Since May, Citadele customers have access to a robo-assistant unique in Latvia, which proactively calls customers in case of problems to help them resolve the issue instantly, explaining step-by-step how to act if, for example, they enter the wrong PIN three times in a row at an ATM or a store.
In Citadele robots have been used for banking services since 2017, and they help point customers towards the relevant specialist by asking questions and transferring to a bank specialist when needed. The virtual assistant is an addition to the bank’s extensive range of digital services, including the self-service tool introduced to the website a year ago, which uses questions to help customers resolve a range of issues.
“The pandemic has had a worrying impact on public mood, and people have become more sensitive to heavy-handed customer service, meaning that customer service has an increased role and responsibility. We respect our customers’ time, and we know that help is often needed here and now. From now on, when our customer enters the incorrect PIN code in a store or ATM, they will receive a virtual help call to help resolve the situation straight away,” emphasizes Vladislavs Mironovs, Citadele’s Board Member in charge of strategy implementation, digital and business development.
The virtual assistant was developed using real situations customers found themselves in, and over time the assistant will become involved in an increasing number of services to make customers’ lives easier. Furthermore, customers who call Citadele’s remote customer service branch will soon be able to select the virtual assistant if there are no customer service consultants available.
“Citadele began developing its digital assistant before the pandemic, which is why we could offer customers instant support tools as early as last year. We installed a self-service hub on our website, which is used by an average of 2,500 customers every month. Directing customer flow to virtual assistants frees up our consultants’ time to ensure that those customers who need to talk to someone can receive help as soon as possible,” adds Mironovs.
Since April 2020, Citadele has also been using robots to call business customers to remind them of late loan repayments, and to call private customers to remind them of a missed deadline for their monthly credit card payment or missed consumer loan payment.