path to a meaningful chat by complementing Live Chat with a Virtual Assistant. Find out what they were looking for in a Live Chat provider, the key features, and get shortcuts to the advice you need to make the best decision for your own brand and your customers. 

Click Here to access the Document: Live Chat MVPs

 

Best Practices for Complementing Live Chat with a Virtual Assistant from noHold, Inc.

 

Cheers!

Live Chat, Virtual Agents and Peanut Butter & Jelly

Companies use an IVR on the phone to find out what a customer is interested in before engaging a live agent, and after hours when an agent is not available. But how do they do it online? When your live chat agents start interacting, are they ready to hit the ground running? What are you using to capture the voice of your customer when agents are not available? How do you shorten the path to a meaningful chat?

Join noHold in a compelling webinar that addresses the benefits of coupling live chat with a Virtual Agent. We look forward to seeing you there.

Click here for more details, and to register.

The Diversity of Integration: Escalating to a Live Chat

Although a Virtual Agent may be able to solve the large majority of end-user problems, there are some cases where escalating to live support may be necessary. In these instances, a noHold Virtual Agent can automatically pass the session log to an alternate channel (a live chat, email contact, etc.).

Our customers will see vast improvements on two fronts. First, the end-user experience will be exponentially more cohesive and fluid. That is, users will not have to search from page-to-page for answers and contact information, but rather, be automatically redirected to the appropriate channel. Ultimately, this can lead to increased customer satisfaction, and in turn, increased brand loyalty. Second, due to the fact that the session log is passed along, the receiving agent already knows the user’s problem before the live chat even starts. This assures that even if your user has to go through escalations, there will be time-saving measures in place.

For example, if an end-user asks a question that requires human interaction, or if the knowledge base does not contain the answer the user is looking for, our Virtual Agent can direct the end-user to a live chat.

After entering their name and zip-code, the end-user is brought to a live chat, where they can ask their question to a company representative. On the other end, the company representative does not need to take the time to find out what the end-users question is, because the Virtual Agent has already provided the entire chat log.

As seen in the screen shots, Comcast currently has noHold's live chat integration up and running. To integrate your own live chat with a noHold Virtual Agent, contact us today: http://www.nohold.com/contact/index.php.