If you asked any customer service professional to sum up their experience of the last couple of years, they would likely respond that it was intense! The budgets have been fluctuating, customer expectations are skyrocketing, and service teams are locked in a perpetual quest: How to achieve more with limited resources? Implementing Artificial Intelligence in customer service is the right thing to do. With the buzz around generative AI models built on pre-trained, large language models that generate human-like, unique content based on prompts, it is no wonder that this technology will be game-changing in customer service.
Meeting the soaring customer expectations
The landscape of customer service has gone through a seismic shift since the onset of the pandemic. Customers’ expectations have soared to unprecedented heights; 72% of customers choose businesses offering swift customer service. However, customer service agents are constantly swamped with work. Around 78% of customer service agents grapple with balancing speed and quality, which is higher than 63% in 2020. Unsurprisingly, these pressures have contributed to a notable 19% turnover rate within service organizations.
While predictive AI has played a role in customer service, the spotlight now shines on generative AI. This cutting-edge technology holds immense potential, arousing curiosity among service professionals and customers. The burning question is: How will generative AI-powered customer service reshape their experiences? Let us understand why adding a layer of generative AI to the existing automation, Artificial Intelligence(AI), and data analytics in customer service can be transformational for the enterprise, irrespective of the industry.
Why harness Generative AI in customer service?
Many customers find bot-to-human interactions disappointing. Business leaders were reluctant to implement automation solutions primarily because of this. Having rigid, rule-bound first-generation bots to serve customers was apprehensive. However, technological strides have transformed the landscape.
Present-day Gen AI chatbots’ seamless human-like conversations make integrating them into customer-facing operations an intuitive choice. From enhancing the conversational experience to supporting agents with suggested responses, Gen AI ensures swifter and superior support.
Let us take the instance of Amazon, a popular e-commerce platform that has integrated Gen AI into its customer support operations. Amazon used Gen AI to create a chatbot system that understands customer queries and provides instant, precise answers. Training on a vast dataset of historical customer interactions assures the platform a comprehensive knowledge of common inquiries and proper responses. The chatbot system ensured 24/7 availability and empowered customers with swift, relevant, and helpful responses. This led to soaring customer satisfaction and reduced wait times. The implementation also freed human agents for more critical tasks while optimizing operations.
Best possible Use Cases of Gen AI in Customer Service
As discussed above, Gen AI-powered chatbots accelerate the process of customer service and elevate the experience. Let us have a comprehensive view of the possible use cases of Gen AI in customer support.
Chatbots and Virtual Assistants
Gen AI-powered chatbots and virtual agents can process routine inquiries and tasks intelligently as they deliver round-the-clock customer support while alleviating the workload of human agents.
As per research by Deloitte, 54% of Gen Z and 56% of millennials in a survey dropped a company because of poor customer service. Notoriously known for ‘cancel culture,’ young consumers do not think twice about walking out on a company if they have a slow resolution time. We can see how effective faster turn-around time and swift resolution, coupled with 24/7 customer service, can be in reducing customer churn.
Empowering customer self-service
Gen AI can enable customers to address common queries independently through a conversational interface, allowing support teams to focus on complicated concerns. Research shows millennials and Gen Zs prefer self-service options rather than talking to an agent and resolving issues. It boosts the customer experience and increases the retention of young consumers.
Sentiment analysis
The technology can be equipped to grasp the customers’ sentiments, moods, and emotions while interacting with them and via feedback. It can then analyze them to recognize potential problems to forestall escalations, enhance satisfaction, and reduce churn rates.
Predictive assistance
By analyzing the customer data, Gen AI can predict potential forthcoming problems and allow support teams to reach out to the customers, addressing the concerns before they spiral into major issues.
Tailored support
Based on customer data analysis, Gen AI can also generate tailored content spanning from product suggestions and marketing communications to support replies, aligning with each customer’s unique preferences and needs. Again, Gen Z and millennials love the personalized touch and will be more inclined to engage with the business.
Real-time language translation
Gen AI-powered chatbots can instantly translate customer queries and support requests. As a result, enterprises can leverage this technology to offer multilingual support to consumers worldwide. With such a seamless support experience, eradicating language barriers can give an enterprise a competitive advantage.
Knowledge optimization
Gen AI can help craft personalized answers to queries, construct knowledge repositories, and consistently enhance the accuracy and reliability of the information. The machine learning algorithm allows the technology to keep learning and evolving from the substantial data present/generated in customer service operations.
Enterprises can also leverage this technology to gain insights into best practices and common issues by analyzing historical customer interactions and other customer data. These insights allow the business to enhance the overall quality of customer support.
Automated ticket classifying and routing
The technology can be trained to evaluate incoming customer requests, recognize the purpose of the request, and route it to the relevant department or customer agent for swift resolution. This can result in enhanced response times and a positive customer experience.
Creating interactive tutorials
As mentioned earlier, Gen Zs love self-servicing. So, having interactive tutorials and walkthroughs ready for the customers to help them thoroughly comprehend processes can win brownie points for the company. It can be tutorials on how to use the services or products, how to reduce the number of support tickets, how to increase the usage and adoption of the product or service, and much more.
Possible challenges
The seamless natural language processing capabilities of Gen AI and the advantage of providing nuanced answers are a giant leap for customer service. However, Gen AI can occasionally generate inaccurate or irrelevant responses. It can err when it comes to ambiguous or complex queries. Yet, continuous learning and feedback can reasonably improve its efficiency. Balancing automation with human involvement is crucial. A human-in-the-loop can complement generative AI by processing complex and sensitive queries while maintaining accuracy and customer satisfaction.
Take Away
Generative AI stands as a dynamic force, revolutionizing interactions and elevating experiences in the customer service landscape. It can steer businesses towards a new personalized, efficient customer engagement path. With its advanced capabilities and smooth integration into customer service workflows, Generative AI has rightfully earned all the buzz. While accuracy challenges persist, its undeniable benefits to customer service are clear and indisputable.
Explore the possibilities of Generative AI for your customer service journey with Saxon’s cutting-edge Gen AI services and engaging workshops, ensuring you stay ahead in this transformative era of innovation. You can also explore our ‘Gen AI consulting workshop for Enterprises‘ to get in-depth knowledge and hands-on training to steer ahead with the power of Generative AI.
