“Custom Bots and External APIs: How to Improve Support Conversations with Data” Webinar Recap
Simple bots can be used to automate tasks, speed time to resolution, and free up agents to tackle more complex issues. However, when you step up to building custom bots, you can deliver a whole new level of automation-related benefits like the ability to tap into rich data from external systems, using application programming interfaces (APIs), that can improve an entire support interaction.
In this how-to webinar, Helpshift Solutions Engineer Ryan Bear provides you with the advantages of configuring APIs in the Helpshift Bot Builder, possible use cases, the ROI-related cost savings that come with this level of automation, and a thorough configuration demo.
You can watch the full episode now on demand. In the meantime, here are some of the highlights:
1. An API is like a waiter in a restaurant who takes your order, communicates with the kitchen, and then delivers your food.
“Imagine that you’re sitting at a restaurant and you have a menu full of choices in front of you. The one thing you’re missing is a way to place your order with the kitchen. In this example, you can think of an API as like a waiter recording your order, communicating with the kitchen, and then delivering your food.” – Ryan Bear, Helpshift Solutions Engineer
2. Your bot flow can be as simple or as complex as you need.
“You can use basic bots to fully handle FAQs with no agent handover required. Or you can use custom bots to collect information from external sources that is then handed over to agents for processing or verification with internal systems.” – Ryan Bear
3. Custom bots with external APIs can be used to collect data across industries.
“Helpshift custom bots with external APIs can be used in ecommerce to place an order, check the status of a shipment, or update a billing address. In financial systems, they can be used to initiate a refund, check the status of a refund, or cancel a subscription. In account-based systems, they can be used to reset a password, see balance details, and update an email address. In Fintech, they can be used to view the status of a loan application, perform a wire transfer, order a replacement card, and more.” – Ryan Bear
4. You can use the Helpshift API resource doc to ensure that you’re mapping your fields correctly.
“Use apidocs.helpshift.com as a comprehensive resource that gives you all the call capabilities at your disposal. There, you can open up any of the calls and see the response class and all the parameter capabilities. This is extremely helpful when trying to pass data back into Helpshift and to ensure that you’re mapping your fields correctly. Because you have to sign in with your own domain and API key, this is specific to your instance. That means that you’re able to input any specified parameter and be able to test the call out directly within the interface.” – Ryan Bear
5. The more you automate, the more you save.
“With bot-assisted customer issue resolution, you can save $180,000 based on my before and after example. However, adding full service resolution equates to an extra $600,000 in net savings just from leveraging data that your company already has.” – Ryan Bear
This is just the beginning of what custom bots and external APIs can do to improve your support conversations. If you need more help, you can also access Helpshift Knowledge Base articles on setting up custom bots and configuring external APIs.
