Would You Text with a Virtual Agent?
By Courtney Schreier, Marketing Manager, Americas
Last week I was riding the subway. To avoid making eye contact with my fellow passengers, my gaze wandered to the various ads papering the car. To my surprise, I saw an ad offering patients a service that would allow them to text a therapist at any time. My mind turned this over. Is this type of service really that radical a notion? I don’t think it is. When I think of my preferences in communication, paired with my busy schedule, I find an increasing number of my interactions with people are via text. I would definitely like to see more businesses engaging with customers through SMS and I’m certainly not alone in that sentiment.
In a recent research study, Harris Poll (on behalf of OneReach) reported that amongst consumers that text, 64 percent preferred to contact customer services via SMS, as opposed to a phone call. This loops back to what we already know about customers craving an effortless experience. People don’t have the time to wait around for a response from customer services. They want a fast response and to experience first contact resolution, in real time.
Creative Virtual’s V-Person™ solution can respond to customers via text, providing helpful advice to a variety of sales, service and operation queries. Offering the SMS platform as a way customers can engage with your business allows your brand to really be everywhere your customers are at any time.
Customers want all communications from your company to be similar in nature. With so many various touch points for customer engagement, this is becoming increasingly critical. Allowing customers to text with a virtual agent in real time can allow for consistent, contextual and correct information to be given right at the moment the customer needs it. It also allows for an easy jump to an escalation with a live chat agent should the matter in question be more complex in nature.
The addition of a virtual agent that can text with customers is something any progressive company should consider adding to complement their omnichannel experience. Please click here to read the full press release on the SMS platform.
