Chatbots that want to read the room: AI sentiment analysis
One of the most important pillars for successful customer service is the ability to understand the customer. Acting in accordance with his tone and mood is essential, especially when dealing with dissatisfied customers.
Accurate sentiment analysis has long been a target for companies looking to improve their satisfaction levels, but conventional tools are starting to reach their limits. Insights from older forms of sentiment analysis come from biased examples of customer sentiment: reviews, feedback forms and social media are of little help as customers seek them out with preconceived thoughts and feelings. Such tools are also limited by their basic language understanding, as they cannot read between the lines and approach customer sentiment in a nuanced manner.
However, natural language processing can breathe new life into sentiment analysis, developing less biased and more accurate data for agents and chatbots to use. With reliable customer sentiment data, AI-powered chatbots provide better customer service tailored to customer needs.
Taking appropriate action
Sometimes customer requests don’t require emotional analysis, but occasionally it can mean the difference between a terrible customer experience and a positive one. Take an example of a customer purchasing a bag from a retailer. Asking the question, “What is my tracking number?” may have a simple answer that doesn’t require sound variation, but what if the customer’s order is delayed or canceled?
In these types of situations, AI-powered chatbots can take action based on the customer’s tone – offering corrective action in the form of discounts, or preparing a repeat order or refund. Restoring a deteriorating support situation has traditionally been the job of a human intermediary, but that sometimes led to delays in resolution based on agent availability, which could negatively impact what would otherwise be a positive customer experience. By basing response tactics on customer sentiment analytics data, the decision to accommodate can be appropriately tailored to the relevant response level required, potentially also reducing lost costs.
While AI chatbots won’t completely replace human agents, global enterprises have a customer base that expects 24-hour support, leading to a demand that isn’t always met by employee hours. Customers want simple questions answered immediately and are not satisfied with waiting for order updates or basic questions. Chatbots can provide instant response times that recognize the emotion or sentiment behind a human user’s words – and the right times to respond.
Additional AI insights
In addition to direct customer support, sentiment analysis via AI chatbots can also provide valuable insights into customer behavior and brand performance. By leveraging the data already in place, companies can access more informed CX strategies, both in terms of business process optimization and access to more accurate sentiment analysis data from customer experiences than social media or survey feedback.
Additionally, chatbots that use sentiment analysis will be able to identify curious customers, creating opportunities for upselling through service interactions, while avoiding situations where this would be inappropriate for the customer.
AI-enabled agents
The future of the customer experience is tied to the adoption of AI, and companies looking to maximize their customer service will apply the insights chatbots can gain during an early conversation to interactions between agents and customers. By providing agents with a comprehensive report on customer sentiment before messages are sent, chatbots can reduce friction before the conversation has even begun, leading to fewer situations where customers become further frustrated by repeating their circumstances or grievances.
When used in collaboration with humans to validate response suggestions and sentiment analysis, chatbots’ tone and responses can also be improved. By tracking when people become frustrated with bots and when they are satisfied, companies can understand the pain points that can drive customers away from the chatbot experience.
The future of customer experience
As customer expectations continue to rise, companies will need to refine their support processes to meet demand. Natural language processors will continue to improve, chatbots will only get better at supporting customers and agents in their experience, and smart organizations will invest in their customer base through advanced chatbot tools. By leveraging chatbots and co-pilot AI technology, companies can boost their support and dramatically improve customer satisfaction scores, leading to more smiles everywhere.
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