Aetna announced the availability of an online assistant to help members who have questions about how to navigate Aetna’s secure member website. “Ann,” Aetna’s personalized, virtual assistant, offers 24-hour support for members who are new to the website or need help logging in. Members receive the same responsive service from Ann that they receive when calling customer service, but without leaving the website. Ann is interactive and easily interprets members’ questions, helping them with the registration process or with recovering forgotten user names or passwords.
Ann understands members’ questions and provides answers
“Ann is an extension of the industry-leading service we provide to Aetna members,” said Frank Cobbin, Aetna senior vice president of Service Operations. “Many people turn to the web for service. There are about 2,500 chat sessions between our members and Ann every day. This is evidence that Ann is engaging and makes it easy for our members to get help while they’re online without taking an extra step to call us.”
Members visiting the Aetna Navigator® secure member website on Aetna.com can click on Ann to open a chat window where they can enter a question. Ann is programmed to understand the intent of the question by recognizing the natural language members use to ask it. She then provides an immediate written and spoken response in friendly terms to create a personal and interactive experience. Developed by Next IT, the technology behind Ann emulates the look and voice of a human.
Ann improves website experience and reduces phone calls
Ann debuted earlier this year when many new Aetna members were first beginning to use their plans. Results show she is having an impact.
- More than half of people registering on the website for the first time engage with Ann.
- Calls to Aetna’s customer service technical help desk have been declining since introducing Ann. In the past month, those calls decreased 29 percent.
“We are committed to delivering information and resources that help our members get the information they need to make the right healthcare decisions, and maximize their benefits,” said Cobbin. “Ann is another way we are investing in technology to improve the experience our members have with us on the web. We will continue to expand her functionality and capabilities to help members.”
Related Chatbot: Annhttp://www.aetna.com/news/newsReleases/2010/0603_Ann.html
