How AI Can Transform Customer Service
The last few months have seen an explosion in interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and how they can help improve the customer experience (CX). This is mainly due to the November 2022 release of the generative AI system ChatGPT from OpenAI, but now Microsoft has integrated ChatGPT into their Bing search engine, and Google has created their Bard system. Making AI readily available to everyone.
Introducing AI into Customer Service
Most companies involved in customer service have indicated that they are now exploring how to use AI to improve CX. However, there is a lot of noise out there. How are companies making the customer journey easier or minimizing wait times through AI?
How Using AI Can Help Create A Seamless Customer Experience
At DATAMARK, we have been using AI, and we have seen some positive experiences already helping clients. When you hear an expert talking about the possibilities for AI to help improve CX, ask yourself if they have yet rolled out a real solution to a client.
At present, the most common use of AI is through chatbots. However, many implementations of customer service chatbots have been disappointing and far from useful. It often feels like the chatbot is being used to stop the customer from ever reaching a customer service agent. Rather than being a helpful self-service tool, the never-ending loop of a chatbot is creating a negative customer experience.
DATAMARK has designed and built chatbots that prevent the scenario above from happening. DMi applied a 30-second rule when planning the customer journey. Providing a chatbot as the initial response to the customer is acceptable, but if they don’t receive a prompt solution, it’s essential to connect them with a human representative swiftly. Allowing the customer to start feeling stuck with a bot and unable to get any real help is a recipe for an unhappy customer that starts looking for a new place to shop.
One of the issues with traditional chatbots is that they need a decision tree. They need people to think carefully about the top questions that might be asked so that answers can be designed. This is one area where we are already using AI today to improve the customer experience.
Great Tools for Even Better Customer Experience
We are using Kore.ai and Microsoft systems to train our chatbots – the absolute industry-leading tools, according to industry analyst Gartner. But what is the significant difference?
The Answer To Any Solution
We can train our chatbots with vast data and use generative AI capabilities – like ChatGPT – to create bespoke answers for customers. For example, if company ABC has a website with comprehensive information about the company and its products, we can utilize the pages to train the bot. Once the bot has scanned and processed all the data from the website, a customer can pose a question in natural language and receive intelligent answers using the accumulated information.
There is no need to spend months training the bot. It has all the information it needs if given access to the company website – assuming you have all your product information online.
For example, when our team demonstrates what our bots can do, we often point them to the IRS website. The bot can then answer any complex tax question you throw at it just because it has access to everything the IRS has published on its website.
To make this work, you need a team focused on improving the customer experience – not just using superior technology. They also need to appreciate what the technology is capable of and how it can be inserted into the customer journey.
A bot that accepts natural language questions and can answer authoritatively based on your product information and FAQ pages will be able to help many more customers than the simple bots used in the past. Think carefully about how this can improve the customer journey, how it can get answers to customers faster, and how it can also allow your human agents to focus on more complex problems that the bot struggles with.
Bottom Line?
AI is transforming customer service and providing a better experience for customers. While many companies are exploring AI, implementing real-world solutions is the key to success. DMi’s use of industry-leading tools such as Kore.ai and Microsoft systems allows us to create chatbots that can answer natural language questions and provide intelligent solutions.
At DATAMARK, we have been using AI to create a positive and seamless customer experience for our clients. If you’re looking to improve your customer service and provide a seamless experience for your customers or if you’re interested in learning more make sure to reach out to us and one of our representatives will make sure to contact you in no time.
