This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any feedback.
Speed is an important element of self-service, but it is not the only thing that counts.
The balance between speed and quality is particularly important to build trust in generative AI. Customers are open to chatbots, but they are not willing to risk traditional service for a theoretically faster experience, experts said at a Webinars hosted last week by CCW Digital and Zendesk.
“If they feel like they have to give up a certain level of empathy, if they have to give up a better solution, if they have to give up the relevance of what they are getting just to save some time, it will feel like a decision they do not want to make,” Brian Cantor, Managing Director and Senior Analyst at CCW Digitalsaid during the presentation.
Generative AI chatbots aren’t designed to provide a human touch, but they can provide a personal touch. The right approach to self-service, backed by the right data, can make customers feel like chatbots understand their needs.
Personalization is a significant weakness in modern contact center operations – according to Cantor, only 20% of consumers say they find the typical customer service interaction to be highly personalized.
Simply showing what you know about the customer isn’t true personalization, Cantor says. Companies need to use that knowledge to transform the customer experience, and AI is well-suited to taking actionable consumer data and automating interactions based on that information.
No chatbot will ask a customer about their pets or vacation plans like a good customer service representative would, but the technology can analyze past interactions to find possible solutions. A well-informed chatbot doesn’t force customers to repeat information and can tailor its responses based on past interactions.
However, creating a personalized experience requires careful data management, so Jason Maynard, Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk.
Companies need to ensure that all relevant data is properly integrated into the technology stack before it is useful for running chatbots. This includes ensuring that customer metadata, answers to common customer queries, and information about the company’s products and services are easily accessible to chatbots.
“Make sure your content is complete, robust and up to date,” Manyard said. “Those are the big areas that I think will really drive this technology forward.”
