While a growing number of companies are taking customer experience seriously, it’s also notable that many are turning to technology in a bid to meet customer expectations.  Investments in technologies such as chatbots are on the rise, with companies confident that such tools will provide the round-the-clock support that customers crave.

New research from the University of Texas at Arlington suggests that the use of digital avatars can be an effective substitute for customer service staff at a fraction of the cost of the human workforce.  The authors argue that these computer-generated representations of people can plug a gap in the kind of interactive assistance that shoppers say they crave.

“An Accenture survey of online shoppers shows that 62% never completed their purchases because there was no real-time customer service or support. That Accenture survey also shows that 90% of those shoppers wanted some sort of interactive assistance during the shopping process,” they say. “Avatars, used in the right way, can fill this void at a fraction of the cost of hiring and training human salespeople and service employees.”

Realism is key

The authors argue that when companies use avatars to represent them online, it’s vital that they look out for any misalignment between the form and behavioral realism of the avatars.  For instance, form realism describes how lifelike the avatars are, whereas behavioral realism relates to the intelligence of the avatar.

“Getting those two parts of an avatar matched is difficult,” they explain. “When the physical and the behavioral aspects don’t synch up, the effectiveness of using avatars can be inconsistent and at best contingent upon the context, such as perceived financial risk.”

The researchers suggest that when exchanges with customers are complex, the most effective avatars tend to be those that are highly intelligent and realistic looking.  When the interactions are more to do with privacy, however, such as in discussions around mental health, then less realistic appearances are more effective.

Taking the plunge

If organizations are considering using an avatar in their customer service channels, the researchers recommend that they consider five distinct things before taking the plunge:

• timing
• form realism
• behavioral realism
• form-behavioral realism alignment
• situational factors and context

“The bottom line is that with budgets being so constricted among businesses, using avatars for marketing or customer service could not only be a worthwhile management tool to consider using, but also a means of increasing sales through consistent service quality,” they conclude.