You can now talk in Raiffeisenbank’s chat channels

Raiffeisenbank launched a voice input function in the chat channel. The results of user experience study indicated the demand for the solution. Other chat updates include account profiles of support personnel and the ability to comment on ratings.

Users prefer communication

The recognition engine of the Google Assistant and Siri systems is responsible for speech recognition, and the interface was developed by the bank team. After recognition, the message turns from voice into text and gets into the chatbot or directly to a specialist, depending on the subject of the message. More than a hundred topics of questions — from information on documents to recommendations of an optimal card — are processed by the chatbot completely automatically.

The feature was implemented following the results of qualitative and quantitative study with the participation of almost a thousand of respondents.

«Voice input combines the benefits of live communication and asynchronous chat communication. This expands the scenarios for using chats and allows users to receive service support or ask questions to the bank in the most simple and convenient format for each case," Ilya Shchirov, the Head of Chat Channel Development at Raiffeisenbank, commented.

Chat gets a human face

In addition, account profiles of support personnel appeared in the new version of the chats. Users will be able to see exactly whom they are communicating with and leave their feedback on the employee’s work.

«We noticed that although 80% of chat dialogs take place in the mobile application, we receive 70% of feedback on the work of specialists from the site," Ilya Shchirov noted. «Thus, the average assessment is shifted towards a less frequent communication channel and, therefore, is distorted. However, it is the feedback from users that becomes the basis for key improvements in our services and products, so we are interested in making it as objective as possible.»

During the pilot launch of the new function, the number of assessments of specialists in the mobile chat has grown by 20%. Subsequently, based on user feedback, it is planned to create a rating system to motivate specialists. For negative assessments, a mandatory comment field has appeared, which will allow us to more efficiently collect and process feedback of clients. The analysis of feedback is automated, in addition to the assessments of specialists, the specialists of the chatbot are displayed in a separate block.

The update is already available to Android-based Raiffeisen Business Online users, within two weeks users of Raiffeisen Online for individuals will get it. The version for iOS devices will be released before the end of summer.

Raiffeisenbank has been developing chat forums as a format for remote customer support since 2017. Now it is a platform of 11 channels, which include the online banking and mobile banking Raiffeisen-Online, the bank official website, as well as social networks and instant messengers.