Taking customer service to the next level by acting on customer information and requests with conversational AI
Let’s face it, today’s digitally-native consumers are simply too busy to spend vast amounts of time dealing with menial customer service interactions. With busy work and life commitments, their free time is valuable. When they need to interact with their bank or insurer, fast issue resolution is essential for their satisfaction.
This shift in expectations, brought about by the always-connected nature of modern society, means that the sun has finally set on the traditional notion of chatbots that flooded the market less than a decade ago - and has now dawned on the age of the virtual agent.
In a recent report published by ReMark, it was revealed that consumers are beginning to soften in their attitudes towards artificial intelligence in the provision of customer services, especially when benefits, such as faster response times and 24/7 availability, are clearly demonstrated. This was particularly evident amongst Gen Z and Millennial groups who, when posed the question of whether they always prefer to interact with a human in a customer service setting, responded in the affirmative only 43.4% and 44.8% of the time, respectively.
As consumers grow more accustomed to interacting with AI, technology must advance to meet their rising expectations. Unlike basic chatbots, virtual agents leverage conversational AI integration, allowing businesses to offer more than just answers to simple questions. Beyond 24/7 instant information, virtual agents empower customers to resolve issues and requests autonomously, all within a single chat window.
Self-service, convenience and the death of chatbots
Whether comparing the price of insurance policies or shopping around for a new broadband provider, the modern consumer plays a pivotal role in their own customer journey. With a clear preference for taking care of their own needs, they know what they want and just want to get it done - without wasting a second.
The customer self-service economy is already a well-established term. It has been around for a long time and has grown steadily ever since people began booking their own fights and ordering books online. However, digitizing customer experience has also elevated the expectations that customers have towards self-service. Today, consumers are, more than ever, relying on their own agency to get things done, without ever needing to interact with a single human in the process. Why? Because the digital age - and artificial intelligence in particular - has made it more convenient to take on certain tasks without the need for middlemen.
Many online platforms and software tools have emerged to streamline transactional tasks, yet the growing preference for chat and instant messaging as communication channels has widened the gap between organizations and their customers. While chatbots have tried to bridge this divide, their reliance on keyword matching has shown them to fall short in meeting the expectations of today's digital-savvy customers.
Taking action with a virtual agent powered by conversational AI
The commonality between disparate channels of customer service is that consumers dislike needing to share the same information more than once and that they show a strong aversion to having to contact a company multiple times.
Conversational AI, through its inherent nature of being built on a strong foundation of natural language understanding, offers a way to not only eliminate these frustrations but both meet and exceed the expectations of self-service customers. As the underlying technology of virtual agents, conversational AI it makes it possible to recognize context, concepts and meaning in a chat-based interaction, instead of relying on a user’s ability to hit the right keywords to articulate what they want. Combined with the ability to leverage user authentication, a virtual agent can interpret this understanding and take action on behalf of a customer (i.e. transfer money, update a mobile data package, purchase an insurance policy, etc.) helping to ensure immediate gratification.
As company-customer relationships evolve, people will seek more control over every aspect of their interactions, not less. Being able to understand and act upon those requests with minimal friction is a serious game-changer that will lead to a more efficient use of resources and, ultimately, delighted customers who will reward a brand with their loyalty.