With more and more organizations becoming decentralized and more teams operating across multiple time zones at a time of increasing consumer expectations, companies are under profound pressure to deliver faster support than ever before. Keeping up with the demand to answer every question and inquiry from your customers in real time, only a few years ago, was impossible.
However, with the latest advancements in AI technology, there are now ways to manage a large number of customer enquiries automatically while still offering a personalised experience.
In this article, we list several of the exciting ways intelligent systems provide improved client assistance.
How do AI tools know the answers?
To maintain brand consistency and accurate responses, businesses need to feed relevant information to the AI tools so they can learn how to answer questions. For global organisations, customer service managers only need to create a PDF document with basic information about FAQs, prompts and scripts to follow.
Adobe has recently launched a new AI-powered PDF assistant, which streamlines this process and makes information fed to chatbots even more accurate. The Adobe chat PDF AI tool can interact with the information you provide it, along with other resource areas on your website, to create location-nuanced, personalised chatbots for specific regions.
What aspects of customer service can be improved with AI?
Chatbot superstars
Long queues and delays in addressing customer enquiries can quickly lead to frustration and unhappy customers. AI-powered chatbots are here to change it all.
They can handle many functions, like providing instant answers to frequently asked questions concerning store hours, shipping information and product return policies, all with super accurate information. Appointment scheduling is another task that is suited to automation since bots can integrate with many calendar systems.
By tapping into customer preferences and purchase history data, interactive virtual agents enhance the shopping experience by suggesting relevant products and services. They can even handle payment processing directly within the chat interface. Then, they’ll even follow up by sending personalised offers and promotion notifications to your preferred email address, perfect for introducing new products or announcing seasonal sale events.
Tasks like updating account address and phone number, resetting passwords, making restaurant reservations or managing subscriptions can all be done via an internet connection in a mobile chat interface on your customer’s laptop or tablet. The best is that many customers actually prefer the automated, accurate information of AI-enabled tools over human interaction.
Workforce efficiency
Repetitive tasks are a time-consuming drain on limited human resources, especially within operations departments. Simple requests like guiding users through troubleshooting scripts and tracking shipments are perfect opportunities to put AI bots to work.
In the very recent past, several phone operators answered initial calls, greeted customers, and opened tickets in CRM applications before routing the customer to the appropriate department. With increased automation capabilities, consumer care teams can now spend more time on complex, high-priority cases that require human intuition and interaction.
This capability immediately results in faster response times and reduced employee burnout. Eliminating the stress of manually performing routine tasks allows staff to provide better-personalised service and solve more complex problems. This resource support is not just helpful, it translates into higher revenue for businesses.
Personalised interaction
Improved efficiency is undoubtedly the main driver behind the shift towards AI. Still, it’s crucial to retain the human factor in each interaction. One way to achieve that is through predictive analytics. Intelligent systems can anticipate customer objectives and generate proactive support solutions based on past interactions and purchases.
For example, suppose a customer frequently orders products from specific categories or supplies related to one industry. It makes sense to program your AI to suggest adjacent items or introduce this customer to an entirely new product line available only to a limited number of people as a test to generate valuable feedback.
AI-driven chatbots can tailor their responses based on individual customer profiles. When a customer initiates contact via phone or your website, the chatbot can reference their previous interactions and preferences. They can even suggest solutions based on their unique situation. This level of customisation transforms a generic support experience into a memorable one, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
What’s more, AI can classify customers based on their demographics and geographic locations, enabling businesses to target specific groups with tailored marketing messages and promotions. Personalisation extends beyond marketing and support interactions. AI can guide customers through onboarding procedures when they sign up. This tailored approach ensures customers feel valued and supported from the start, setting the tone for a positive long-term relationship.
Future trends to watch
AI’s role in customer service will continue evolving, bringing exciting possibilities for organisations and consumers. As the technology learns more about natural language processing, conversational engagement will improve through better comprehension of enquiries from diverse locations and cultures.
Accurate voice-activated assistance is vital for customers on the go, especially in scenarios where a streamlined interaction is preferred because typing isn’t convenient for safety reasons, such as in a vehicle or outdoor work environments.
A greater focus on hyper-personalisation is another future trend to watch since AI can tap into supercomputing power to analyse browser data, social media interaction and past purchases to create customised recommendations for individuals, helping to fill the gap between man and machine.
AI is here to stay, so start today
Brands are utilising virtual representatives to assist with inquiries at rapid rates. While many people believe that the kinks are still being ironed out with AI tools, there are countless businesses already using this technology to assist with their customer service efforts. With the right approach to AI tools, you can bolster your customer service team and start to answer customer communications quickly.
Still, AI customer service agents can struggle with nuanced situations that don’t fit into pre-programmed macros. However, the sooner you start to implement these technologies, the quicker they will start learning and adapting to your needs. Beginning your AI journey now will help you realise the benefits of this quickly advancing technology and ensure that you don’t get left behind by the competition.
