5 ms·

“Yes, I am human:” learnings from fast customer service via live chat

67 points by rolando 16y ago

mitko 16y ago
That will work until an AI can pass the Turing Test.
- meatsock 16y ago
  .. there may be more important things to worry about when that happens.
  - lwat 16y ago
    Like apologizing to Kurzweil?
  - mercurialist 16y ago
    Skynet: hi I'm a self-conscious robot based on technology from the future, how can I help you?...
  - manoloe 16y ago
    even Deckard thought he was human, and we don't know if he passed the Voight-Kampff machine test http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Blade_Runner#Deckard:_human_or_replicant.3F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Blade_Runner#Deckard:...
nostromo 16y ago
I used to work for a competitor of Olark's and I can confirm this happens all the time. What's funny is that there are two types of companies: 1) Trusts their well-paid chat operators and allows them to type freely. 2) Force-feeds their operators 'canned responses' (as are used in email support) and doesn't encourage them to move off script. #2 is always what marketing departments want, but it was always worse for the customer. The operator's response was too quick (a paragraph of text hastily selected from a recommended response), there were no misspellings, and they used PR speak that normal humans don't use. Often people would respond, "are you a person?" and some small group would ask questions specifically designed to trip up a bot. My advice is to allow the people talking to your customer to use a modest amount of slang (a smiley or an occasional lol is fine if the customer is in a happy mood) - let them make a few misspellings - and encourage them to really read the response and even empathize with a customer. Marketing departments hate this idea, but in the end the feeling of a connection to another human is worth the risk of offending a grammar nazi.
- manoloe 16y ago
  Our development team at IndexTank handles our customer questions. The training they've received comes from working alongside client development teams for years (our team has been together for 4+ years handling search problems for many companies). So we trust each other to type freely. The misspellings is an interesting suggestion. Since our team originates from Argentina, English is our second language, and we do make mistakes. But we try not to. But now maybe we should ! Thanks for your advice.
  - nostromo 16y ago
    Most people will take thoughtful typing with mis-spellings over a 'canned response' any day - especially younger users. A bit more advice since you're abroad. If people ask, I wouldn't lie about your location. We had some customers who would ask Indian reps to pick an American name (lots of Bobs) - but sometimes people make chit-chat about weather and the like while waiting - and getting caught in a lie can destroy the company's reputation with the user.
    - manoloe 16y ago
      A great point. We have come across some situations where we are asked where the team lives, and we tell it like it is. Developers are pretty positive about us being both in Buenos Aires and in SF. I think the global community is a nice plus.
    - cookiecaper 16y ago
      It's usually pretty obvious when you're talking to a "real" Bob or a "fake" Bob. In my experience, the offshored agents are almost incapable of communicating successfully.
- yuhong 16y ago
  Yep, "legacy" PR based on controlling the message is just fundamentally flawed. It is time for candor and honesty.
- dspeyer 16y ago
alanfalcon 16y ago
I worked customer service for "a" major MMO for a while. People who got asked if they were robots were generally behaving like robots: using macros (pre-written responses) to respond to questions even when the answer didn't properly fit, sending responses (even proper responses) to questions faster than people generally type, or abusing the auto-name-fill-in shortcut to fill in the character name in every sentence. In short, there's very likely to be an actual problem when your customers ask if you're a robot ... not a "cute" problem like you were too quick to answer their initial request.
- manoloe 16y ago
  Not exactly. As you see in the transcript on the blog, we responded with a simple "Hi, how can I help you?" and then we're asked if we were a robot. We don't use pre-written responses, nor do anything else like you suggest. We're just online, working away.
  - alanfalcon 16y ago
    And you'd be much more likely to be seen as a person if you opened with, "Hi, this is Jorge. How can I help you?"
    - elithrar 16y ago
      Jorge the robot? If someone is anticipating a bot, I don't think greeting them with a name is going to dissuade them from asking.
    - manoloe 16y ago
      Interesting... we'll do some tests on alternate ways to introduce ourselves. Being able to test out different approaches real-time is another benefit from live chat. thanks!
      - Herring 16y ago
        Another possible response might be "Negative, I am a meat popsicle".
mceachen 16y ago
AdGrok's seen this a number of times: ----------------- USA (Philadelphia,PA) #4859: wow USA (Philadelphia,PA) #4859: so you are not a bot? Matthew: Only on the dance floor, man. ----------------- USA (New York,NY) #664: haha never chatted on olark, this is fun antonio: yeah, it's quite the app USA (New York,NY) #664: didn't think there would be ppl behind it USA (New York,NY) #664: :) antonio: there isn't, this is a robot antonio: :p USA (New York,NY) #664: hahahah USA (New York,NY) #664: ok USA (New York,NY) #664: am very happy if robots are this intelligent antonio: well, intelligent-seeming...
- manoloe 16y ago
  I am thinking it would be nice to have a 'best of olark transcripts'collection. Surprising customers with free-flowing interactivity is what this is all about. +1 for your 'only on the dance floor,man' response
lachyg 16y ago
I added this to http://paggstack.com http://paggstack.com since the very beginning, and I swear, it's the most commonly asked question over any other. I always try to put some humour in my response, but damn! We need a solution ;)
sovande 16y ago
It is like a reverse turing test.
swombat 16y ago
How do you deal with the constant distraction to the dev team? Must be quite bad if you have a lot of customers and a small dev team. Having random people pop up on your IM client seems like the opposite of an environment that encourages a state of "flow"...
- manoloe 16y ago
  Our main objective is really to get to know our customers. We've been working on the platform for a fair amount of time, and we need interactions to tell us how we can make it better. Also, we do rotate accounts among the team which helps some. Finally, we don't see them as 'random people' -- we see them as developers like us, using a service we built. WE LOVE THAT.
ffffruit 16y ago
I cant help but think of the fonejacker cinema prank and laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgOkJjjwmnk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgOkJjjwmnk

67 points by rolando 16y ago

mitko 16y ago

That will work until an AI can pass the Turing Test.

meatsock 16y ago
.. there may be more important things to worry about when that happens.
- lwat 16y ago
  Like apologizing to Kurzweil?
- mercurialist 16y ago
  Skynet: hi I'm a self-conscious robot based on technology from the future, how can I help you?...
- manoloe 16y ago
  even Deckard thought he was human, and we don't know if he passed the Voight-Kampff machine test http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Blade_Runner#Deckard:_human_or_replicant.3F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Blade_Runner#Deckard:...

nostromo 16y ago

I used to work for a competitor of Olark's and I can confirm this happens all the time. What's funny is that there are two types of companies: 1) Trusts their well-paid chat operators and allows them to type freely. 2) Force-feeds their operators 'canned responses' (as are used in email support) and doesn't encourage them to move off script. #2 is always what marketing departments want, but it was always worse for the customer. The operator's response was too quick (a paragraph of text hastily selected from a recommended response), there were no misspellings, and they used PR speak that normal humans don't use. Often people would respond, "are you a person?" and some small group would ask questions specifically designed to trip up a bot. My advice is to allow the people talking to your customer to use a modest amount of slang (a smiley or an occasional lol is fine if the customer is in a happy mood) - let them make a few misspellings - and encourage them to really read the response and even empathize with a customer. Marketing departments hate this idea, but in the end the feeling of a connection to another human is worth the risk of offending a grammar nazi.

manoloe 16y ago
Our development team at IndexTank handles our customer questions. The training they've received comes from working alongside client development teams for years (our team has been together for 4+ years handling search problems for many companies). So we trust each other to type freely. The misspellings is an interesting suggestion. Since our team originates from Argentina, English is our second language, and we do make mistakes. But we try not to. But now maybe we should ! Thanks for your advice.
- nostromo 16y ago
  Most people will take thoughtful typing with mis-spellings over a 'canned response' any day - especially younger users. A bit more advice since you're abroad. If people ask, I wouldn't lie about your location. We had some customers who would ask Indian reps to pick an American name (lots of Bobs) - but sometimes people make chit-chat about weather and the like while waiting - and getting caught in a lie can destroy the company's reputation with the user.
  - manoloe 16y ago
    A great point. We have come across some situations where we are asked where the team lives, and we tell it like it is. Developers are pretty positive about us being both in Buenos Aires and in SF. I think the global community is a nice plus.
  - cookiecaper 16y ago
    It's usually pretty obvious when you're talking to a "real" Bob or a "fake" Bob. In my experience, the offshored agents are almost incapable of communicating successfully.
yuhong 16y ago
Yep, "legacy" PR based on controlling the message is just fundamentally flawed. It is time for candor and honesty.
dspeyer 16y ago

alanfalcon 16y ago

I worked customer service for "a" major MMO for a while. People who got asked if they were robots were generally behaving like robots: using macros (pre-written responses) to respond to questions even when the answer didn't properly fit, sending responses (even proper responses) to questions faster than people generally type, or abusing the auto-name-fill-in shortcut to fill in the character name in every sentence. In short, there's very likely to be an actual problem when your customers ask if you're a robot ... not a "cute" problem like you were too quick to answer their initial request.

manoloe 16y ago
Not exactly. As you see in the transcript on the blog, we responded with a simple "Hi, how can I help you?" and then we're asked if we were a robot. We don't use pre-written responses, nor do anything else like you suggest. We're just online, working away.
- alanfalcon 16y ago
  And you'd be much more likely to be seen as a person if you opened with, "Hi, this is Jorge. How can I help you?"
  - elithrar 16y ago
    Jorge the robot? If someone is anticipating a bot, I don't think greeting them with a name is going to dissuade them from asking.
  - manoloe 16y ago
    Interesting... we'll do some tests on alternate ways to introduce ourselves. Being able to test out different approaches real-time is another benefit from live chat. thanks!
    - Herring 16y ago
      Another possible response might be "Negative, I am a meat popsicle".

mceachen 16y ago

AdGrok's seen this a number of times: ----------------- USA (Philadelphia,PA) #4859: wow USA (Philadelphia,PA) #4859: so you are not a bot? Matthew: Only on the dance floor, man. ----------------- USA (New York,NY) #664: haha never chatted on olark, this is fun antonio: yeah, it's quite the app USA (New York,NY) #664: didn't think there would be ppl behind it USA (New York,NY) #664: :) antonio: there isn't, this is a robot antonio: :p USA (New York,NY) #664: hahahah USA (New York,NY) #664: ok USA (New York,NY) #664: am very happy if robots are this intelligent antonio: well, intelligent-seeming...

manoloe 16y ago
I am thinking it would be nice to have a 'best of olark transcripts'collection. Surprising customers with free-flowing interactivity is what this is all about. +1 for your 'only on the dance floor,man' response

lachyg 16y ago

I added this to http://paggstack.com http://paggstack.com since the very beginning, and I swear, it's the most commonly asked question over any other. I always try to put some humour in my response, but damn! We need a solution ;)

sovande 16y ago

It is like a reverse turing test.

swombat 16y ago

How do you deal with the constant distraction to the dev team? Must be quite bad if you have a lot of customers and a small dev team. Having random people pop up on your IM client seems like the opposite of an environment that encourages a state of "flow"...

manoloe 16y ago
Our main objective is really to get to know our customers. We've been working on the platform for a fair amount of time, and we need interactions to tell us how we can make it better. Also, we do rotate accounts among the team which helps some. Finally, we don't see them as 'random people' -- we see them as developers like us, using a service we built. WE LOVE THAT.

ffffruit 16y ago

I cant help but think of the fonejacker cinema prank and laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgOkJjjwmnk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgOkJjjwmnk