How to Future-Proof Your CX With AI
Building positive, fulfilling and engaging experiences with chatbots and voice assistants + some real use cases
Day by day we dive deeper into digital experiences and it’s perfectly natural that we already expect all the brands and services would communicate to us through technology. This situation stands in stark contrast with a reluctant attitude most customers felt about digital contacts, like, three years ago. Now 87% of consumers expect that in a 5-year period they will be able to reach their favorite brands via digital assistant, and that’s quite a high bar!
New tech has transformed customers and it changed customer relations too. Today we are dealing with the attention economy, where marketers have to think of any way their products can find customers, catch their attention and, what’s trickier, make them fall in love with. Every season there’s a new trend list, but some ideas stay unchangeable. They work every time and they work for every business.
Hyperpersonalization
Consumers (not just the millennials) want it all — they need their time spent rationally, they need a prompt response when they have a problem, they want more control, and they do want personalized content. This content is designed to speak to a concrete person or a concrete group. Making it personalized means your customers more likely would engage with it.
Virtually all (96%) marketers agree that personalization advances customer relationships
However, it is important to take into account that expectations of personalization change from customer to customer. Every consumer is different and what one may find uncomfortable another one would call a lovely help. This goes for customer support — some people are embarrassed to talk to an agent, and they prefer mail and chats. Others believe that only humans can help them.
Typically, when customers have a simple request, they are okay with automated and 24/7 available solutions like a chatbot. At the same time, they want a face-to-face experience with a company when handling more complex needs
And companies are following this logic — they are pushing basic customer interactions into digital channels while handling more complex customer needs through human interaction. Pretty soon that experience would come into widespread acceptance, for once a customer gets a rewarding experience from a chatbot interaction, they would quickly adopt this technology and use that channel next time they have a small problem and seek support. This customized and personalized approach not only helps to gain customers’ trust and thereby to improve customer experience but to save money and push up sales too.
Emotions
For a number of years, marketers have focused on emotions, considering this is the main driver in an exceptional CX. This idea has even created a few new industries. Today, when people are overwhelmed with new information, marketers focus their attention on data rather than emotions, and at some point that might backfire on them.
Customer experience is a subtle thing — you have to mix all the components very carefully to reach the result. Emotions and positive experiences are the main ingredients here.
It is proved, that happy people value time over money, and when it comes to shopping, they value time well spent over easy experience. Moreover, they value good time over personalized offers.
Most valuable brands are well aware of this, and they would offer as many value-adds as they can afford to give you unforgettable experiences. They sell emotions, love, and a good time. You can use that tactic too, no heavy spending on sales clerks or advertising.
To start a conversation with your customers simply start with a new captivating and engaging channel. Intelligent bots and smart assistants are always ready to chat. They may speak of fashion trends and sustainable consumption, they can give useful pieces of consumer advice, they would play a game and do many other fun and helpful things. This new and advanced type of interaction, when programmed correctly, is able to impress anyone.
Omnichannel
It is important to retain a balanced approach to marketing your business. You should never choose to exclude a particular platform. It’s 2k19, new channels are created every day and customers are drawn to a seamless CX when engaging with a brand. People are seeking for comfort and joy in commerce — they are buying on newer platforms, engaging with more ads, spending more money where a brand’s personality is. With nearly everyone spending more and more time on their smartphone or any other smart device it’s possible to convey your brand’s message close to 24-hours a day.
Considering the latest stats, ignoring voice channels would be a near-fatal mistake.
Instantaneous experiences
Messengers and social media have replaced phone calls and email — it goes for personal life and it goes for business too. No wonder once brands understood they have to dig into digital, most of them started to build their own applications. It was soon realized though, that even hardcore brand enthusiasts feel uncomfortable about a bunch of infrequently-accessed apps on their phone. Now brands are working on a unified interface for all the queries a customer may have. And chatbot is a top choice here. A chatbot gives a puzzled customer kind of empathic understanding. A chatbot can grasp and solve the issue. And most of the time that’s enough to get customer’s loyalty and to keep them from jumping to a competing product or service.
But there are many other things brands and enterprises can do with chatbots and voice:
- Generate awareness and share information
- Onboard clients and new employees
- Create engagement and enhance customer service
- Enable transactions and arrange distribution
- Integrate into product and improve operational efficiency
Chatbots are also used to collect feedback from customers. They automatically send reminders to your customers prompting them to write reviews and submit ratings. Moreover, a chatbot can respond to your customers’ complaints and prioritize negative feedback to handle it faster.
Among the hyper-personalized perks, there are product recommendations, product pairings or alerts for store openings in a customer’s neighborhood. Chatbots can scale from a single user to thousands upon thousands with little development effort. They also can be scaled across any platforms, devices, countries, and languages.
With the right programming, chatbots have the capability to deliver correct and consistent responses to customer queries. Moreover, they can speak in a unique voice, giving a brand an incredible asset
It is very important to bear in mind that chatbots are just a part of any customer service strategy. Conversational technologies should be used in a seamless alliance with highly experienced agents that can provide a full response when deemed necessary. This comprehensive approach would ensure the success of any customer-centric business.
Despite the fact that this market is relatively new, some proven success stories already exist! They work for different tasks and a wide range of businesses.
