Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of everyday life, with over a quarter of the U.S. working population reporting that they use ChatGPT every week for work. In the corporate world, many businesses are adopting AI tools to streamline their workflows and ultimately provide their customers with an enhanced digital experience.
How does AI improve the customer experience, and how can your business seamlessly incorporate AI tools into its operations? Discover the different tools companies use in their customer service, and our expert tips for using AI to improve customer satisfaction.
AI Tools to Promote Customer Service
As AI tools become increasingly popular in internal processes, businesses are seeking new ways to restructure their workflows. While many organizations are still in the process of integrating AI tools into their customer service, the benefits of AI for sales and retention are undeniable. Seventy percent of customers who use AI feel comfortable with these tools making purchasing decisions on their behalf. Discover the AI tools available to businesses today:
Natural Language Processing
Natural language processing (NLP) is an AI technology that enables computers to comprehend human language and respond in a similarly intelligent manner. NLP allows chatbots to interpret a human’s prompt by analyzing speech patterns and understanding and relaying semantics across different languages.
Machine Learning
Machine learning (ML) allows systems to learn from customer data by analyzing search and purchasing behaviors. Systems can then utilize these learnings to provide more effective responses, including personalized recommendations tailored to individual needs.
Generative AI
Generative AI has the distinct ability to create new content and formulate ideas. By learning human language and various systems, generative AI leverages its existing knowledge to provide new solutions. Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and Gemini, are common examples of generative AI in practice.
Predictive AI
Predictive AI utilizes historical data to identify patterns and suggest the most probable outcomes. By basing its recommendations on real-world metrics, predictive AI offers reliable insights and enables key stakeholders to make data-driven decisions.
10 Ways AI Can Benefit Your Customer Service
Since 83% of customers report that a good customer experience increases brand trust, your business can benefit from an improved customer service approach. Here’s how AI can help achieve this goal:
1. Optimize Workflows
AI tools allow your business to free up time spent on common questions or repetitive tasks. Since AI can take over these functions, your teams can dedicate their time to more business-critical projects.
2. Increase Productivity
Streamlined workflows allow your business to increase productivity by automating repetitive tasks. By reducing your team’s workload, AI lets essential employees focus their attention on more complex issues that require a human touch.
3. Reduce Response Times
AI tools enable you to automate customer responses, leading to improved response times. By training AI tools on common questions or queries, your customers can receive immediate assistance regardless of your team’s capacity.
4. Personalize Experiences
By analyzing and interpreting customer data, AI tools enable businesses to deliver personalized experiences to their customers. For example, chatbots can guide customers through unique buying journeys tailored to their needs.
5. Provide 24/7 Support
No matter how dedicated your teams are or how well you overlap shifts, it’s unlikely that your business can answer any customer request at any given time. AI tools enable your business to provide customers with uninterrupted support, even in the middle of the night.
6. Reduce Burnout
Your teams will spend less time on mundane tasks, meaning they can better manage their time and reduce work-related stress. When your teams have more capacity, they’ll be more productive without risking burnout.
7. Lower Costs
Restructuring your teams to include AI tools is a great way to reduce overhead costs. With fewer employees handling calls, your business can save on customer service while preventing the often costly human errors that can occur when teams are overworked.
8. Anticipate Problems
AI tools have the unique ability to identify patterns in seemingly unrelated data or information. Utilizing these pattern recognition features enables your business to resolve issues before they occur. For your customer service, this could mean anticipating customer questions so you can tailor the most appropriate response.
9. Improve Quality Assurance
When you give AI tools access to your service interaction data, you can improve quality control measures by following the flags and opportunities outlined during data monitoring.
10. Enhance Brand Consistency
Utilizing AI tools for customer service can also help your business enhance its brand perception across various platforms. By providing unified messaging and a consistent engagement process, you can increase customers’ trust in your business.
How to Implement AI in Your Customer Service
As studies have shown a positive correlation between AI and customer service, many businesses are planning to incorporate this technology into their workflows. Follow these tips on using AI to improve the customer experience:
- Set objectives: Before incorporating AI tools into your business operations, be specific about what you want to achieve. Whether you wish to provide more personalized experiences, save costs or improve productivity, defining your goals will indicate which AI tools can meet your needs.
- Remain human: While many customers are open to the possibilities of AI tools, negative sentiments toward this technology could deter customers who prefer a human approach. Remember that AI tools should enhance your customer service, not replace it. The key is to utilize AI for its strengths and keep dedicated teams for more in-depth customer interaction.
- Use data: It can be tempting to closely follow how other brands use artificial intelligence to enhance customer experience. But first, assess your business and identify the data points that you can streamline with AI. Always base your business decisions on real-world evidence, since your customers may have different needs than the general public.
- Allow feedback: As with any new business approach, you should remain open to feedback from your audience and teams. Take this feedback into consideration before deciding whether to continue using AI tools or incorporate them into additional business verticals.
- Monitor and report: When introducing AI tools to your teams and customers, the first step is to implement tracking and reporting protocols. Often, AI tools themselves have built-in monitoring functionality, which enables you to assess how well the tools perform for your business. If anything isn’t working, streamline the process sooner rather than later.
Implement AI Tools Into Your Customer Service With Morefield
While AI can provide a host of benefits to streamline your business’s customer service processes, seamless implementation should be your priority. Using advanced AI technology, Morefield can enhance your unified communications for more effective customer service.
Our team of experts will assess your business to identify the most effective approaches for optimizing your customer service while ensuring full compliance with the relevant regulations. Connect with Morefield today to discuss how we can help you embrace the increasing adoption of AI tools.