AI is already deeply embedded into our daily lives - powering tools like voice assistants, personalised streaming recommendations, fraud detection in online banking, and advanced customer service chatbots. Organisations are increasingly harnessing its potential to revolutionise and personalise the customer experience (CX) through predictive analytics, hyper-personalised interactions, and real-time support.
The customer experience encapsulates every interaction and reaction that a customer has when dealing with an organisation. Whether that’s on its website, on a customer support hotline, or in real life at a physical location.
The importance of the CX has become more vital over recent years, due to the availability and visibility of feedback on the internet, both good and bad. It’s estimated that over 99% of people read customer reviews when shopping online and that negative reviews can lead two out of three customers to abandon a purchase.
However, it’s not just in shopping that the CX matters, it’s at every touchpoint of a customer’s contact with an organisation, whether that’s paying a utilities bill, booking a forthcoming holiday or obtaining an online balance from a bank.
By harnessing the power of AI, organisations can enhance the CX and meet their customers’ high expectations.
Used holistically AI can provide organisations with numerous benefits including:
Tailored insights – AI enables organisations to use its machine learning algorithms, advanced analytics and behavioural data to obtain valuable insights into a customer’s preferences, history and behaviours, allowing them to track their interests and better understand their potential requirements. Combine this with historical sales data and predicted market trends and AI provides a powerful tool for showcasing products and services that are most likely to appeal to those same customers in the future. This hyper-personalised approach can increase sales, enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction, and deliver first-rate customer satisfaction in real-time. AI helps organisations anticipate the needs of their customers, customise their services to suit each individual, predict trends which might appeal to them, and adapt their marketing strategies so that they meet the constantly evolving demands of the market.
Timely interactions – by making use of the data that organisations hold on their customers, such as their browsing history, previous purchases and demographic group, AI enables them to present timely and relevant offers such as discount codes or seasonal offers, encouraging them to make a purchase or to continue if a cart is abandoned mid-way through a previous transaction. This is particularly the case when virtual assistants (VAs) are incorporated into the CX. VAs can provide timely and relevant recommendations that focus on personalised solutions, providing the customer with a more tailored experience and increased satisfaction, thereby strengthening their relationship with the organisation in question.
Dynamic responses – whether your organisation uses real-life customer support agents, VAs or Chatbots, AI can assist in delivering speedier and more relevant responses. Some AI programmes ‘read’ a customer’s emotional tone enabling queries to be dealt with in an appropriate manner. AI can also speed up the query/response time to avoid making customers wait, and some can deliver a ‘script’ for agents to use, based on what customers are saying or typing. In these situations, AI is being used not only to speed up the interaction process but also to provide personalised and empathetic responses which drive customer satisfaction, align with their expectations and retain their custom, boosting a brand’s reputation.
Increasing numbers of organisations are now integrating AI with their CRM systems – a strategy which is transforming customer engagement.
AI-powered CRM systems are able to automate repetitive administrative tasks such as lead scoring, data entry and reminders of follow-up calls, and enable teams to focus on their core functions. Its algorithms also enable it to predict which leads have a high probability of conversion, helping sales teams make more focused decisions about how they spend their valuable time.
Integrating AI with CRM systems also enables organisations to provide an integrated, efficient and scalable CX that offers an enhanced customer experience and can save costs too.
We’re currently at the start of the AI journey and have achieved so much already in terms of the CX. The future will bring further innovation to the CX goal, all designed to exceed expectations and enhance an organisation’s brand.
If you’d like to discuss any of the technological issues we’ve looked at here, contact us for a confidential chat.