Dive Brief:
- Seven in 10 contact center, customer experience and marketing leaders believe generative AI will “meaningfully elevate the quality, value and efficacy of self-service,” according to a study released last month by CCW Digital.
- However, the survey also found that only 1 in 5 of consumers trust self-service as a productive support option, and 95% want access to agents for some or all issues.
- Personalization may be key to building trust. Nearly all contact center leaders believe there needs to be an emphasis on personalization in self-service, with modern chatbots tailored to individual needs, profiles and communication styles.
Dive Insight:
Modern chatbots should take into consideration a customer’s history with the brand and preferences for self-service channels, according to Julie Geller, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
This is an easy task for known customers but requires extra legwork for people who are new to the brand or prefer not to log in to an account, Geller said. In those cases, chabots should utilize data from broader trends and patterns in customer queries to determine the sort of assistance an unknown customer may be looking for.
A generative AI-powered chatbot should also be able to engage in natural language conversations, according to Patrick Quinlan, senior director analyst at Gartner. Customers who choose to use a chatbot should not feel like they’re being fed canned answers from a FAQ.
“Conversation is human; searching and browsing are not,” Quinlan told CX Dive in an email.
When possible, chatbots should include a customer’s personal data in their responses. This helps the bot give the feeling that it knows the customer, which makes it feel more human, Quinlan said.
However, he noted that companies shouldn’t view generative AI as a perfect solution for every problem. Agents must be available for customers who prefer interacting with humans, and issues like data privacy are important considerations to keep in mind.
“My bigger concern is that leaders may invest in AI based more on promises than reality,” Quinlan said. “AI has tremendous potential to reshape how we deliver customer service, but it is not the fix to every problem.”
