The bot that ticks two boxes
We partnered with Absa Life to build and design an intelligent agent on WhatsApp that not only helps their customers, but their employees too.
Feersum Engine | UX | Engineering | Content
Ever needed to check an insurance policy after hours? Ever tried to access your info before nine, after five, or in the wee small hours of the morning? Then you’ll know exactly why Absa Life needed our help to make policy info available to their customers 24/7.
Call centre agents are busy, busy people, who work under immense pressure from customers. Every day they deal with hundreds of information-based queries that could have been resolved without an agent.
So Absa Life asked us to build them a WhatsApp chatbot that could answer Frequently Asked Questions and give funeral policyholders basic info, which would free up the agents to deal with the more involved queries.
With a global pandemic keeping us all locked down, this project was a masterclass in co-creation between us and one of our most collaborative clients.
Understanding
the users
Before we could build something for users, we needed to understand what motivates them. Backed by the top 10 user queries from the call centre, we created personas and prioritised the first set of features based on that.
Basic, but vital
The first iteration of the bot gives users the ability to access basic info like their policy statuses, debit order dates and premiums, as well as T’s, C’s, FAQ’s and COVID-19 info. The future might see users applying for new policies on WhatsApp.
Hyperteam
We’re big fans of working in multidisciplinary teams, which allowed us to collaborate across our product engineering, service design and client teams to build a solid service in a shorter period of time.
Safety first
With this kind of institution and information, security was always going to be crucial. So we implemented an authentication method that cross-checked user cell numbers against their ID numbers.
Simply said
With sensitive information, a high percentage of second-language English speakers, and users who are often emotionally vulnerable, it was important for the content to be simple, understandable and responsive, with as little legalese and jargon as possible.
Always available
The service is available to users 24/7, and the best part is that they don’t need any new apps, software or memberships to access it – it all happens on WhatsApp, which is already used by 9 out of 10 South Africans.
A bot that helps users as much as it helps the call centre.
This solution is scalable, affordable and easily accessible to Absa Life customers on WhatsApp. And what’s more, it leaves call centre agents with more time to deal with queries that really need the human touch.
There are no shortcuts in the digital era and as a bank embracing innovation, we turned to Praekelt, a company with a proven technology and innovation track record to partner with us on this journey.
13 450
Unique users
within the first month
203k
Messages
sent and received over the same period