Customer experience has become a deciding factor for consumers when it comes to doing business with a company. As people are ready to purchase, they think about their experience from the time they first learned about the company to the moment they place an order. If past interactions have been positive, they have more confidence in the company and its products. If it’s a first-time purchase, they may think twice if they had difficulty finding information or struggled with the online checkout process.
In today’s competitive market, organizations cannot afford to let customers hesitate. They need solutions that not only improve customer experiences but drive them. AI-powered technologies can do both. Here are four ways AI can help improve customer experiences.
1. Directing the customer.
When visitors land on a website, they’re looking for something. It may be a product, a service, or information. Whatever the need may be, they’re left scrolling through pages and looking at dropdowns. It doesn’t take long for visitors to move on if they can’t locate what they’re looking for.
AI-powered chatbots can direct customers to the appropriate information as soon as they arrive on a page. Instead of customers navigating websites in search of elusive information, a chatbot can initiate contact by asking a simple question like, “How can I help you?”
Visitors can choose when to engage with the chatbot. People may be looking to purchase an item and are more interested in browsing the site. When customers find an item to purchase, they may want to engage the chatbot to learn about return policies or shipping details. Alternatively, consumers may ask the bot to help them find a specific item from the moment they land on a site. The value of AI-powered chatbots is the flexibility consumers have to engage or ignore the assistance.
If site visitors ask questions that a bot can’t answer, they will be routed to a customer agent for help. Customer service personnel can benefit from AI-powered technologies to respond to consumer requests. Whether it is part of a helpdesk or knowledge management system, deploying an internal chatbot enables customer-facing staff to ask and receive information quickly.
2. Guiding the customer.
Many consumers enjoy recommendations when looking for a solution online. Business customers can benefit from similar suggestions. For example, a manufacturer sells components to other companies that use them in HVAC systems. A new customer goes to the website to place an order. As the customer begins to checkout, an AI-powered solution suggests that others who have purchased the same item also bought a complementary part. The new buyer looks at the suggested item, realizes it is essential and adds it to the cart.
By applying algorithms to volumes of data, artificial intelligence learned that customers who bought part A also purchased part B. With that knowledge, AI makes the recommendation, saving the customer time and frustration. How unhappy would the customer be to learn that part B was needed and had to be ordered, delaying production by at least a week? Artificial intelligence can identify patterns from purchase data to ensure a better customer experience.
Recommendations can personalize customer experiences. Consumers are looking for more individualized services. They appreciate when organizations know who they are and recognize their value. By analyzing data, AI-powered solutions can predict what other information, products, or services might appeal to customers. The technology improves customer experience, and it can drive sales through upselling and cross-selling.
3. Enabling the customer.
Customers prefer self-service options. If they have a problem, they would rather look for the answer than talk to customer support. Plus, people don’t have questions during regular business hours. They have them at midnight as they try to file an insurance claim. Being unable to complete a task because the information is unavailable is frustrating, adding to a poor customer experience.
The more autonomy an organization gives its customers, the more positive the experience. People prefer to perform their own research when looking for products and services. They want to resolve their problems quickly instead of waiting for the “next available operator.” AI-powered technologies can help give people that independence.
If consumers want more control over their interactions, they need access to systems that provide the information they want. Sometimes that requires improving back-office processes. AI technologies can help transportation companies streamline operations, make data available on delivery statuses, and answer questions regarding upcoming deliveries. More information on deliveries enables consumers to adjust schedules to ensure their packages are safely received.
4. Meeting expectations.
Improving customer experiences is about meeting expectations. If consumers expect a response to an online question in seconds, taking minutes to answer can result in poor customer interactions. Although some customers give businesses opportunities to improve, many simply move on to a competitor without so much as a good-bye. AI-powered chatbots can provide the instant response that consumers expect.
Customers want to engage on one device and continue on another without losing context. AI-powered technologies can deliver the same experience on multiple devices with interfaces that adapt to the display. Nothing frustrates a consumer more than having an application that doesn’t display well on a mobile device.
The more seamless the interaction, the better the experience. This applies to employees as well as customers. When employees have to leave multiple tabs and applications open to do their jobs, they become less productive as they switch from application to application. With the right AI-powered tools, employees can have a centralized interface for accessing the resources they need. When they don’t have to hunt for information, employees become more efficient and better able to meet customer expectations.
Flexibility is built into AI technology. By ingesting volumes of data, AI solutions learn how to respond. As they use the information, they adjust their predictions to account for changes in behavior. That means AI-powered tech may even identify changes in customer expectations before anyone realizes they’ve changed.