The Volkswagen NZ team was clear right from thier first conversations, that the core goal was to improve the customer service experience, not reduce human handover. Quality service is all about answering questions well, promptly, and with a memorable interaction for customers. A secondary goal was to generate sales leads and analyse customer queries with a view to improving customer service across the business, and providing intelligence about Volkswagen NZ’s current service offerings. It was also important to the Volkswagen NZ team that customers were provided a natural interaction with the Volkswagen brand, and that their interaction felt like a two way chat.
The answer was a digital solution that anticipates and meets customer needs. A solution that enables customers to request the information they’re looking for instantly, at any time of the day, without talking to a human, in a completely natural and accessible way – a conversation. If they need to talk to a human, this too can happen in a seamless way. The answer was to deliver a Conversational UX solution, by way of an Intercom chatbot. Volts the Chatbot was developed to understand customers in their own language, with rigorous adoption of the mantra “my question, not your answer” and handover to a real human being via live chat when necessary.
An initial trial was undertaken with JRNY and Volkswagen NZ back in 2018, so Volkswagen NZ were familiar with the value of a digital assistant or Conversational UX could bring to their business. PaperKite determined Intercom as the best fit chatbot solution as it delivers a customer service and multi-channel lead nurture platform rolled into one. As an Intercom partner and reseller, PaperKite were able to negotiate rates, integrate the Intercom platform and other Volkswagen NZ customer service platforms, and manage Intercom support issues on behalf of Volkswagen NZ.
From a customer perspective, being able to ask Volts questions in plain English, rather than using website search functionality or being on hold to a call centre was a huge improvement on the existing customer service experience.
Volts has also simplified the sales funnel for potential customers. Using Volts to request test drives has removed barriers by immediately providing people with a simple form to complete, that goes to their local dealer to continue the sales conversation.