Virtual assistants & chatbots Using technology to automate triage conversations via the web Alasdair Stewart, Principal Programme Manager – Direct Service Delivery

Age UK’s Information & Advice (2016/17)

Our challenge Challenging funding environment for local advice services Government ‘digital by default’ – digital inclusion gap, particularly in older age groups The fastest growing age group in the UK are those aged 65 and older – expected to grow by 20% in the next 10 years The enquiries into our national Information & Advice service are becoming more complex, and more time consuming to answer We can’t keep expanding our national advice team to meet the dual demands of fewer local advice options and a growing older population – need to become more efficient & effective in how we deal with different types of enquiries.

Our challenge With limited capacity, we need to keep our national telephone advice & local services focused on those who need it most. Where people can, we need them to ‘self serve’ online rather than calling or visiting us We already reach most people with our Information & Advice via our website: 4.9m in 2016/17, 5m+ in 2017/18 1/3rd of our callers visited our website & then called us: how do we reduce this and keep more people online? We know people find it difficult to find the answers they want on our website (which is partly why they call us) We also know people are less likely to take an action from simply reading our information online, compared to speaking to one of our advisers

Our solution A “Virtual Assistant” which appears if someone doesn’t seem to be finding what they are looking for on our website. Just like an initial conversation when someone calls and speaks to us, it’s designed to understand the different ways people can ask us essentially the same question – and direct them to the right resource on our website OR encourage them to take an action It can’t (and the technology isn’t there yet) replace a fully trained adviser and the complex conversations we’d have with older people, their family, and friends. Initially: 3 month pilot from May 2017. Has been running now for last 11 months.

Demo Hopefully this will work! https://va.ageuk.org.uk/ageuk/bot.htm?isJSEnabled=1&businessArea =Root.PWS&channel=Root&redirected=1 https://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/

What we learned You can’t just build it, launch it, and forget it. It’s an iterative process – you need to start to understand how your users ask their questions, and keep updating the tool. Start small – we focused on a couple of areas of the Age UK website and the information we provide, and built out from there. Make sure you use a tool with feedback. Pay attention to the numbers selecting ‘No’ – and look at how/where to improve. You need a ‘safety net’ – how do you help people who the virtual assistant can’t? 2% of conversations = a call to us. Cost – the same as 1 adviser, but our VA is currently answering 2x as many enquiries 24/7

Thank you Happy to take any questions by email: alasdair.stewart@ageuk.org.uk

What we learned You can’t just build it, launch it, and forget it. It’s an iterative process – you need to start to understand how your users ask their questions, and keep updating the tool. Start small – we focused on a couple of areas of the Age UK website and the information we provide, and built out from there. Make sure you use a tool with feedback. Pay attention to the numbers selecting ‘No’ – and look at how/where to improve. You need a ‘safety net’ – how do you help people who the virtual assistant can’t? 2% of conversations = a call to us. Cost – the same as 1 adviser, but our VA is currently answering 2x as many enquiries 24/7

Thank you Happy to take any questions by email: alasdair.stewart@ageuk.org.uk