Delivering a high-quality customer experience on a consistent basis converts customers into enthusiastic brand advocates – people who genuinely want to tell their friends and colleagues about the experience your products and/or services deliver. And they might even post on their social media platforms, which is incredibly strong (and essentially free) marketing – boosting levels of engagement across your brand’s social media platform – boosting your brand awareness.
On top of the brand advocacy that you can generate with a positive customer experience, you will also see higher rates of average customer satisfaction that translates to higher earnings. Eighty-six percent of consumers say they will pay more for a great customer experience. Some research suggests people are willing to pay a premium of up to 13% (and as high as 18%) for luxury and indulgence services.
Amidst an increase in customer expectations is AI’s growing role in customer experience. Marketers are now at the mercy of algorithms that shape everything from visible customer-facing interactions to behind-the-scenes operations. This means the marketer’s role is to ensure the right balance between technological advancements and human connection. You must have an ‘entrance and an exit ramp’ strategy for your customers – from the first engagement to the last – and how AI can improve it.
Visible and Invisible AI
AI enhancing technologies can be visible and invisible. Visible AI directly interacts with customers, such as chatbots and virtual assistants. These tools can provide instant support, answer queries and even engage in casual conversation. Invisible AI operates behind the scenes, analyzing data, optimizing processes and personalizing experiences.
The best customer experiences combine these in a seamless journey. The visible AI, like a chatbot, may handle initial queries while unseen AI assesses the customer’s mood and urgency. AI can escalate the issue to a human agent, providing them with data on the customer’s history, sentiment and potential solutions. This can resolve issues faster and with more empathy.
AI Customer Experience Management
AI-powered sentiment analysis can identify if a customer is satisfied or frustrated, and this data should be passed to the relevant teams to respond. Similarly, in customer support, AI should ensure that when a bot hands off to a human agent, the agent has access to all the necessary information, including the customer’s sentiment. Here’s where AI can you improve the customer experience:
1. Identify a customer journey that may need refinement. Look for processes that are well understood within the company but may cause customers problems.
2. Convene a cross-organizational team that represents every step of the journey. Involve the people who know the most about the journey being investigated. For example, an upgrade program for software needs to involve the product and support managers.
3. Have each team member document what happens with one customer from start to finish. Team members should concentrate on what they see the customer (not the process) is doing and how the customer is reacting.
4. Compare notes, highlight the differences, then reassign parts of the journey to the departments responsible for that part. For example, billing matters go to accounts receivable, product inquiries to product marketing. Have each department document improvements for their part of the customer’s interaction.
5. Reconvene the team and lay out the customer journey with corrected experiences, giving the most attention to handoffs in the process. Remember, the objective is to document the best customer experience possible.
While AI is improving personalization, efficiency and customer support, it also presents challenges. AI systems can sometimes lack empathy, misinterpret context, or raise concerns about data privacy. Overreliance on technology can lead to impersonal interactions or reinforce biases.
It’s easy for customers to get frustrated at poor handoffs between different AI tools and to human service agents. By prioritizing the right AI in the customer experience journey, businesses can increase customer retention and loyalty, generate organic brand advocacy, expand their market share, and ultimately drive the bottom line.
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Kushner, Theresa. 6 steps to help improve your customer experience with AI. MarTech. November 22, 2024. https://martech.org/6-steps-improving-customer-experience-ai
How Customer Experience Drives Business Growth. Impact. Feb 21, 2024. https://www.impactmybiz.com/blog/how-customer-experience-drives-business-growth