Looking to resolve your customers’ queries quicker? 68% of people get annoyed when their call is transferred between departments so don’t keep them waiting. Consider using conversational AI to facilitate smarter routing in your contact centre.
Find out more with our guide on how conversational AI works – and the benefits of using it as part of your intelligent call routing system.
How conversational AI works
Conversational AI works by bringing together artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP) and conversational user interfaces – enabling digital communication in contact centres to closely resemble human engagement.
These AI technologies can recognise different languages as well as intent, text semantics, message types (public or private), email metadata, and other information to deliver a seamless and smart routing call experience for your customers.
What’s more, conversational AI technologies can understand both natural speech and unexpected phrases, as well as context through conversational Interactive Voice Response (IVR). They can even show emotion and accents, to better engage with and respond to your customers.
Use social media to interact with your customers? AI conversational interfaces typically include the ability to be integrated with social media messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, chatbots, voice assistants like Apple’s Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, and virtual agents using IVR in your contact centre.
Find out more about what conversational AI is in our guide to Customer Engagement in the Age of Messaging.
Chatbot vs conversational AI: what should my auto attendant use?
Both conversational AI and chatbots can be used to respond to your customers digitally. However, by mimicking human interactions instead of using simple stock responses, conversational AI offers a much more sophisticated way of engaging with customers.
Conversational AI technologies can deliver a natural ‘back and forth’ digital conversation through text-based mobile and web chat.
What is AI digital routing and smart routing?
Great customer support means quickly dealing with your customers’ needs. Direct callers to the right agent by answering their questions promptly through conversational AI technology before they become frustrated.
Smart routing can use conversational AI machine learning to automatically understand a caller or messenger’s intent and route customers through your contact centre.
AI digital routing, or smart routing, also collects intelligence to improve your customer journey each time you take a call. It does this by analysing human agent interactions and learning how to produce better responses. The more calls taken by your conversational AI through machine learning, the smarter it becomes.
Why choose conversational AI to facilitate smart routing?
In a traditional phone-based system, your customers would choose their own route through your contact centre, but when you use conversational AI, this routing is much more intelligent. Conversational AI tools can better predict your customer requirements, for example whether they need sales or support, and then quickly route the call to the right agent.
Other ways conversational AI technologies facilitate smart routing, improving business efficiency as well as the customer experience, include:
- Increasing the ability of customers to self-serve, freeing up agents to take calls only where a human agent is needed.
- Integrating digital and human channels seamlessly, reducing churn, and improving customer satisfaction.
- Allowing customers to choose the channel best suits their lifestyle and preferences, including social media, voice assistants and chatbots.
- Automating data-collection and analysis of customer journeys, to improve the efficiency of your contact centre.
Implement AI-enabled smart routing in your contact centre today
Ready to get started? Find out more about RingCentral’s intelligent routing platform and how we can help facilitate smart routing and conversational AI in your contact centre.
Originally published Jul 23, 2021, updated Jan 16, 2023
