{"id":23850,"date":"2018-02-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/?p=23850"},"modified":"2021-06-22T16:11:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:11:43","slug":"blended-ai-will-improve-customer-experience-cx-but-keep-it-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/blog\/blended-ai-will-improve-customer-experience-cx-but-keep-it-human\/","title":{"rendered":"Blended AI will Improve Customer Experience (CX), But Keep It Human"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe believe that in 2018, the use of blended AI will help improve sales outcomes and reduce customer servicing costs. But, there are implications.\u201d – <\/span><\/i>Forrester<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

When it comes to delivering prompt, effective service to customers, human customer support agents have their limitations. For example, for all but the biggest multinational companies, customer service isn\u2019t available 24\/7. And even during regular working hours, the supply of sales people, customer success managers and support agents is finite, causing wait times, call abandonment, and dissatisfaction (in other words: bad customer experience). <\/span><\/p>\n

Artificial Intelligence-powered technology is even more limited – even though it\u2019s available 24\/7, even the swiftest systems can\u2019t handle anything more than simple or common inquiries (yet). And when was the last time you called customer service with a simple problem? Too many situations are unique. Try to have your problem solved by an algorithm, and even worse CX ensues.<\/span><\/p>\n

But do you see what I see?<\/span><\/p>\n

I see two puzzle pieces coming together. Two halves of a potential whole. Two wrongs making a right.<\/span><\/p>\n

What if we blend them together?<\/span><\/p>\n

Blended AI, but which path to take?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Forrester qualifies their prediction that blended AI is in our near future by also speculating that it will result in dropping customer satisfaction levels, \u201cas companies drive more traffic to chatbots, self-service, and chat that are not fully optimized to engage customers effectively.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Essentially, if you use AI\/chatbots to replace human interaction, your customers won\u2019t appreciate it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, if you use AI\/chatbots to facilitate human interaction\u2026 well, that\u2019s another story altogether. <\/span><\/p>\n

There tends to be two camps of thought when it comes to AI interactions with customers and it boils down to whether or not you want your customers to know they are interacting with a bot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Avoiding Smoke & Mirrors in CX<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lisa Abbott, VP of Marketing at Wootric, believes in transparency in CX and particularly in customer interactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI value brands that I can trust. If I find out your sales development rep is really a bot, I feel foolish for having wished “her” a good day. And, I have to wonder what else you are comfortable hiding from me. It is no way to begin an authentic customer relationship.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It is important to remember that the customer\u2019s priority is achieving their goals efficiently. If AI can help you get them there faster, customers will be delighted. However, passing a email sender or chatbot off as \u201cAmanda\u201d does nothing to meet customer needs and can risk alienating them if the bot gets caught. <\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that there is no need for a charade. <\/span><\/p>\n

Intercom’s Operator bot<\/span><\/a> was designed knowing that consumers are tired of chatbots that “try to answer questions they shouldn’t and pretend to be human which leads to bad customer experiences.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Another good example of transparency is Drift\u2019s chatbot — their bot\u2019s language is breezy and human, but it is clear that sales leads are interacting with a bot. It\u2019s fun to interact with their bot, rather than falling into the \u201cuncanny valley\u201d of creepy by trying to pass a bot off as human. Think <\/span>Wall-E <\/span><\/a>rather than <\/span>Commander Shepard<\/span><\/a> from Mass Effect 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For a good example of B2C interactions, take a look at Levi\u2019s <\/span>Virtual Stylist<\/span><\/a>. It quickly guides customers through a decision tree to narrow down the broad range of style options offered by Levi\u2019s and adds a human element with a \u201csee it styled\u201d option, which shows customers how other folks have styled the suggested jeans. <\/span><\/p>\n

In each of these cases, a bot does a masterful job of building customer relationships — as a bot!<\/span><\/p>\n

Passing the Turing Test<\/span><\/h3>\n

Arri Bagah<\/span> is the head of chatbots at <\/span>BAMF media<\/span><\/a>, a growth hacking agency for B2B businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

He agrees that chatbots can work well as a customer service tool \u201cespecially to help people make purchase decisions faster and more conveniently, answering questions on the fly so people don\u2019t have to wait to get their answers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But he believes brands can also use these conversations to start building relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n

He says, \u201cYou can use bots at the top of the funnel to teach, build the relationship, and sell.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I\u2019m doing on my own website is to ask visitors if I can walk them through a few strategies to help them reduce their Facebook ads cost. \u2018Can I teach you about\u2026[whatever it is]?\u2019 You can put people through that sequence and, at the end, recommend a product that would help them move forward to the next steps. And people can ask questions. I\u2019ve set it up to where the bot notifies me to answer specific questions live.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bagah works specifically with Facebook Messenger, but his advice can apply to any AI messaging app. When you start to think of messaging as a relationship-building, educational tool, whole new avenues of interaction open up.<\/span><\/p>\n

But – according to Arri, it has to sound like a human being. <\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a trick to that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at how people use messaging apps, they use images and gifs, not just text. That\u2019s what you need to use with a chatbot to make it feel personal and engaging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He says he designs his clients\u2019 Facebook chatbots to have <\/span>personalities<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re funny. They send you GIFs that make you smile. When you nail down that personality, you\u2019ll see people asking \u2018is this a person?\u2019 I love those questions!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Arri, when customers can\u2019t tell whether a bot is AI or a human being, you\u2019re getting it right – especially when the bot can pass warmed-up leads to a real sales agent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Customer Expectations Will Make the Choice for You<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you intend to incorporate AI into your customer experience, you will need to make the decision of whether to disclose the robot nature of specific interactions or not. If you are not sure, it may be wise to gauge your customers\u2019 sentiments around bot interactions, or deploy some testing with both methods and determine which is better suited to your company\u2019s need. <\/span><\/p>\n

Service is a good start, but blended AI can deliver so much more<\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not just about quality of service – it\u2019s about quality of data (qualitative data, that is). Website designers and optimizers have traditionally used click analytics to determine the performance of a website, landing page, or SaaS product engagement. But one of <\/span>Forrester\u2019s predictions for 2018<\/span><\/a> is that 25 percent of enterprises will supplement click analytics with conversational interfaces that deliver voice-of-customer data. <\/span><\/p>\n

Conversational interfaces, bots, chats – whatever you want to call them – are treasure troves of voice-of-customer data that can tell you why something doesn\u2019t work (click analytics just tell you something is wrong, and it\u2019s up to you to figure out what). But troubleshooting is just the tip of the iceberg, because once you have a customer talking to you, you can ask them to tell you what they want, need, wish they had, and plain don\u2019t like. <\/span><\/p>\n

Forget about optimizing your CTA button – you can optimize your business for the best possible CX.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not quite that simple, because you\u2019ll have hundreds and thousands of conversations coming through.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re working at scale, sifting through qualitative data to come up with business-changing insights is another challenge altogether. And this is where AI can really shine.<\/span><\/p>\n

One example is Pearl-Plaza\u2019s <\/span>CXInsight\u2122<\/span><\/a> , AI-powered text and sentiment analysis tool that can categorize unstructured feedback based on what matters most to you. Millions of Wootric survey responses pre-train the algorithm to look for important themes, which can be further segmented by buyer persona, user group, sentiment, or even individual. Like <\/span>the best examples of blended AI<\/span><\/a>, the AI does the tedious, time consuming work of categorizing massive quantities of qualitative data, letting the humans spend their time digging into the insights and taking action. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"CXInsight-<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

Are you ready to power your CX with AI in 2018?<\/span><\/h2>\n

From customer service to warming up sales leads, from educating consumers to helping derive insights from massive amount of data, AI can do so much to improve customer experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as <\/span>Forrester<\/span><\/a> predicts, \u201cHaving a successful AI-driven customer service or sales program will depend on the processes that support a blended AI approach.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Our prediction is this: Companies that have the processes in place to support AI and understand what AI tools can accomplish – and their limitations – will be poised to grow exponentially in 2018. <\/span><\/p>\n

Are you one of them?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Get insights from qualitative data. Learn more about Pearl-Plaza CXInsight\u2122.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe believe that in 2018, the use of blended AI will help improve sales outcomes and reduce customer servicing costs. But, there are implications.\u201d – Forrester When it comes to delivering prompt, effective service to customers, human customer support agents have their limitations. For example, for all but the biggest multinational companies, customer service isn\u2019t Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":23853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,152],"tags":[575],"industry":[34,580],"class_list":["post-23850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-customer-experience","tag-wootric","industry-b2b","industry-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23850"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmoment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=23850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}