We offered the chance to meet online virtual assistant Nina Web in a recent Internet Retailing webinar. The introductions were made by Tim Atkinson, business development director, EMEA, at Nuance, who explained how Nina could help retailers to improve their customer service.
Virtual omnichannel assistant Nina Web met the Internet Retailing audience in a recent webinar. Nina is the product of intelligent systems development company Nuance, which is also behind voice systems software including Apple’s Siri voice recognition system and the systems used for satnavs from manufacturers including Garmin and Tom Tom.
Tim Atkinson, business development director, EMEA, at the intelligent systems development company Nuance opened the webinar by asking the audience to name in a poll the three business benefits of an improved user experience that were most important for them. The poll results chimed with a recent Econsultancy User Experience Survey Report 2013 that which quizzed more than 14,000 business professionals. They cited increased sales conversions, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as their primary priorities.
But, said Atkinson, improving the user experience also has a significant effect on reducing costs, including the cost of acquisition, and on boosting . He went on to share further Watermark Consulting research showing that customer experience leaders generate stockmarket index-beating financial returns. “If you can get your customer service basics right, keep your customer satisfied and prevent churn by having loyalty, you will outperform in your market,” said Atkinson.
Atkinson moved on to introduce Nuance’s omnichannel virtual assistant Nina Web. Nina, said Atkinson, is able to interact with a flexible and natural conversational style and understanding of language to provide exact answers for the users question.
He then moved on to show what Nina could do, switching screens to the Nuance demonstration website to show a typical customer interaction. Taking the scenario of searching for a food mixer on a website, he showed how customers could type their questions into a chat box on the website screen in order to be guided to the product they are looking for, and be shown that product in detail. Nina suggested additional purchases before Atkinson moved to the checkout, where she was also able to explain what a security code was, with a demonstration.
Next was a car insurance demonstration, where Nina talked the customer through personal details from their postcode to date of birth. After taking those details, the customer was channelled to speak to an agent in an online live chat.
As a multichannel agent, said Atkinson, Nina – who can also appear as a male assistant – can operate across mobile apps, over voice systems and online. She speaks 38 languages, including different variations of English for the US, Australia and South Africa, and is integrated into CRM systems from salesforce, and live chat solutions from Moxie Software and Liveperson. “She’s a complete customer engagement solution, she works as a marketing assistant, a commerce assistant and a service assistant,” said Atkinson. “This can really complete the overall experience you give to your customers.”
Where Nina is already in use, said Atkinson, revenues increase in line with the user experience while costs fall. Today the software is used by CocaCola P&G, Pfizer and PitneyBowes, among others in eight countries. “Last year we handled over 200m conversations through our agent,” he said.
Atkinson completed the webinar with a case study of Nina in operation in the Kaspersky Lab. There she’s known as Lena or Sasha, depending on the country where she is in operation, speaks English, German and France and is integrated with Digital River, Live Chat and Google Analytics. For Kapersky, she averages 94,000 conversations a month, resolves 86% of questions at the first contact and has a 90% conversion rate to products that users click through to, while average order values have risen by 8%.
In a question and answer session, Tim spent half an hour answering questions on issues from what the initial set up involved to the role of the virtual assistant in a multichannel operation, how Nina could be used across channels, in banking or insurance, and how the commercial model works.
To hear the webinar for yourself, to view the accompanying slides and hear the question and answer session, visit the Nuance webinar page. For details of our other webinars, visit our webinars page.
