Transforming the Financial Services Client Experience with Chat and AI

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A Guide for the Financial Services Sector

Transforming the Financial Services Client Experience with Chat and AI

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Chapter 5

Live chat and chatbot vendor selection checklist

Before you invest in any new technology, you need to have well-defined goals and expectations. Live chat and AI chatbots are no different. While there are many vendors out there that offer live chat or chatbot services, we recommend that you select a vendor that does both for easier implementation, training, and execution.

Here are 5 factors you need to consider when evaluating vendors.

Questions to ask about…

1. Personalization

  • What depth of personalization options are offered?
  • What segmentation capabilities are available for clients in different regions or languages, or of different demographics?
  • What kind of data is provided out of the box and does it provide the right insights to create more personalized experiences?
  • Is there intent-based routing available to automatically direct inbound queries to the right department the first time, without triage or transfers?
  • Can integrations and APIs be used to connect the platform to other systems, making deep personalisation automatic?

Bottom line

Quality platforms will allow your financial institution to engage personally with a client based on their geography, interaction history, account status and more. Personalization is crucial for financial institutions to build stronger relationships with their clients.

Questions to ask about…

1. Agent-centricity

  • Would the capabilities offered through this platform make your agents more productive and efficient?
  • Is the interface user-friendly and intuitive for agents to pick up quickly?
  • How long will it take to train new agents on?
  • Does it integrate with knowledge bases to allow for internal knowledge acquisition and learning?

Bottom line

Your agents will use the platform every day, so it must enhance their ability to do great work without needing lengthy training or workarounds. 98% of organizations state the agent experience (AX) is a key part of any successful client experience strategy, so any good platform needs to appeal as much to the agents as the clients.

Questions to ask about…

Versatility

  • Does this platform make issue resolution smoother and easier than the status quo?
  • Does it provide efficiencies that reduce wait times and unnecessary friction?
  • Can this help to provide better quality service and support to your clients?
  • Does this platform perform well across different devices, operating systems, or browsers?
  • How well does the platform integrate into your current technology stack?

Bottom line

The right platform should be versatile enough to contribute to each of your financial institution’s target metrics and flexible enough to adapt to any technology stack through integration and configuration options.

Questions to ask about…

Conversation quality

  • Does this platform help your clients get service that’s fast, friendly and accurate?
  • Will this platform improve conversation quality while ensuring there are no trade-offs in terms of time spent?
  • Does this platform offer rich media features that can speed up time to resolution (e.g. image or document sharing)?
  • Does the platform provide the ability to make and track KPI improvements?

Bottom line

Quality conversations build stronger relationships, but that shouldn’t be at the expense of efficiency. Organizations need to make sure they’re taking full advantage of a platform’s more advanced capabilities like file sharing, co-browsing, and more, to provide quality interactions through tactical, interactive experiences that fuel greater client satisfaction.

Questions to ask about…

Data security and privacy

  • Does this platform meet my industry’s security and compliance standards (e.g. PCI)?
  • How is data stored and processed (if in the cloud)?
  • Does this platform offer on-premise installation if tighter security is needed?
  • What security measures are available on the agent side (password protection, SSO)?
  • What type of encryption tools are used at rest and during data transmission?

Bottom line

Safeguarding client data will always be non-negotiable for financial institutions. Good platforms should have multiple layers of data protection and compliance with data standards like ISO 27001, GDPR, PCI, and more.

When evaluating chatbot vendors, it’s important to decide if you’re looking for a service or a tool. While there are vendors which can build a chatbot for you, ideally you want one who can advise on best practices, while enabling your team to build the chatbot along with other self-service resources. That’s the way to achieve the best ROI over time.

Cale Shapera
Chatbot Architect, Comm100
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