Why do utilities need bots?

Transforming the customer experience has the potential to deliver real benefits to local
utilities. Preferences are changing, and consumers are demanding more convenient and
responsive methods of communication. This has led to the rise of virtual assistants
(aka chatbots) in the customer service space that can deliver fast, easy and human-like service
that’s always available.

Customers now prefer texting rather than speaking on the phone. They want to text in their
preferred mobile chat app, not just by navigating to a company specific website or app.
Responding to all of those texts with real people can be costly. This is where natural language
processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities help. Thee technologies are
advancing quickly, making virtual assistants smart, relevant and practical. With AI powered
chatbots, organisations can finally deliver the personalized convenience that customers prefer.

The energy industry has an enormous and highly engaged customer base, and yet they score
very poorly on customer satisfaction. The challenge is clear: to strike a balance between the
needs of the business operations and those of the customer journey itself, making sure that it’s
personalised to each customer. There is no doubt that chatbots have the potential to
significantly change both how customers interact with companies, and how organizations
interact with consumers.

Using conversational style dialog, our chatbots can understand the intent and sentiment of your
customers and translate them into actionable transactions. This provides a platform to
differentiate your product when price alone fails to stand out, and there are concrete links
between customer experience and business performance. This leads to enhanced employee
engagement, increased customer retention and ultimately to increased revenue.

Chatbots lower contact center costs by solving problems more quickly and consistently than live
agents are able to. While the standard view of a chatbot is one that operates as an interactive
virtual agent and can assist customers with simple inquiries, thanks to its chat-based interface,
some solutions are able to handle much more complex tasks as well. Utilities can also push
notifications to their customers giving them advice on how to efficiently utilise their power, or
when is the best time to perform electricity-demanding tasks such as doing laundry or setting
the dishwasher, helping the customers save money on their monthly bills. These small touches
boost customer satisfaction and engagement.

One of the key benefits of chatbots is that they have no wait time and can handle a near-
infinite volume of customer inquiries simultaneously. Your customers can talk to the chatbot to
get answers to low value/high volume questions or FAQs. Virtual assistants promote brand
loyalty, automate customer service functions and allow your staff to focus their attention on
more complex cases which require a human touch.

Customers are already starting to notice the difference between companies that have true AI
powered learning and those who don’t. A growing number of people are more comfortable
chatting than they are with making a phone call and we can expect the demand for chatbots to
grow significantly. That’s where Massively.ai can help.

Massively makes chatbots people actually want to talk to. We enable one-to-one conversations
at scale. Our chatbots start smart and become smarter. They engage, recommend and deliver
services. We help you streamline conversation, enhance customer relationships and increase
sales. Contact us to find out more or schedule a demo.