Our company, a travel provider, has a "chat bot" but it is just the first stage of a layers customer service experience. It is not an AI backed bot, though I'm sure that will come, eventually.
The bot can handle basic functions like information, change, and cancel but on more complex servicing, it brings in a human agent. The customer always has the option to request a human agent. This lets customers self service for the simple stuff but still get a helping hand when they need it.
In surveys our customers seem to like this approach with some indicating that they like being able to use something like this on their own rather than having to wait for an agent to be available. I think, as long as you give your customers options a structured first layer can be helpful as long as you give them a way out to more hands-on support.
I'm creating bots like this where the ai enhanced bot is fed a clients docs/industry info, and it's trained on closing techniques specific to the industry and it basically keeps following up on a schedule until the customer decides to book an appt, or opt out of further messages.
I'm planning on other automations in the future for other workflows, but lead closing and appointment setting on autopilot 24/7 with a single monthly fee that's way less than hiring staff(even from India), in the end it's about giving automations knowledge and power through that knowledge but still the end result is a booking or action to often speak with someone after being warmed up.
A friendly non pushy ai sales agent might even be better at sales than a seasoned sales person after some trial and error on training it. My agency is in it's infancy but I'm excited to see what our sales pros can/can't do.
The bot can handle basic functions like information, change, and cancel but on more complex servicing, it brings in a human agent. The customer always has the option to request a human agent. This lets customers self service for the simple stuff but still get a helping hand when they need it.
In surveys our customers seem to like this approach with some indicating that they like being able to use something like this on their own rather than having to wait for an agent to be available. I think, as long as you give your customers options a structured first layer can be helpful as long as you give them a way out to more hands-on support.