Demand for self-service options surges in response to Coronavirus restrictions, financial institutions report 50 percent increase in overall chatbot usage
SilverCloud, Inc., the only support solution built exclusively for the financial services industry, today announced record usage and increased demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) powered banking chatbot solution, successfully fulfilling more than 260,000 consumer requests in Q2, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, SilverCloud’s bank and credit union customers are receiving more than 100 requests via chatbot per day, yielding a more than 50 percent increase in usage rates. Additionally, 19 financial institutions deployed the SilverCloud Chatbot during the first half of 2020, 10 of those in response to the COVID-19 restrictions.
Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, a SilverCloud customer, receives on average 488 chatbot inquiries per day, but reported a significant spike during the first week of the pandemic, receiving more than 646 chatbot inquiries per day. Mike Bunner, director of digital marketing for Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, said, “It (SilverCloud Chatbot) was super simple and easy to implement. The usage has been high, especially in the current climate where member questions have skyrocketed. We estimate that it has saved us about 400 calls to our member service center every day since launching. It was an obvious value-add to our member engagement strategy.”
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SilverCloud’s Chatbot is designed specifically for banks and credit unions and includes a comprehensive knowledge base created from more than 15 million banking-related inquiries, enabling institutions to go live in a matter of days and address virtually all of the most common inquiries on day one. The chatbot engages customers with guided conversations, providing answers to simple, frequently asked questions such as how to reset a password or locate the institution’s routing number, to more complex requests such as how to open a new account or apply for a loan.
“SilverCloud’s Banking Chatbot was very easy to implement,” said Bunner. “Since we already have Consumer Support™, all it required was for our web developer to drop in one line of code to the footer section of our website. It was done within a day. The whole process probably took about a week with styling of the chatbot and internal approvals. It was that easy.”
Bunner continued, “When our members come to our website, we want them to be able to find answers quickly. The SilverCloud Banking Chatbot is immediately noticeable and presents the 700+ questions and answers we already have built in SilverCloud in an attention-grabbing way.”
Leveraging the company’s domain expertise, SilverCloud’s Chatbot is pre-loaded with customized content for the most frequently asked banking questions and continually optimizes all answers and guided conversations based on analytics. It is easily deployed across all digital channels to more effectively engage customers and provide a frictionless experience.
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“Seemingly overnight, self-service solutions like chatbots have quickly shifted from a nice-to-have to a must-have and are quickly becoming a top priority for every financial institution,” said Scott Cornell, CEO of SilverCloud. “However, simply launching a chatbot is not a viable solution, especially in today’s market. Consumers expect chatbots to do more than simply answer basic questions. Our chatbot is unique in that it is the only solution that comes fully loaded with relevant, banking content that is developed by our team, leveraging our in-depth understanding of the financial industry. Our chatbot can be live in a matter of days, and even more important, it can answer most, if not all incoming inquiries starting on day one. We are proud of the work we’ve done in recent months and look forward to helping even more financial institutions navigate this unprecedented time.”
SilverCloud’s Consumer Support solution delivers automated support for more than 200 banks and credit unions.
