Read this article to know Artificial Intelligence is going to bring about a sea change in Customer Service industry. Know how it would affect the jobs of customer support executives and what we have to look ahead in future.
We're currently in the middle of an AI revolution, with generative AI technology transcending what we previously thought possible. These new technologies, when properly harnessed, are going to be capable of completely transforming the customer service industry.
But what exactly does this mean? How is AI going to change customer service, and how can your business benefit?
Generative AI and Chatbots
According to Aisera.com, a quick look at ChatGPT use cases for customer support can help you understand just how many ways that customer service teams can utilize generative AI in day-to-day activities. In case you aren't familiar, generative AI is a type of AI tool designed to produce swaths of text meant to replicate natural language, usually in response to prompts written in natural language.
For example:
Addressing inquiries. First, generative AI can be used to address customer inquiries. If you put together a sophisticated chatbot, it might be able to field customer requests on its own, automatically replying to customers and helping them with basic issues. Alternatively, customer service agents can use generative AI to write rough drafts of what they want to send customers. From there, customer service agents can revise and edit the generated material, adding their own perspectives and insights, ultimately saving time while still serving customer needs.
Acknowledging complaints. One of the hardest aspects of customer service is dealing with people who have complaints, or people who have been made angry by unpleasant circumstances. Generative AI can interpret the negative language used by customers and provide a thoroughly unemotional, yet reassuring response. It's a great way to relieve customer service agents of what would otherwise be an emotional burden, while simultaneously serving complaining customers better.
Basic troubleshooting. Depending on the context, generative AI may be able to handle certain basic types of troubleshooting. If customers are dealing with very common or straightforward issues, generative AI can provide an immediate solution. If you train your generative AI tool on topics more specific to your products and services, the tool can become even more capable.
Translating. Less than a decade ago, even our best translation tools fell embarrassingly short of optimal performance. These days, AI translation is incredibly sophisticated. It's still not perfect, and it may not be capable of everything that a skilled human translator can do, but it's an easy way to bridge the gap between your customer service agents and people they serve who speak a different language.
Analyzing sentiment. Is this customer irate? It can be difficult even for experienced customer service agents to make the call. But with generative AI, you can quickly analyze sentiment so you can move forward in the most appropriate way.
Reviewing text. Generative AI also works well as a review tool. If your customer service agents create new documents, responses to customer inquiries, or even internal processes and workflows, generative AI can review these materials and offer suggestions for how to make them better.
Training and onboarding. Even better, generative AI can be used for training and onboarding. It can guide your newest customer service agents through the basics of the job and instruct them on how to achieve optimal performance.
Data, Predictive Analytics, and Customer Relationships
AI is also useful for analyzing big data and improving customer relationships. One of the most impressive features of generative AI is its capacity to interpret objective data; assuming you have access to that data, you can perfect the arts of:
Anticipation of customer needs. What do your customers want? And how do you give it to them?
Personalized recommendations. What types of products and services do the data suggest you create in the future? How can you better serve individual customers?
Better sales and marketing. How can you adapt your sales and marketing strategies to better serve customers, based on the data you already have?
The Bottom Line Benefits
Ultimately, using generative AI in customer service equips you with the following benefits:
Time savings. If your customer service agents can use generative AI to write a rough draft or review and edit their own work, they can save hours of time every week. That frees them up to focus on more important things.
Cost savings. Most generative AI tools are free or inexpensive, more than paying for themselves in short order. That ultimately means significant cost savings for your business.
Faster resolution. Customers want their inquiries to be addressed as quickly as possible, but customer service agents aren't always in a position to respond instantly. Generative AI closes this gap.
Empowered employees. Employees are happier when using generative AI tools; it's like having a personal assistant that serves as a buffer between them and the customer at times. This boosts employee morale and autonomy, ultimately helping your organization run better.
Happier customers. And of course, using generative AI usually leads to happier customers as well.
Do keep in mind that generative AI isn't a perfect solution. While it keeps improving every day, there are still a few limitations that you'll need to keep in mind, such as the inability of generative AI to express true emotions and its lack of access to real-time information on the web. Still, generative AI is an incredible tool that can instantly make your customer service department more efficient and more capable – and it's certainly worth exploring.
