Virtual Customer Assistants (VCAs): What are they and what do customers want
What are Virtual Customer Assistants (VCA)?
Virtual customer assistants are automated customer service assistants that businesses deploy to engage customers, answer questions, push web pages, and act as a concierge to initially field and handle requests. They are sometimes used synonymously with terms like chatbots, avatars, concierge, and virtual agents.
What do Consumers Want From Virtual Customer Assistants?
Chatbots.org surveyed 3,000 consumers about what they want from virtual customer assistants. This is what they said:
59% of respondents (62% in the US and 55% in the UK) found that having to repeat information to a human agent in the event of escalation from VCAs was the biggest hurdle to using them.
- Not surprisingly, this is a result of chatbot deployments that are completely disconnected from agent-assisted touchpoints.
The second biggest pain point at 32% (29% US and 37% UK) was virtual customer assistants “getting stuck and not knowing what to do next.”
- This is a common problem that arises from a lack of focus on knowledge management to empower chatbots.
53% of the consumers surveyed (54% US and 52% UK) found chatbots to be “not effective” or only “somewhat effective.” US consumers were harsher in their assessment of chatbots with 14% rating them as not effective versus only 5% of UK consumers.
- This is perhaps an indication that US consumers are challenging chatbots with more complex questions than UK consumers.
Virtual Customer Assistants Best Practices
Done right, VCAs not only help contain customer service costs but also enhance brand equity. We have compiled some best practices for successful virtual assistant implementations learned from over 15 years of experience in this space.
Customer Success
The Family Court of the State of Delaware advances digital citizen engagement with eGain
As part of COVID-19 social guidelines, the Family Court had reduced the onsite presence of its agents. To maintain citizen accessibility to information, the Family Court chose to expand their use of digital channels, with the goal of boosting both agent productivity and customer experience. eGain Virtual Assistant™ will provide users with general information and resources. The court’s resource center agents will use eGain SuperChat™ to handle escalated issues that cannot be resolved by the Virtual Assistant.
European tax agency goes digital with eGain
The government organization uses eGain’s virtual assistant, chat, and offers to make it easy for citizens to use government services.
- 257,000 interactions were handled using the Virtual Assistant
- Volume of tax returns being completed online increased to 89%
Goodyear rolls out digital customer service with eGain
Goodyear’s retail group has gone live with eGain Virtual Assistant™ and eGain Advisor Desktop™. The contact center is leveraging the solution to answer questions, resolve issues, and recommend products to consumers, retail stores, and OEM clients. The solutions are being expanded to the company’s ecommerce and consumer care divisions.
