Home > Columns > CRM Columns

5 Often Overlooked Ways to Use AI to Improve Your Customer Service

Contributed Article by Ray Blakney, owner of Kairos Venture Studios  

Providing top-notch customer service is essential for amplifying customer retention, repeat sales, and overall business growth. Are you looking for new ways to optimize your company’s customer service department? You may not even realize it, but artificial intelligence may be the key ingredient missing from various customer service initiatives. While you may have already implemented an AI chatbot on your website to answer visitors’ questions (which expedites the buyer journey), there are many other ways AI can improve your customer service.

When you don’t automate as many customer service tasks as you can with AI, you are only preventing yourself from maximizing business success. In my journey as the owner of Kairos Venture Studios, which specializes in launching new online businesses in the Latin American market, I have discovered these 5 often overlooked ways to use AI to improve customer service:

Evaluating Customer Support Employees

Do you have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for your customer support team? For example, do you have SOPs related to the number of customer support tickets to be handled in a day, email greetings, and how steps are written out when helping customers with issues? Or, do you ask that customer support agents reply to all email inquiries within 2 hours of receipt during business hours? These SOPs are pivotal for streamlining communications and preventing further customer frustration that could ultimately lead to a loss of future sales.

Therefore, it would be in your best interest to verify that your customer support agents abide by your designated SOPs. AI is here to help! You can pass all support team emails through AI applications like Smartwriter.ai to judge how well they hold up to your company’s SOPs and values. You can also use AI software like TimeToReply to analyze average response time to email inquiries. If there are any discrepancies, you can further train your customer support agents so they can provide the best service possible. 

Streamlining Customer Follow-Ups

Regular, consistent follow ups are key for boosting repeat sales with your current buyers and landing new customers. The problem is that manually sending out weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly email follow-ups to your entire customer list can take so much time and effort. So let AI handle it! An automatic email follow-up tool like Mixmax can help businesses better check in with current and potential buyers to keep leads warm and increase customer retention. This is paramount for amplifying sales and growing the customer base.

Customizing Every Step of the Customer Experience 

Your customer base may comprise of all kinds of demographics, all with varying needs and interests. For example, a Fortune 500 CEO may regularly buy your products for their corporation, and a stay-at-home mom might purchase the same items for their home. Also, Baby Boomers and Gen Zers may both purchase your services, but they are at different stages in life and have varying tastes. So why use the same marketing strategy for all of them? 

AI can help customize the entire experience each of your customers has. For example, you can use AI software like Klaviyo to personalize email blasts for the various demographics in your customer list. An AI tool like Unbounce can also select the exact page a potential customer will open on your website. AI algorithms can even analyze customer data like past purchases and browsing behavior, and then recommend certain products that align with their various preferences. Providing tailored experiences can help boost new sales and repeat purchases. 

Sending Out Post-Purchase Questionnaires to Customers 

Customer feedback can help businesses improve existing products and services, pinpoint new demographics to target, and better the enterprise’s overall operations. However, it can be difficult to find the time to come up with an effective questionnaire for customers (and then figure out when to send it). Luckily, AI software like Qualtrics can be used to periodically send out questionnaires to customers to get their valuable feedback. Remember, when customers know that you care about their experience, they will be more likely to buy again from your business.  

Analyzing Data to Identify Customer Pain Points

Going off of the last point, it can be a really time-consuming process to read through every customer questionnaire to find common complaints and suggestions. However, it is important to do so, as you may be completely unaware of an issue that many of your customers are experiencing. An AI tool like Idiomatic can help companies pinpoint customer pain points based on large data sets (like years of reviews or customer feedback). This will help businesses improve their offerings and fuel brand loyalty.

To Wrap It All Up

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing businesses in virtually every industry. There are many AI tools available that will help you improve your customer service, which is pivotal for business growth and success. For example, you can use AI to evaluate your customer support employees, streamline customer follow-ups, and send out post-purchase questionnaires to your current buyers. AI software can even customize the entire customer experience! Follow any of the tips above to improve your customer service and bring your enterprise to new heights.

Ray Blakney is just your typical award-winning Filipino-American entrepreneur who grew up in Turkey and lives in Mexico. He has nearly two decades of business experience that have included starting, growing and leading over a dozen profitable companies along with hundreds of staff from across the USA and Latin America. Having spent his entire life across cultures, Ray knows firsthand the immense value that comes in bridging the gap between worlds. His newest venture, Kairos Venture Studios, is on a mission to bring a fresh take to online businesses in the Latin American market by launching 12 new businesses in the region each year. After hours, he can be found spending time with his family, traveling, or being a semi-professional sword fighter. He lives in Playa del Carmen, Mexico with his wife and son. www.rayblakney.com