Multichannel customer service provider Conversocial has acquired customer service automation platform Assist in an effort to offer a hybrid customer service tool that integrates agents’ and bots’ capabilities. Conversocial currently provides customers with a platform that offers sales, marketing and customer service capabilities, and with the addition of Assist’s software, Conversocial’s customers will be able to leverage a greater level of automation.
In a statement, Conversocial CEO Joshua March noted the sharp increase in messaging-based customer service in recent years:
“Conversocial’s customers have seen the volume of conversations taking place over messaging channels grow by more than 900 percent in the past few years. For brands to continue delivering a great experience to consumers at that kind of scale, automation is required. With Assist, we are now able to combine the best aspects of messaging automation and human interaction to make connecting with a business as easy as messaging a friend.”
For Conversocial, a successful customer service platform isn’t one that relies exclusively on automation or exclusively on agents. On the contrary, the company’s vision for the future of support is technology that encompasses both bots and agents in an environment where the two complement each other, according to March.
Both Conversocial and Assist already have a roster of big-name customers, including Google, Sephora, Tostitos, Aer Lingus, Audi, and 1-800-Flowers. Together, they aim to better serve their existing users and attract new clients by offering a service that ultimately meets consumers’ needs, whether their specific support issue requires an agent or can simply be solved through a conversation with a bot. Plus, both companies are focused on making customer service conversations less transactional and more relationship-oriented, engaging in meaningful interactions with consumers.
In a statement, Shane Mac, Assist's CEO and cofounder, said the future of customer experience will be conversations that retain the benefits of automation:
“The future isn’t about downloading another app. We are moving into a world where you can do everything with a brand with simply a conversation. A conversation that remembers your preferences, learns over time, and creates the best customer experience: a conversational customer experience. We now have the resources and an end-to-end solution to own the customer experience from marketing and sales all the way to service. The truth is humans don’t scale and bots don’t build relationships, but when working together optimally the benefits are exponential and the ROI significant. Our clients see, on average, open rates eight times that of email and a 36 percent uptick in revenue.”
Once the acquisition is finalized, Assist’s Mac will become Conversocial’s chief automation officer and focus on expanding his existing team.