Chatbots for Technical Support – Are They Working?
The ability to provide automated interaction with customers by chat has been available for years. The power and potential of today’s chatbots offers a wide array of customer service and technical support opportunities. For many companies the question is not if they should deploy chatbot automation for technical support, but rather, how to make chatbots successful. In 2020 ServiceXRG conducted a study to assess the use and effectiveness of chatbots for support. Here are the highlights:
Overview of Findings
- Over two-thirds (68%) of responding companies currently use chatbots for technical support.
- 88% of companies indicate current or planned use of chatbots within the year.
- Chatbot session satisfaction is 44.5%.
- 60% of chatbot sessions are considered successful.
- 40.7% of chatbot sessions deflect cases from assisted channels.
To request a full copy of the findings please send a request to research@servicexrg.com
Do you currently use, or plan to use a chatbot for technical support within the next year?
88% of companies indicate current or planned use of chatbots within the year.
What are the top benefits that you expect from offering a chatbot?
Companies that plan to use chatbots in the future expect the chatbot to provide answers to customers or direct customers to the best qualified resource if an answer cannot be provided.
What is the primary criterion for chatbot success?
Nearly half of companies (46.2%) rely on direct customer feedback to determine chatbot success. The remainder determine chatbot success by measuring transactional events (no escalation to a human, session ends). 
Related Articles
Take These Proven Actions to Scale Support Delivery
The future success of Customer Support relies on the ability of Support to scale to meet growing demand and fulfill an expanded, success-focused mission. Learn about proven initiatives for scaling Support delivery capabilities.
Five Ways to Automate Service Delivery
Automation plays an increasingly important role in support case deflection and management activities. Leverage these 5 service automation strategies to free up your skilled support staff for higher value activities:
Seven Strategies to Prevent Support Cases
Identifying and alleviating performance and usability issues can go a long way toward preventing demand for Support. Leverage these 7 strategies for issue prevention to help lessen Support demand:
Maximizing the Return on Your Support Knowledge Base
The Support organization encompasses extensive experience and expertise about how to use and apply products. Access to this Support knowledge is the primary reason customers contact Support. This article explains how companies can maximize the return on the creation and distribution of Support knowledge.
Beyond Self-Service Deflection
The use of Self-Service deflection as a basis to justify investments in Self-Service fosters an expectation that it is only capable of reducing costs. This article explains why Self-Service is vital to a successful service strategy and delivers benefits well-beyond cost reduction.
4 Unintended Consequences of Self-Service Deflection
Self-Service deflection can provide both benefits as well as some unintended consequences. This article introduces what to expect from self-service deflection and how to prepare for possible consequences.