While businesses have always leveraged technology to some extent to deliver a great customer experience, future developments in customer service will be necessary to keep up with customers’ rising expectations.
There’s no denying that new developments like artificial intelligence (AI) will lead to a significant advancement in customer service. According to an IBV CEO Guide to Generative AI for Customer Service survey, almost half of CEOs sense that customers have higher expectations and that companies will embrace new technologies like generative AI more quickly. Without a doubt, AI-based customer care is the way of the future if businesses want to boost customer loyalty and enhance the customer experience.
Taking Care Of Client Attrition
According to a recent Gartner estimate, generative AI technology would be used by 80% of customer service and support firms to enhance the customer experience. To put it briefly, CEOs understand the significance of generative AI and other AI technologies in developing customer service strategies that will last into the future.
The stakes are very high, particularly in light of the COVID-19 epidemic and the rise in brand switching by consumers. Research indicates that after multiple negative brand experiences, 80% of customers (link outside of ibm.com) are likely to move to a competitor. One of the most crucial lines of defense against client attrition is customer care.
The Effectiveness Of AI-Supported Human Delegates
In an exciting development for customer service, companies may now test out these new technologies and pave the way for a future in which AI serves as a copilot in all client interactions. According to the same IBV survey, by the end of 2023, 63% of CEOs anticipate having already made an investment in generative AI use cases that will directly assist agents.
AI will take center stage in contact centers, the hubs through which businesses communicate with their clientele. Self-serve encounters won’t always be the norm in customer service enabled by AI. Instead, it means that while providing customer service, human support teams will make use of AI and machine learning technologies.
Although front-line employees will always play a crucial role in customer service interactions, utilizing new technologies is fast turning into a competitive advantage.
How AI Will Impact Customer Service In The Future?
These are six developments in AI-powered customer care that will assist improve customer service throughout the whole customer journey.
Training Customer Service Teams With Generative AI
Personalized training based on generative AI will benefit all skill development, but customer service training will profit more than others. When helping consumers, customer care representatives must be flexible because problems can differ from one customer to the next. Reps will be better equipped to handle any client issue that arises by employing generative AI to teach unique scenarios that could occur in real settings.
AI-Powered Customization
In order to boost customer satisfaction, businesses should try to attend to the demands of their clients before problems arise. With AI, a business may, for instance, utilize customer profiles to tailor letters to prospective clients outlining the features and advantages of its newest offerings.
Artificial Intelligence Scripts
In order to provide clients with immediate support, organizations are increasingly giving their agents the capacity to communicate directly with tech applications. While some consumers may still prefer to speak with a human, generative AI workflows and scripts are improving customer service representatives in call centers and can update in real-time. Customer service agents will be equipped with the most recent information available, enabling them to confidently resolve the customer’s problem.
AI Chatbots
Though useful, traditional chatbots are constrained in some ways by the static scripts that program them. Conversational AI bots will have improved response times to user input and real-time updates with fresh data. These bots are more likely to assist clients successfully and feel more like a human contact. They will offer clients who like self-service options a more personalized and engaging experience.
Customer Data Insights Powered By AI
Artificial Intelligence is very good at identifying patterns in data that would be too difficult or time-consuming for people to discover on their own. AI enables businesses to make better decisions by analyzing the whole history of the omnichannel customer experience, including customer service call transcripts, emails, social media posts, forum discussions, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. Additionally, it can provide feedback if users abuse the product on a regular basis. In this scenario, the company can develop more detailed instructions that caution against using the solution wrongly.
FAQs (Commonly Asked Questions) Powered By Generative AI
FAQs can no longer be created by organizations using their own knowledge and then neglected for months or years. FAQs must be updated frequently to reflect new problems or applications for the solution in our fast-paced environment. Businesses can utilize AI to gather the most frequently asked questions by analyzing client calls, emails, and social media posts. The customer care playbook can then be used by generative AI tools to generate the best possible responses, which will aid in client retention.
IBM And Customer Service In The Future
Businesses must make use of all the resources available to them in order to deliver excellent customer service. Organizations should aim to implement modern technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), throughout all business units and support teams.
For over ten years, IBM has been assisting businesses in implementing trusted AI in this industry. Additionally, generative AI has great promise for revolutionizing customer and field service by comprehending intricate queries and producing more conversational, human-like responses.
IBM provides comprehensive consulting services for data and AI transformation, experience design, and service. We work with you to enhance conversational AI, improve the agent experience, and optimize call center operations and data analytics through the use of WatsonxTM, IBM’s enterprise-ready AI and data platform, and WatsonxTM Assistant, the industry-leading conversational AI solution.