Everybody is familiar with the aggravation that comes with the customer service phone tree. Sometimes you only have a simple question, but the system forces you through a grueling tree until you can ask. It’s much more convenient for customers to talk to real customer service representatives, but each call bogs down the queue. Humans can only move so fast, and phone trees are quite slow — the true solution lies right in the middle.
Conversational AI is a technology providing customers a direct way to communicate with customer service without excessive work for employees. Like a phone tree, it isn’t human-powered, but it’s designed to think in real-time for more direct inquiry.
1. Automated Answers for Quick Questions
The simpler a customer’s question is, the easier it will be to receive a response without waiting for human help. Conversational AI, while more than capable of answering complicated questions, can provide automated answers alongside those that must be formulated.
In a different situation, the customer may need more information from a human, but here the AI itself can answer. You can fine-tune it to make sure that customers are getting the exact information that the company wants to give.
This solution blends the straightforward nature of phone trees with the adaptability of AI. Then, extra resources like energy and time can be focused elsewhere.
2. A Shorter Process for Customers
Still, the AI representative is only the first step in the full process. Some things can’t be solved without human intervention, so human reps will still need to be available. With conversational AI, what would once have been a long phone tree can now be a thirty-second conversation.
The customer service process is vastly streamlined when the service properly forwards the call based on the customer’s desires. This not only saves users’ time but also that of the company.
A side effect of this is that the customers will be more satisfied with the experience they received. You’d be surprised how many people choose to do business with companies based on well-reviewed customer service.
3. Taking Simple Inquiries off of Reps’ Hands
From your representatives’ perspectives, helping so many people throughout the day is a lot of work. The cyclical nature of it can become tiring and cause employees to burn out quicker without support. This is one of the main purposes of an AI customer service rep — taking care of the busy work. AI can complete inquiries and solve common issues at a much faster pace than their human counterparts.
That means your employees’ workload is significantly lighter, and they can spend more time solving complicated problems. Less attention being diverted to simple inquiries means more, higher-quality care is able to be put into the necessary ones.
4. Consistent Availability
The bandwidth and dedication that your employees can put into these cases will also be improved by the AI’s consistency. In other words, AI can keep your phones and chats active (to a certain extent) past the working hours of employees. Their uninterrupted availability can significantly lower the backlog of customers that would normally swamp your reps in the morning. This can also add to the energy that your workers have for cases that require more attention.
As a bonus, customer satisfaction will rise if they can reach out for help at all times. If you’ve ever had an issue with your internet or another utility after hours, you know how comforting that can be.
5. Flexibility for Customer Preferences
Many customers have specific needs. Maybe they speak another language, which human representatives can’t universally meet. But customer service AI solutions are designed specifically to cater to such needs; they can detect and respond in most languages. Language aside, if a customer prefers to speak to a human, your AI can help them get through to one. Combined with their consistent availability, conversational AI can use these abilities to break down barriers between your business and customers.
Additionally, it’s unfortunately common for customers to be frustrated and make human employees feel uncomfortable or unsafe. An AI representative is not at risk in this way.
6. Automatic Data Gathering
As a piece of technology, AI can gather customer data and formulate it automatically with ease. It can take the place of surveys and get permission for data usage from customers smoothly within a conversation. Its direct operations also quicken this process. A human needs to collect and input the data into, say, a spreadsheet. AI operates much faster and can save time by inputting data instantly upon receiving it.
Due to the way it formulates its customer interactions, conversational AI is capable of gauging customer satisfaction simply by listening. Not only can it record data, but it can analyze it as well — within a fraction of a second.
Implementing conversational AI into your customer service system will not replace the need for human representatives. Instead, it will help by supporting them and improving their efficiency. If customer service is a big part of your company, then AI representatives can enhance it simply by being there.
