{"id":2503,"date":"2018-09-19T07:30:07","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T07:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devbloglavaprotocols.nityo.in\/ai-for-customer-service-4-ways-to-get-ahead-of-the-curve\/"},"modified":"2018-09-19T07:30:07","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T07:30:07","slug":"ai-for-customer-service-4-ways-to-get-ahead-of-the-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavaprotocols.com\/the-cloud-blog\/ai-for-customer-service-4-ways-to-get-ahead-of-the-curve\/","title":{"rendered":"AI for Customer Service: 4 Ways to Get Ahead of the Curve"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Salesforce UK<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Customer expectations have\u00a0changed massively<\/a>\u00a0thanks to the internet. Instant gratification is simply expected as normal and it\u2019s harder than ever for service to stand out. Meanwhile, significant growth in customer contact is also putting serious pressure on organisations to offer a prompt response.<\/p>\n

Related<\/strong>:\u00a0[Infographic] Why Businesses Are Failing Their Customers<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s great that customers feel more connected to brands, but as we\u2019ve come to\u00a0expect instantaneous replies to queries, organisations are reaching their physical limits in terms of how much their human workforce can handle.<\/p>\n

To deal with the demand for tailored 1-to-1 customer\/company conversations, businesses are using\u00a0AI<\/a>. In fact, by 2020,\u00a0Gartner<\/a>\u00a0predicts that 85% of customer interactions will be handled this way.<\/p>\n

But when we talk about AI for customer service, we don\u2019t just mean customer service bots replacing human agents. AI technology is also easing admin workloads \u2013 allowing representatives to focus on providing the human touch.<\/p>\n

Here are four important ways AI is transforming how organisations communicate with their customers and manage increasing workloads.<\/p>\n

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1. Using AI for customer service helps solve small problems \u2013 before they grow\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Remember the last time you demanded to speak to a call handler\u2019s supervisor? If only that escalated complaint could have been nipped in the bud early. That\u2019s why AI is now helping organisations to deal with small issues early, before they become big ones.<\/p>\n

If customers are provided with the means to contact a company with minimal effort, such as through a messenger window while they work instead of a phone call, they\u2019re more likely to report minor concerns, rather than waiting until the problem can no longer be avoided. This can prevent issues from escalating beyond what\u2019s necessary \u2013 improving brand satisfaction.<\/p>\n

In turn, reducing the number of escalated complaints means human agents are under less pressure when it comes to getting to grips with more complicated cases. That\u2019s good for brand satisfaction too: according to the\u00a0Ombudsman Service<\/a>, 75% of shoppers in the UK feel encouraged to make a repeat purchase if their complaint is well dealt with.<\/p>\n

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2. AI for customer service can improve your multi-channel offering<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Customers spend a lot of time on their smartphones, communicating through messaging apps. So if this is how your customers prefer to communicate, why wouldn\u2019t you\u00a0give them this option?<\/p>\n

Messaging means talking to your customers on their terms, through their choice of application. But the\u00a0Harvard Business Review<\/a>\u00a0says the biggest benefit is the ability for a brand to immediately understand the customer\u2019s query in context \u2013 helping to provide quick, no-nonsense responses.<\/p>\n

More organisations than ever are now allowing their customers to contact them this way, to good effect \u2013 research by\u00a0Aberdeen Group<\/a>\u00a0suggests that companies with a strong omni-channel presence have on average an 89% customer retention rate.<\/p>\n

The challenge is handling the resulting increase in customer contact. Automation can help, but only for basic enquiries \u2013 and that\u2019s where AI for customer service can help. By using intelligent deep learning capabilities, AI can make decisions on whether to reply to a customer automatically \u2013 giving an instant response \u2013 or transfer them to a human agent if the enquiry is more involved.<\/p>\n

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3. Making self-service smarter \u2013 the rise of AI customer service bots\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

AI customer service bots \u2013 whether on a website or a messaging app \u2013 allow customers to address their own issues instantaneously \u2013 without putting unnecessary pressure on contact centre teams.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s important that AI complements the human aspect of customer service.<\/p>\n

A recent report from\u00a0Accenture<\/a>\u00a0suggests that AI will dominate the way the big 3 banks in the UK interact with their customers \u2013 but it also notes that, even though customers are willing to embrace AI, they still want to be safe in the knowledge they can speak to a human.<\/p>\n

And the great news is, bots are getting better at making that happen. Organisations gather more data from their customers, AI becomes more competent at diagnosing customer issues and offering first point resolution \u2013 allowing physical agents to optimise those human-to-human interactions.<\/p>\n

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4. AI can predict what your customer\u2019s going to do next\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Good predictions about customers\u2019 likely behaviour<\/a> are among the most prized assets an organisation can get its hands on \u2013 because it means you\u2019re ready to respond.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s being able to predict stock demand based on the weather, or identify problems before they affect customers, AI has the ability to make real-time decisions on a scale we\u2019ve never seen before.<\/p>\n

Customer issues are generally not unique. And if one customer is contacting customer service with a problem, it\u2019s safe to assume there are more to follow. But it\u2019s this repetition of issue cases that helps AI to learn and understand the common \u2013 but sometimes complex \u2013 reasons why customers interact with a brand, and the solutions that go with them.<\/p>\n

This is where AI deep learning comes into its own. By linking up data silos across the organisation, companies can pinpoint customer issues and resolve them quickly.<\/p>\n

And this will only get better with time. As organisations accrue more data on customers, their predictive accuracy will increase.<\/p>\n

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Introducing Service Cloud Einstein \u2013 Salesforce\u2019s AI for customer service<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s no doubt, great customer service still leaves a lasting impression \u2013 and AI has an increasing role to play in providing what your customers demand. \u00a0That\u2019s why we\u2019re excited to introduce\u00a0Service Cloud Einstein<\/a>:<\/p>\n