Bexley Council's AI web chat achieves 86.6% success rate in resolving user queries

Bexley Council's new AI-powered web chat has successfully resolved over 86% of user queries since its launch in July, marking a significant advancement in digital customer service.

The AI-driven webchat service achieved an 86.6% success rate in its first month of operation, defined as providing exact answers or directing users to the correct information. ¹ Council officials anticipate this success rate will climb to over 95% as the system continues to learn and evolve.

Plans are in place to expand the AI web chat's capabilities to handle more complex tasks. In phase two of development, users will be able to complete transactions, such as booking special bulky collections, entirely through the web chat. ² The AI co-pilot agent has also been developed to summarise stage one and two complaints, enhancing efficiency and consistency in handling these issues.

Every interaction with the web chat is measured to assess its effectiveness. The council's Bexley 6 Benefits strategy also includes objectives for First-time resolution: Increase the percentage of telephone enquiries completely resolved during a resident's first call and Reduced internal transfers: Minimise the number of times a resident is passed between internal council departments before receiving an answer, which are aligned with the goal of satisfactory query resolution. ¹

Residents who do not receive the information they need from the AI web chat are always offered the option to speak with a customer service advisor. So there's that option there, so you don't get that break in that customer getting helped. There'll always be someone that can help at the end of the line, a council spokesperson confirmed. ³