Critical success factors in business may keep changing over time with a few additions and subtractions. However, in every era and for every type of business, customer experience will always remain one of the fulcrums of business success. In fact, modern customers are quite smart to differentiate between ordinary and exceptional customer experiences.
The fact of the matter is that contemporary customers do not want to settle for anything less than amazing experiences. For them, experience is now far more vital than pricing and products. For businesses, cultivating incredible customer experiences is more complicated than ever before. However, artificial intelligence is here to the rescue. AI-driven solutions are offering immense assistance to enterprises in untangling the complex mysteries of customer behavior.
DataProt reveals that more than 90 percent of the leading global enterprises have integrated AI solutions across different operations. Most businesses are now particularly investing in incredible AI solutions that offer immense value to customer service. This blog highlights the salient advantages of artificial intelligence in enabling unimaginable customer experiences. So, let us get started without further ado.
5 exceptional merits of AI in customer service
- Better understanding of customers’ expectations
Understanding what your customers want is the key to delivering exceptional customer experiences. Customer experiences turn out to be great when you offer exactly what your customers prefer, right? However, when you have thousands of customers, understanding individual preferences manually will be next to impossible.
This is exactly where Artificial Intelligence is turning out to be a game-changer. With the effective implementation of AI solutions, you can recognize versatile customer preferences through data. When it comes to data, there are no assumptions as data will always offer precise results. Having said that, with AI, you can effectively collect and apply data to segregate your customers based on their preferences.
Once you know their preferences and buying patterns, you can cultivate high customer retention with excellent experiences. How would you feel if a brand offers exactly what you seek? Of course, you will feel great and will have the natural urge to stick to that brand. The same is the case with your customers. AI gives you the immense opportunity to persuade your customers into believing that you understand them very well.
- Enhanced personalization in customer experience
As a business leader or customer relationship manager, you would already know that personalization is the cornerstone of business success in contemporary times. How do you feel when you get your favorite brand’s personalized wish on your birthday or anniversary? In fact, brands are making big strides in optimizing personalization in customer relationships.
As we can see around us, brands are getting far more creative with their personalization strategies. The fact of the matter is that customers are more than happy to spend extra bucks for brands that offer great personalization. To substantiate, as per Super Office, more than 90 percent of customers are willing to pay premium prices for positive and personalized experiences.
Besides, more than 80 percent of customers prefer buying from brands that offer personalized experiences, per Netcore. Also, around 91 percent of customers expect brands to offer personalized recommendations and offers. Clearly, personalization has become indispensable for brands. However, personalization cannot be possible without effective data analytics.
Needless to say, brands need a viable and cost-effective tool to collect customer data and analyze it efficiently to drive hyper-personalization. Artificial intelligence is exactly the tool businesses need to personalize customer experiences.
In fact, as per UnfoldLabs, more than 50 percent of companies are using AI to create personalized brand campaigns. Besides, with great personalization in interaction with leads, AI is helping businesses improve their sales by 50 percent. Are you still going to sit back and wait? With incredible personalization made possible with AI, you can scale your business to new heights. The sooner you act the better it is for your business. After all, acting in time is the basic norm of self-improvement.
- Effective handling of big data
The world we are dwelling in today is centered around data. Irrespective of whether you are a global automotive company or a local food delivery company, customer data is your gold mine. Your data is your greatest asset for data is the basic necessity of personalization and reaching out to your customers with the right message at the right time.
However, collecting data and analyzing it effectively are two different things. In fact, in contemporary times, we are referring to big data whenever we discuss data. Simply put, brands need to collect, manage and process tons of data belonging to thousands of customers and leads. Can that be possible manually? For sure, not only does the idea seem unrealistic but also very time-consuming. But we do know that for any business, time is money.
Having said that, your best chance of collecting and processing data effectively is to deploy smart AI and machine learning solutions. With AI, you can handle large volumes of complex data in an uncomplicated way. In the ultimate sense, your effectiveness in dealing with customer data is the key to delivering great customer experiences. With data, you can understand your customers better and align your marketing campaigns with their interests in a worthwhile manner.
- Seamless customer experience
In this fast-moving world, customers want the quickest possible resolution of their queries and issues. In fact, if a brand takes too long to respond to customer queries, it counts as an unpleasant customer experience. Review 42 concludes that almost 75 percent of customers will choose another brand over a brand with a complicated and time-consuming purchase process.
Having said that, can you afford to risk your customer retention scenarios by not responding to your customers on time? Also, having people around all the time to respond in real-time can be a hefty affair. However, with AI bots, you can offer a seamless and enriching experience to your customers and leads.
Insider Intelligence reveals that more than 40 percent of web users prefer interactions with AI chatbots rather than virtual assistants. Statistics and insights further conclude that 24 percent of businesses are using AI chatbots for customer interactions. Interestingly, the global market for AI chatbots is anticipated to reach USD 118.6 billion by the end of 2025 as per Statista.
Clearly, enterprises are increasingly investing in AI chatbots to enhance customer experience. Brands can create a strong impression by being available round the clock to cater to their service issues or queries. In the modern corporate world, AI solutions are at the forefront of minimal Average Handling Time (AHT) and ceaseless brand interactions in the digital space.
Also, AI chatbots will take some pressure off your customer service team and keep workplace motivation high as employees will be less vulnerable to burnout.
- Effective forecasting of future trends
With artificial intelligence, brands can also predict future trends in customer service and embrace them beforehand. AI solutions based on data can offer effective insights into how customer preferences are changing with time. It is a well-known fact that customer preferences do not stay the same for a long time.
The sooner you apprehend the changes the better it is as in that case, you can alter your strategies or plan new tactics well in time. Subsequently, when a new trend begins to thrive, you can capture it from the word go. AI solutions can enable you to get all the credible insights into the evolving patterns of customer behavior. For instance, with AI, you can determine the specific trends relevant to millennial shoppers.
Based on these insights, you can then revamp your content strategies and other operational strategies to engage your target customers. Besides, with insights, you can have a more targeted and segmented approach to customer engagement. When you have such an effective approach, customers will respond positively.
To recapitulate, artificial intelligence is literally transforming the customer service landscape for the better. AI is providing businesses exactly the kind of opportunities that they have wanted to build competitive advantages over their competitors. From data analytics to personalization and incessant customer support, with AI, brands are unlocking new horizons. In the contemporary world, AI is at the center stage of customer relationship management.
