Success no longer depends solely on product or pricing — a satisfying experience for your customers is a must. And if customer experience (CX) is the new competitive battle zone then artificial intelligence (AI) is your most powerful weapon. More and more companies are discovering how AI can improve customer experience and meet the demands of modern consumers.
According to Gartner, enterprise use of AI has grown 270 percent over the past 4 years. It’s clear that AI technology isn’t some future trend. It’s here right now, and you can use it to deliver satisfying customer experiences.
If you’re wondering what exactly CX-centered AI is and how it can benefit your business, this is the post for you.
How does AI improve customer experience?
AI gives you the power to strengthen customer engagement, encourage brand loyalty, and improve retention. While it isn’t a replacement for human beings, it does help increase efficiency and take low-hanging fruit — like answering frequently asked questions — off the plates of your customer service teams.
AI is also able to integrate other technologies like machine learning, deep learning, and natural language understanding to break down communication barriers and automate customer interactions. Some familiar examples of AI in action are conversational chatbots and product recommendations based on customer behavior data. But really the possibilities are endless.
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Check out this list for more ways you can use AI to improve business processes and engage your customers.
How AI improves customer experience: 6 ways
1. Offer proactive and personalized customer service
AI applications like machine learning and predictive analytics can uncover common customer issues and even offer insight into what’s causing problems for users. Using this data to implement AI chatbots at certain customer touchpoints can help your business personalize real-time customer experiences while also remaining proactive.
Chatbots are designed to stay one step ahead, creating a seamless experience for the user and nipping any potential problems in the bud. They can be placed in high-traffic areas to answer common questions, offer tips and advice during the research phase, or help place orders. All of which will significantly improve how your customers perceive and experience your brand.
2. Improve lead generation
When customers want to buy, it’s essential to make the process pain-free — and chatbots designed with AI can do just that. One example of this is using preprogrammed questions to validate leads before moving them onto a sales agent. Chatbots can also start conversations with customers based on their browsing history to help the sale along, and even upsell post-purchase.
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The Rise of Chatbots
3. Generate data-driven customer insights
AI can analyze data and extract customer behavioral patterns in the blink of an eye. This data can help create customer personas, match customers to products they’re more likely to buy, and display the most relevant content to readers.
Some of the data points an AI algorithm can track include:
- Previous customer communications
- Geo-specific events
- Purchasing behaviors
- On-site interactions
- Psychographic factors
- Referral sources
And that’s important because the more you know about your customers, the more relevant you can make their experience.
4. Customize Content
Companies often spend hours composing and scheduling weekly emails to multiple segments of customers. The problem is that even with the right email segments you can’t deliver a customized email to every single customer on your list.
That’s where artificial intelligence comes in. AI makes it possible to send highly personalized emails by analyzing topics of interest and detecting patterns to recommend relevant content.
These types of dynamic emails can be based on things like:
- Previously read blog posts
- Interactions with your website
- The most popular blog post at the time
- Initial interactions with branded emails
- Total time spent on a web page
Studies show that 67 percent of consumers think it’s important for brands to automatically adjust content based on context, so these types of changes can make all the difference.
5. Streamline workflows
AI chatbots are great for solving common customer queries. They can do this by initiating conversations at designated touchpoints on your website, providing people with information to commonly asked questions, or offering assistance during the purchasing or application process. This allows your customer support team to focus on more complex tasks. And even if chatbots can’t solve an issue, they can still route customers through to the most appropriate help, such as a live agent or a knowledge base article.
6. Prevent employee burnout
AI technology needs no sleep, doesn’t take breaks, and never gets sick. It can easily learn new skills and works tirelessly with consistent performance and productivity.
Of course, this isn't an argument for replacing employees, but rather it highlights how AI can help ensure your employees never need to feel overworked and burned out. Let your team instead focus on the tasks that require a human touch and valuable people skills. Leave the rest to technology.
Create memorable customer experiences with AI
AI has the power to improve the customer experience at every step of the buyer’s journey. With its ability to help you understand who your customers are, what they like and dislike, and how they shop, it offers endless ways to improve CX for your business.
Tell us about your experience with artificial intelligence. Have you used AI to improve your CX? Let us know in the comments.
