Five reasons customer experience needs AI

It goes without saying that retailers continue to face lingering supply chain disruptions and record-high unemployment and turnover. Likewise, consumers developed considerably high expectations during the pandemic when service reached new heights of personalization, convenience and speed with Amazon leading the way.

Successfully delivering modern customer experiences (CX) for today’s digitally-savvy consumers is extremely difficult (and potentially impossible) without AI. And while retailers are eager to leverage AI to meet evolving CX needs, they must first identify how and where they can deploy this technology to maximize efficiency. Below are five ways AI can enhance CX enormously. 

1. Automation 

AI is pivotal to powering automation features, making CX smooth and consistent. Retailers can utilize AI-powered automation to send SMS and chat updates on the status of a shipment or abandon cart notifications to remind customers to complete their online orders. AI can also automatically log call analytics to Salesforce CRM and contact records. Similarly, AI can help automate the appointment management process – from SMS reminders to post-call surveys, improving appointment attendance and increasing revenue.

2. Speed/ efficiency 

AI can boost efficiency, empowering humans to complete tasks quickly. For instance, AI capabilities, such as intelligent routing, can send customer calls to the best available agent based on shopper data or other caller details. The agent doesn’t need to spend ten minutes asking investigative questions – instead, they can immediately work on solving requests or issues. Likewise, if an AI solution, like natural language processing, identifies a Spanish speaker, it can connect the customer to the most qualified representative.  

3. Personalization

Data is an invaluable resource, and with AI, which can analyze, deconstruct and categorize data better than any human, retailers can elevate CX. Through AI’s incredible data-mining abilities, retail brands can create personalized interactions like contextual promotions based on omnichannel engagement or timely reward deliveries for increased customer loyalty. Moreover, businesses can further enhance CX by sending individualized campaigns via the channel of their choice, be that SMS or voice or social.  

4. Self-service/ convenience 

AI systems can support many self-service features, allowing customers to pay bills, make changes to an order or update account details without going through the retail business directly. Like automation, AI-driven self-service capabilities help retailers optimize resources while delivering the most convenient experience possible. Additionally, contact center agents don’t have to worry about resolving overly-repetitive tasks like password changes, reducing turnover and helping employees prioritize more complex high-touch activities.

5. Omnichannel 

In this modern era of omnichannel retail, an ideal customer experience must meet individual shopper needs, which is where AI can be a huge help. When communicating with a business, consider that today’s consumers interact with about twenty different channels. (Internet Retailing, 2021) Ensuring that these divergent touchpoints deliver a consistent CX is immensely challenging. However, retailers can use AI – namely, its data-capturing and automation capabilities – to provide a seamless omnichannel shopping experience, whether online or in-store. 

IntelePeer’s ready to use AI 

Determining where to leverage AI to maximize CX is one thing but figuring out how to integrate such systems into existing infrastructure is another challenge. Thankfully, with IntelePeer’s platform, retailers can easily combine current business software with our highly customizable communications automation solutions without causing costly disruptions. 

This article was written by Tony Hai, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Bearn, a SaaS company that provides health management solutions for B2B organizations wishing to drive engagement in activities and behaviors that promote healthy, active lifestyles. Tony is an IntelePeer CEO Advisory Council member.