Choosing Between Live Support and Chatbot
- November 18, 2023
Customers can receive assistance through either live support or chatbots while using a company’s services. These support options help you maintain a warm relationship with your customers and make them feel valued through personalised attention.
One of the most effective ways to resolve customer questions and concerns is live support. Some live support systems offer voice or video call options, while others provide assistance via email or text chat. But which is the better support system: live support or a chatbot? Let’s explore together.
Installation Cost
We can compare the installation costs of live support and chatbots as follows:
Live Support
Setting up live support typically involves enabling communication channels such as chat or phone support, which can be relatively straightforward.
Costs include subscribing to chat software or phone systems, configuration, and integration with your website.
Training your support agents and setting up the necessary infrastructure also contribute to initial expenses.
Chat Bot
Chatbots require software development and system integration, often making setup more complex and costly than basic live support.
Costs include hiring developers, building and training the chatbot, and integrating it into existing platforms.
The complexity of chatbot functionality and integration significantly affects the setup cost.
Operation Cost
We can summarise the differences in operational cost as follows:
Live Support
Ongoing costs mainly include agent salaries, benefits, and overhead.
Other recurring costs include software subscriptions, maintenance, and continuous training.
Expenses scale directly with the number of agents employed.
Chatbot
Chatbots generally have lower operational costs since they don’t require salaries or benefits.
Ongoing expenses include maintenance, hosting, updates, and potential platform fees.
After deployment, chatbots handle high interaction volumes at minimal additional cost.
Scalability
The scalability differences between live support and chatbots are:
Live Support
Scaling requires hiring more agents or expanding the support team.
Scalability depends on the availability and training of qualified personnel.
Chatbot
Chatbots scale easily and can handle a large number of interactions simultaneously.
Expanding chatbot capacity is simple and does not require proportional increases in cost or staffing.
Speed
Here’s how speed compares between the two:
Live Support
Provides more accurate and faster responses to complex or detailed queries.
Resolution time is typically quicker for nuanced problems.
Wait times vary based on the number of available agents, queue length, and support ticket.
Chatbot
Extremely fast for common or repetitive queries, offering instant responses.
Best suited for basic tasks; complex questions may take longer or require escalation.
Virtually no wait time.
Language and Style
Live Support
Human agents use natural language, adapting tone and style to customer needs.
Offers personalised, empathetic, and context-aware communication.
Flexibility in language makes it more engaging and human-centric.
Chatbot
Relies on predefined scripts, NLP algorithms, and structured conversation flows.
Less flexible than human support, especially in emotionally nuanced or complex scenarios.
Still useful for consistency and maintaining brand tone.
Meeting Needs
Live Support
Enables one-on-one communication, ideal for resolving complex issues quickly.
Offers a higher level of support for personalised and urgent needs.
Helps ensure smooth access to services with minimal friction.
Chatbot
Provides 24/7 support availability.
Offers predefined answers based on system programming.
Efficient for frequently asked questions and standardised issues.
Relationship Building
Live Support
Builds personal connections with customers through tailored communication.
Human agents can adapt tone, language, and solutions to create trust and loyalty.
Chatbot
Delivers consistency and efficiency across all interactions.
While less personal, it contributes to positive experiences and can escalate to human agents when needed.
Effective for basic engagement and maintaining brand presence.
The choice between live support and chatbots depends on your business goals and the balance you want to strike between personalisation and efficiency.
You can try Grispi free for 14 days to increase customer satisfaction and benefit from multi-channel support.
Contact Us
Fill out the form for detailed information and demo account, let us call you.
