AI alone cannot solve poor customer service
As AI becomes more and more mainstream, we are now at the stage where organizations are starting to actively experiment and identify ways that can help them improve customer engagement.
Recent research conducted by Twilio found that 79% of UK IT teams are actively implementing AI to varying degrees, or are at an advanced stage of planning for its adoption. But like all new technology, it’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing.
Rushing to invest and take action may seem attractive when competitors are doing it, but without a clear idea of how AI could help with broader business objectives – and, crucially, by helping them better meet customer needs – the results are mixed at best.
Customer-centric AI can be a game changer
It’s not surprising that with so many actively implementing it or planning for its adoption, a majority of IT decision makers agree that AI is a game changer for better relationships with their customers. More than four in five (86%) believe this can bring them closer to their customers and help them better meet their unique needs. The ability to analyze and apply context and past experiences is truly game-changing for customer service and engagement at scale.
Businesses can create a smoother customer journey by using tools like AI-powered chatbots (54%), which IT decision makers cite as the biggest benefit of this advanced technology. These chatbots can help ease the burden on human agents by solving simple but often time-consuming tasks, leaving human agents to handle more complex queries.
The first chatbots on the market were intended to achieve this, and while they had some impact, they were also a major source of frustration. Natural language and generative bots should be much better at this, although they will still need careful monitoring and care.
As conversations and appointments take place, AI will also play a role by automatically creating, updating and using customer profiles to learn from previous interactions. Using chatbots can help agents rate questions based on urgency, direct customers to other resources and find answers faster, and redirect calls and questions to where they might be better resolved.
Brands can also use AI to improve the way they personalize every interaction with every customer. By working with large amounts of data, AI can almost instantly draw on relevant context and past activities to provide solutions tailored to the individual and the situation, reducing friction and increasing sales opportunities. In fact, the right AI tools can act more like an individual salesperson for each customer, providing each person with a truly unique experience at a scale previously unimaginable.
Businesses can leverage the history they’ve built of their customers through their past purchases, interactions and preferences to use these insights to serve them more effectively, eliminating situations such as asking customers for information more than once or long delays in responses . Leading companies are those that focus entirely on their customers, their needs and pain points – and they use AI to do this.
Now that AI can deliver a more advanced customer experience by streamlining processes and speeding up decision-making, it can play an important role in driving growth and innovation for businesses. This is evident from Twilio’s State of Customer Engagement Report, which found that eight out of 10 companies that invested in customer engagement were able to achieve their financial goals. If implemented properly to prioritize the customer, brands will be able to experience increased sales, greater customer loyalty, and a better return on their investment.
Balance between technology and customer outcomes
Although the benefits of AI may be clear, realizing them in practice is another matter. Investing in new technology on its own will have limited effects without a broader strategy for what the company wants to achieve with it. Twilio’s research shows that almost half of organizations surveyed (44%) start with their technology and look for ways to use it. Only 34% start with customer outcomes first and then look at the technology they can use to achieve them. Companies must continually view AI and other emerging technologies in terms of what it could do for their customers, rather than just investing to keep up with the competition.
For example, the power of AI is limited without the associated data and processes to make it fully work. It is essential that there is a strong foundation of accurate, regularly updated first-party data. Only then will it be possible to fully realize the potential of the technology.
As consumers become increasingly receptive to the idea of companies using AI to improve their experiences, companies must understand that the evolution in the way they use technology is ultimately about meeting customer needs more effectively. AI allows companies to treat every customer as if they had a physical employee dedicated to their needs, which is truly game-changing – but only if this is backed by a solid data base and a clear strategy about what ‘good’ looks like.
AI alone cannot solve poor customer service. To truly transform customer experiences, there must be strong alignment between strategy, technology, operations and customer needs. Ultimately, this will ensure that every investment in AI drives revenue growth and helps companies achieve their financial goals.
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