AI in Customer Service Is Freaking People Out — Here’s How to Sway Your Team …
Yeah — you’ve seen the stories. For every amazing story about how AI is dramatically changing customer service, there is some NY Times article about how AI failed miserably. So now, you are like a deer stuck in the headlights and wondering what to do.
On one hand, you can’t “Do Nothing” — especially if your CEO (or board!) keeps asking about it. On the other hand, how do you deploy it safely and look like a hero?
Here are lessons learned from deploying Generative AI for customer service in hundreds of companies — companies with real results (and painful lessons!)
1. Not a Threat, But an Asset
GenAI in customer service typically refers to technologies like ChatGPT-style chatbots (not those old, lame, phone-tree style chatbot's!) deployed to help with customer support and customer engagement.
These tools learn from your existing knowledge base (like help desk articles, pages on your website, Youtube videos, etc) to understand and respond to customer inquiries.
By explaining AI in simple terms and focusing on its practical applications, such as streamlining repetitive tasks or providing instant answers, you can help your team see AI as a valuable asset that augments their capabilities, rather than a threat to their roles.
AI won’t take your customer support job. A customer support agent using AI will take your job.
This often-cited statement encapsulates the idea that AI is not here to replace human workers but to enhance their performance. AI tools can handle mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing customer support agents to focus on more complex and meaningful interactions. This not only improves job satisfaction but also increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the support team.
Streamlining Repetitive Tasks
One of the significant advantages of AI is its ability to automate repetitive tasks that can bog down human agents. Tasks such as answering frequently asked questions, providing order statuses, or guiding customers through common troubleshooting steps can be efficiently handled by AI. This frees up your human agents to tackle more complicated issues that require personal attention and empathy.
Quick tip: Take a look at your chat logs or search queries. It’s the same questions being asked again and again.
Providing Instant Answers
These days customers expect quick responses. Nobody wants to navigate a sea of blue links on your website. It is now pretty-much expected that you should have some sort of ChatGPT-style AI experience on your website and support desks.
GenAI chatbots can provide instant answers to customer queries at any time of the day, ensuring that customers receive prompt assistance. This 24/7 availability improves customer satisfaction and reduces the backlog of inquiries that human agents have to address when they come online.
No more of the “A customer service agent will be with you in 16 hours”.
Zero-Risk Use Cases
The best way to dip your toes into AI is to start with zero-risk use cases that have easy implementations. For example, deploying AI to handle basic inquiries or common support scenarios can be a great starting point. These low-risk applications allow your team to see the benefits of AI firsthand without the pressure of handling more complex issues from the get-go.
Ninja tip: Start with already-public data like your website, help desk articles, public PDF documents, videos, etc — this greatly reduces any pushback about data security. DO NOT start with customer-specific account data. That should come later (after your initial AI pilot is deemed a success!). This deployment sequence allows you a near-zero risk profile to get started with deploying AI.
2. The Biggest Efficiency Gain: Ticket Deflection
One of the most significant efficiency gains from implementing AI in customer service is ticket deflection. Ticket deflection refers to the process of reducing the number of support tickets by enabling customers to find answers to their questions without needing to contact human support agents.
Why Ticket Deflection Matters
Think about it — why do people need customer service in the first place? It’s often because they can’t find the information they need on your website. By deploying a GenAI chatbot that knows all your website content and helpdesk articles, you can dramatically cut down the number of support tickets.
Interesting Stat: A Zendesk report found that 50% of customers want to solve product or service issues themselves rather than calling support.
How AI Achieves Ticket Deflection
AI chatbots can handle multiple queries simultaneously, providing instant responses to common questions. This reduces the workload on human agents, allowing them to focus on more complex issues.
A well-trained AI chatbot can guide customers to the right information, effectively deflecting tickets that would otherwise require human intervention.
Ninja tip: If the question is already answered in your documentation, you know the AI will learn about it and be able to answer the question. You know customers don’t read your documentation anyway — so this brings the answer to your customers.
Real-World Impact
Deploying AI for ticket deflection can lead to impressive results. For example, case studies have shown that companies can reduce their support ticket volume from 50-90% by implementing GenAI chatbots.
This not only saves time and resources but also improves customer satisfaction by providing quick and accurate answers.
Quick tip: One of our SaaS customers achieved a dramatic drop in helpdesk tickets by deploying a GenAI chatbot on their website and support desk. The efficiency gains were further amplified when they followed up by deploying the AI chatbot within their SaaS application. Think about it: In-app product support using GenAI.
Case Study
Consider my own company that implemented an AI chatbot to handle common customer queries. Before the chatbot, the company received hundreds of support tickets daily. After deploying the chatbot, the number of tickets dropped significantly, allowing human agents to concentrate on more critical and complex customer issues.
This shift not only improved efficiency but also boosted employee satisfaction as agents could engage in more meaningful work.
For more detailed case studies, check out this paper: The Absolute Lowest Hanging Fruit In Generative AI Is…
3. Training Opportunities
Introducing AI into customer service operations requires some upskilling, but this can be framed positively. Training your team to work alongside AI provides them with valuable tech skills that are increasingly important in the digital economy.
Highlighting the opportunity for professional growth can help mitigate resistance. Show your team that learning to manage and collaborate with AI systems can make them more versatile and valuable as employees.
The best way to train existing support agents is to: SHOW, DON’T TELL
It’s just like when we started using Google for the first time (20+ years ago) — you had to see it to believe it.
Just like that: Use a no-code platform to build a support bot and feed it your website content and help desk articles. As soon as your support agents get the feel of it, they become automatic champions of AI (similar to how we all switched to Google).
No amount of training can replace the actual experience of humans feeling it for themselves.
Ninja tip: DO NOT start AI projects with the goal of “Hey, let’s replace Bob with AI” — this will backfire.
4. Data Insights : The Hidden Goldmine Your Company Hasn’t Discovered Yet.
AI doesn’t just answer questions — it collects data that can lead to actionable insights. This powerful feature allows companies to gain a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors.
By explaining how AI can track customer interaction patterns and preferences, you can open your team’s eyes to the potential for data-driven decision-making.
Tracking Customer Interaction Patterns
AI systems can analyze vast amounts of interaction data to identify patterns and trends. This includes tracking which questions are asked most frequently, how customers phrase their inquiries, and what kinds of issues arise most often.
By examining these patterns, companies can identify common pain points and areas where the customer experience can be improved.
Ninja tip: If your chosen chatbot platform does not have in-built customer intelligence, just download the spreadsheet of the chat logs and analyze them with ChatGPT.
Improving Service Offerings
AI-driven data insights can also guide the development of new products and services. By understanding what customers are asking for and where they encounter difficulties, companies can innovate and refine their offerings to better meet customer needs.
This proactive approach can give businesses a competitive edge in the market.
Ninja tip: Customers are a lot more likely to give honest unbiased feedback to an AI than a human. Yeah, we know you talk to customers — but remember: AI is completely non-judgmental, and customers have no problem fearlessly talking to an AI. This is what makes AI chat logs the ultimate goldmine of unbiased feedback.
Facilitating Data-Driven Decision Making
When your team understands that AI can help them better understand and serve customers, they may be more inclined to embrace it. AI provides hard data that can support strategic decisions, from marketing campaigns to product development.
This data-driven approach ensures that decisions are based on real customer insights rather than assumptions or guesswork.
For example: If the AI responds to any question with “Sorry, I don’t have that information”, this is a clear signal to your support team (and marketing!) that customers are asking questions for which you don’t have content. You can then write a support article (or blog post!) to cover this content gap. This single workflow itself will pay for any costs related to the AI deployment.
Case Study: Leveraging AI Data Insights
Since our company is a startup, these chat logs are a goldmine of information that drives critical decisions like what features to build out (cause as you know: no startup has infinite resources!).
For example: Over several months, the AI collected data on customer interactions, revealing that a significant number of customers wanted a feature that we now call “auto sync”.
Technical note: This is a feature where the AI remains in sync with content changes on your website. For example, if your pricing page changes, does your AI immediately keep in sync with the new pricing?
The chat logs told us how important this feature was to potential customers, which allowed us to invest the engineering resources to build it out. This feature is now one of our key differentiators.
Read more about this in my post: AI Chat Logs — The Hidden Goldmine Your Company Hasn’t Discovered Yet
5. Customer Expectations Are Evolving
The reality is that customer expectations are evolving. Many customers now prefer quick, automated solutions for simple issues. As customer preferences shift towards instant gratification and seamless service, integrating AI into your customer service strategy becomes essential.
This behavior has been expedited by ChatGPT. Gone are the days when people would spend hours on Google searching for answers. When your customers are on your website, they are expecting a ChatGPT-style experience, with quick accurate answers.
By discussing how AI meets these expectations with 24/7 availability and instant responses, you can help your team understand that AI isn’t just about internal benefits — it’s also about staying competitive and meeting customers where they are.
Notice how even Google (a search monopoly) is moving towards instant answers.
The Demand for Instant Responses
Thanks to ChatGPT, customers expect immediate answers to their queries. Traditional customer service methods, which often involve long wait times and limited hours of operation, can no longer meet these demands.
AI chatbots can provide instant responses around the clock, ensuring that customers receive the help they need at any time of day or night. This 24/7 availability is a significant advantage, particularly for global businesses with customers in different time zones and different languages.
Quick Tip: Did you know that with GenAI chatbots, your customer can ask a question in Hindi and request a response even though your content is in English? That’s the power of GenAI.
Enhancing Customer Satisfaction
AI’s ability to provide quick and accurate answers to common questions can greatly enhance customer satisfaction. Customers appreciate the convenience of getting immediate solutions without having to navigate complex phone trees or wait on hold for a human agent.
By addressing customer needs efficiently, AI can contribute to a more positive customer experience, fostering loyalty and repeat business.
Ninja tip: Did you know that you can configure your GenAI chatbot to act like an expert sales agent? You can even get it to use psychological sales techniques to drive visitors to signup for your products or services.
Reducing Frustration
One of the major pain points for customers is the frustration of dealing with unresolved issues. AI can help mitigate this frustration by handling routine inquiries and providing consistent, reliable information. This reduces the likelihood of errors and ensures that customers receive the correct information on the first try. By minimizing frustration, AI can help create a smoother, more enjoyable customer journey.
Ninja tip: Just think about what happens when Bob from customer service retires or takes a vacation. The hidden knowledge that he has collected over the years goes on vacation with him. This is easily solved by creating an AI that knows everything about your company that is already public (from your website, from your documents, from your videos and so on)
Staying Competitive
As more companies adopt AI for customer service, staying competitive requires embracing these technologies. Businesses that fail to keep up with AI advancements risk falling behind, as customers increasingly favor companies that offer efficient, automated support.
By integrating AI, you not only improve your customer service capabilities but also demonstrate your commitment to innovation and customer-centricity.
Ninja tip: Remember, this is the worst AI will ever be. Which means, you have a long way to go with AI — by starting early, you get a leg-up on your competition. Deploying AI in customer service is most likely the first of many AI projects that you will be deploying at your company.
Educating Your Team
To ensure successful AI integration, it’s crucial to educate your team how customer expectations are evolving. Help them understand that AI isn’t just a tool for internal efficiency but a strategic asset for meeting customer demands.
Emphasize that AI can complement their roles, allowing them to focus on more complex and rewarding tasks, ultimately leading to higher job satisfaction and better customer outcomes.
Ninja tip: Before deploying AI in front of customers, your team will become (and should become!) the biggest user of AI within your company. Only after making believers of your internal team will you be able to successfully deploy AI in front of customers.
Side note: This “deployment sequence” has the added benefit of ironing out any kinks in your AI. Kinks like: Missing content or hallucinations.
Conclusion
Transitioning to AI in customer service might seem daunting, but the benefits are undeniable. By focusing on efficiency gains, training opportunities, data insights, and evolving customer expectations, you can help your team see AI as a strategic asset rather than a threat.
Remember, the goal is to augment human capabilities and improve the overall customer experience, ensuring your company stays competitive.
