By 2020, 85% of a customer relationship will be handled by the businesses without interacting with a human, according to Gartner research.
It indicates in the myriad of ways AI solutions will be working in rhythm to make CX better not with the emergence of hoards of robots. The AI integration is making it possible with data unification (pulling together massive data) and delivering insights in the business context at the moment leveraging advanced algorithm, machine learning APIs and deep learning APIs.
It’s time to see the dramatic changes that tech has brought to the world and promising an interesting future with sci-fi will turn into a reality.
Here, we have enlisted a couple of ways that are streamlining the customer interactions with a gigantic makeover of the processes. They are:
Making the search smart
When I say the text-based suggestions as we start typing a few words either in the Google search box or in-app search box, it sounds familiar to us. In a couple of years, the customers have become so comfortable with the auto-complete and auto-suggestion approach that it appears natural, but there is a science behind it. With the natural language recognition and semantic relationship, the search results have been improved and become more relevant.
Going ahead, the voice search assistant such as Siri, Alexa, or Google Now is the next twist in the search history, which have also expedited a journey from curiosity to the common phenomenon. The customers have become so contented with the voice search feature that they expect it in every application. The increased convenience and comfort level up the customer experience whenever they search for anything.
Uncovering high-impact user insights
In the age of consumerization, giving special attention to the customers, treating them with due respect and considering them as an important asset is a must have to gain optimal customer experience.The traditional analytics tools have become antiquated and are less efficient in mining insights from the billions of unique customer journey.
On the other side, AI-powered analytics tools can sift through huge and complex data space, and identify the issues, unearth the hidden business opportunities and lets you prioritize the things accordingly. This way every single relationship in data in every customer journey can be analyzed, and thereby the future behavior of the customer can be predicted, the drivers of growth inhibitors can be identified and potential customers can be shortlisted to maximize the customer outreach.
The valuable data when taken seriously by the businesses and act upon it, they can reap the rewards with improvements in the customer experience.
Offer frictionless service
Two to three complexities in the customer journey lead to the inconvenience and make the experience poorer incrementally.This is where customer service can bring a huge transformation. And, AI is set to transform the customer service by making it fast, automated and trouble-free. The chatbots, virtual assistants and voice interfaces are some of the AI-based agents that are giving a complete digital make over to the customer service.
Facebook was the first that introduces chatbot functionality in its messenger app and there after, the online retailers started integrating the intelligent bots to provide immediate and personalized response 24/7. This way the unnecessary delays are removed and customer complaints are better handled. Now, thanks to the chatbots, the call center will virtually remain open forever.
Virtual assistants assist the customers throughout their journey in the app and answer their queries as if the customers are physically standing in a retail store. It helps the customers in finding what they are looking for and lets them do what they are doing at their best.
The North Face launched a shopping assistant, which engages the customers by helping the users in getting to any point in the app and answering their questions, which helped them in recognizing the customer pain points.The elimination of frustration and friction keep the customers happy and drive loyalty to the businesses.
Catering marketing imprecision needs
Sensing the marketing blasts is not a big deal for the customers and they take less than a second to bin such messages. It implies the marketers need to consider the personalization earnestly.
Treating every customer as if they are the only customer that business have and nurturing the relationship with them the same way with high precision is still not possible. There is no recommendation engine which is so powerful that can make it done. The underlying problem is the endless segmentation and then several rules make the system so complex that handling the interactions become difficult.
Artificial intelligence has changed the complete game of personalization. Using machine learning algorithms, the customers buying journey, interaction with different touchpoints, average time spent and past purchase history is analyzed for every customer. Based on the learning and configured complex rules, the intelligent action is taken by tweaking the rules and a high degree of personalization is introduced while communicating with the customers.
The AI technology continuously keeps learning from the customer interactions and constantly make changes in the personalized offerings, which makes the customer feel as if the product was tailored especially for them.
Sensible predictive math
The AI-powered app that allows users to find the similar items when they snap the image of an item and upload it, and then if they are interested they can buy the same. The snap.find.shop feature of the app has already impressed us. Here, machine learning with just a single view of the image can sense the object and detect its pattern, no matter how complex it is.
The AI pattern recognition is the first step towards prediction and when the pattern is extrapolated in the prediction, the true potential of prediction can be realized and customer experience will become more meaningful.
For instance: The customers can be suggested to buy the product which is running low on the stock and it can be moved to distribution centers or even can be ordered with cash on delivery option. Also, based on the environment conditions prediction, the stock of the relevant items can be kept full so that demands can be fulfilled and customer experience can be improved.
The self-driving cars are the other example of predictive personalization where the cars automatically take the routes or play the music recognizing the user’s behavior to daily optimize commutes and road trips.
The future- it’s time to embrace AI
The capability of speaking with every voice individually in a unique way differentiates the brand. That’s where AI comes into the picture which through automation, personalization, in-depth analysis and high-level prediction aids brands in nurturing the relationship with the customers by offering the products and services on the customer’s terms.
According to Forrester research, leading players are embracing the powerful technology in different forms to think broadly about improving customer experience with an arsenal of benefits it offers.
Therefore, acknowledge artificial intelligence as a notable investment in the customer relationship and enrich every customer touchpoint that makes your app as a way of improving CX.