AI Is Not Coming After Customer Service
Most business leaders today don’t need convincing about the power of artificial intelligence (AI). The promise of efficient and personalized interactions at every step of the customer journey sways them. The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2022 shows that 57 percent of leaders plan to increase their AI investment by at least 25 percent over the next year. But the challenge lies in the next step after companies start using AI for customer service. The challenge is using AI to improve the customer experience. This objective is vital because 61 percent of customers will leave brands after just one poor customer service experience. The question is, will AI replace human customer service?
Raising the Bar for Customer Service Representatives
Customer service representatives are both in low supply and burned out. These issues can be resolved by switching to digital communication systems and incorporating automation, resulting in more inviting and fulfilling work environments. For instance, a significant Philippine call center stated that providing workers with AI capabilities increased their job satisfaction by 69 percent. I’ve observed similar results in the work my company has done; sales and service representatives at one company we worked with saw their take-home pay double on average after implementing an automation platform that allowed them to interact with more customers each day while spending less time on monotonous tasks, enabling them to close more sales and earn higher bonuses.
Agents can more easily set priorities and work remotely while using digital platforms. Agents may access data more easily and quickly and multitask less stressfully with the help of digital media that can not only centralize all interactions across the various channels but also integrate with other areas of the business, such as the shipping or marketing departments. By lessening their workload and, ultimately, the monotony of the job, automation can help ease some of the pressure on agents who deal with customers. Providing agents with AI-powered tools and team-ready bots cannot be overstated.
An agent may, for instance, instruct a bot to ask questions to get customers the information they need or deliver documents for them to sign. Agents can progressively take over the role of the “human in the loop” as opposed to being the person who has to do everything. They can spend time on the most challenging activities and those involved in promoting business growth. They can supervise and manage automated and digital communications systems. They may then grow into dependable business leaders rather than unappreciated support personnel.
AI Error Reduction
When your staff manually responds to each customer support request, mistakes invariably happen, whether a typo or an agent failing to include crucial information. If responses contain accurate information, these errors may give the impression that your company needs more professionalism from clients.
Agents might have to spend time correcting errors. Let’s say an agent spends 30 minutes per day fixing mistakes. That translates into over a month’s effort dedicated to repairs each year. Chatbots can reduce human errors by automatically recording consumer information and providing operators with all the context they need to handle a situation properly. Confirmation bias is avoided during decision-making because of AI’s capacity to examine massive quantities of customer data. This aids in improving your ability to estimate customer attrition, provide individualized advice, and foresee consumers’ demands.
It Is All About the Numbers
You may update clients about new items, exclusive discount codes, and other information that motivates them to purchase more with the help of AI-powered chatbots. This is a fitting example of the of the integration of AI and automation in customer service. Let’s imagine that a customer uses the chatbot to research the software offered by your business before making a purchase. The chatbot might highlight particular specials, updated features, or different pricing tiers that would suit the customer’s needs based on the client’s data and how the consumer responds to the chatbot’s inquiries.
For instance, one of the AI tools for customer service, Answer Bot, can instantly notify agents to follow up with clients who exhibit interest in a specific good or service. When they receive the alert, sales team members might intervene and upsell or cross-sell. Answer Bot connects with Certainly, a platform for conversational AI that enables chatbots to recommend specific products to particular clients.
The prospects for upsells and cross-sells don’t feel like sales pitches because they come up naturally in the discussion and are pertinent to the customer. Instead of coming across as overbearing, they seem sincere and helpful, like a friend’s recommendation.
Wrap Up
AI will play a big part in our future, whether we like it or not. It is already shaping the future. We might accept it as the helping hand it is. Customer service might be one we lose on the way forward, but we do gain a lot in terms of what AI can do. The future of customer service is in doubt, but it is not heading toward extinction. But can’t customer service employees coexist with AI? Will they ever adhere to the effectiveness of the AI customer service solutions? With the latest trends in AI, we have already seen a healthy environment form in which AI has become a tool for customer service instead of eliminating it. Customer service must evolve to ensure human-to-human contact remains the hallmark of a better experience.
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