Virtual agents / Chatbots
in United Kingdom

Poppy is intended to be a fun way to try out the talkigy chat platform. talkigy is intended for content rich applications, were you would like users to explore a deep and rich knowledgebase in the most natural way - by chatting.

Key to enabling content rich applications is making it easy for authors to re-use and contribute content quickly using spreadsheets to enter the content and with no need for specialist knowledge or programming skills.

Poppy is one example of the platform. More examples can be found at www.talkigy.com

Synthetix has successfully deployed another integrated Virtual Assistant solution for Morrisons supermarket.

Toys 'R' us, Britain and the World’s leading toy megastore was looking to enhance and improve online customer experiences. Emma has been supporting ToysRus.co.uk online customers with key purchasing information such as Delivery and Gold Cards and as a result, Toys 'R' us has seen an increase in customer satisfaction and a reduction of calls and emails into the contact centre. Emma also guides customers in finding specific product lines alongside support information to greatly assist with reducing the basket abandonment rates.

Ortso is a new concept with a reversed auction. People can please a product that they want to buy and retailers bid for their offering.

The concept is new and two virtual assistants are introduced to explain the concept and help the consumers (through virtual assistant Kate) and retailers (with virtual assistant Matt). The CEO of Ortso has given an interview about his experience.

Dee may not be exactly like us, with blood coursing through her veins, but she is much more than a search facility and a traditional FAQ.

She is actually pretty clever. Not only does she have a conversation with you - you type in a question in your own words and she provides you with an answer - but she will also lead you to the relevant page on our site, log the entire process, note and report on information gaps and build a profile of our users for us.

Website visitors just type a question into the question box; the system then sifts through the vast amounts of data on the site looking for possible answers. Once an answer has been found it appears on the screen along with links to further information. It is hoped 'Ask Alex' will become the first port of call for people looking for answers, providing instant response and feedback and reducing the need to call the Customer Service Centre, providing a faster more responsive service and saving both time and money. New questions will continue to be added to further improve customer satisfaction. User input is vital, if a question is not being answered there is a facility which allows the user to submit the question for inclusion.

This new interface has allowed Lincolnshire to optimise their online content, by making the information more customer focused and easier to find, therefore creating a solution to both, online and offline customer service issues. At the moment the technology is only available on the 'I am a Parent' section of the Lincolnshire site, however in time it will be widened out to other areas, to further enhance service delivery. To see "Ask Alex" in action, please click here to visit the Parenting section of the Lincolnshire website.

Peter Barton, Head of Web and Information Services at Lincolnshire believes the Synthetix customer service technology gives them a solution to both their online and offline customer service issues;

"People like talking - or writing - to people. And that's how they see it. We anticipate this being a big win for our customer service.

Customers with questions and queries can click on 'Help' on the homepage or input their questions directly to the page at other points on the site and are greeted by the smartAgent. Andrea has been designed to talk to thousands of people every week, answering their queries and navigating them around the website. The conversational, natural language interface provides straight answers to straight questions. Andrea is answering queries about Travelodge venues and has a wealth of knowledge, from hotel directions to in-room facilities.

Travelodge have full access to the Synthetix.info analytics service and can see all the questions that visitors to the website have. This allows them to make sure that Andrea is always updated to answer any new queries that may arise. It also provides detailed management reports to monitor the success of the smartAgent.

The agent gives you great makeup tips especially around False Lash Effect Mascara, it also has great links to content on Facebook, You Tube and along with Exclusive videos from Caroline Barnes (a Max Factor makeup artist). This agent uses the latest click to share technology which gives the agent a great viral edge. Users can be watching the video or taking a poll and instantly share the content with their friends in messenger.

Synthetix successfully launched its third Virtual Agent deployment into the Utilities sector for the organisation delivering water and sewage services within the south east of England, Essex & Suffolk Water.

Visitors to www.eswater.co.uk can click on "Ask us" and are greeted by one of several smartAgents (selected at random) who are there to answer queries twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The smartAgent has been implemented to improve the customer experience and reduce the routine inbound enquiries to the Essex & Suffolk Water contact centre and thus saving costs.