Without a doubt, AI has drawn a mixed reaction from enterprises and consumers alike. Yet, it’s also true that it is steadily reshaping the structure of the world as we see it. While all industries are impacted by the AI revolution, at present, its biggest footprint lies in the customer service sector.

Read on to find out how AI identifies customer goals and requirements to build a solid digital strategy for any business and how you can implement it in yours.

How AI Drives Customer Experience

Artificial intelligence has come a long way from being a trend to a necessity and now a norm. Since the first lockdown in 2020, we have noticed a shift in consumer behavior. The doubt and ambivalence towards AI solutions have now been overridden by the advantages it offers, viz. quick resolution and efficient task management. And don’t take my word for it — a rather recent Salesforce report claims that 87% of consumers now expect companies to expedite their digital capabilities given restrictions imposed in the wake of COVID-19.

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Now, the question is no longer whether AI can get widespread adoption but rather how it improves customer experiences as it goes mainstream. Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which your employees can directly benefit from AI (this indirectly improves the customer experience).

ML Improves Search

We’ve already seen this on search engines like Google — when we ask a question, and we’re presented with alternative answers and suggestions of other similar questions in the same domain. “People also ask” is actually machine learning at play, and considering this, the intelligence behind search can further be used to improve the efficiency of intranet applications. For whatever questions you may have, the search tool will connect your workforce applications and dig for a set of solutions. For instance, if you ask, “How much paid time off I have left?” the search application will realize you’re asking about your balance PTO and connect you to the relevant request process.

Listening Tools Assist Customer Service Agents

Listening tools are advanced AI solutions that help customer service agents by listening to customer conversations. The software can then recommend solutions to the customer or provide information regarding user policies on chatbots and other channels. So, instead of the agent doing all the digging, an embedded AI solution can be useful in querying multiple databases simultaneously, allowing the agent to focus on the customer and reduce the call time.

Identifying Trends From Data

This is yet another mainstream use of AI in improving the digital customer experience at the very root. AI can comb through a mountain of data to identify trends and insights. The data can range from the user interactions on your website to the products being viewed and the searches being made. With the power of AI at your disposal, you can create an entire timeline of interactions users have from start to finish and perform sentiment analysis at scale.

Making Artificial Intelligence The Cornerstone of Your Digital Strategy

AI is one of those technologies that can power your entire digital strategy, including content management, end-point experiences, and everything in between. Its ability to measure customer requirements, read behaviors and detect patterns makes AI the engine running your entire CX game plan. The best part is that getting started with it is far easier than you think.

Data Science, analytics, and customer experience have together given rise to something which is called Big Data Market Research. The idea is simple — instead of experimenting with bigger projects with rather expensive and risky cycle times, you can work with shorter sprint cycles. Ensure your data scientists and subject matter experts from your CRO, SEO, and digital and social media teams collaborate to achieve the desired results.

According to a Salesforce study, 65% of businesses and 52% of consumers are most likely to switch brands if the vendor doesn’t personalize communications or fails to understand their requirements. Again, a long wait time for customer support can also force the customers to look for other options.

Various businesses have invested heavily in developing a CRM data center that records every interaction the consumers have with their brand. Doing this helps them understand the expectations customers have with their brand at every touchpoint throughout the customer lifecycle.

AI-Powered Digital Marketing In Business

As artificial intelligence continues to advance, so will its credibility in turning the way we imagine digital marketing. Here are a few practical approaches in digital marketing where AI is indispensable. 

Email Marketing

AI helps to personalize email marketing campaigns at scale by making adjustments based on user behavior. So, your emails can be triggered based on certain user actions ensuring that the content is always relevant and thereby maximizing results. The very same tech can help you analyze and optimize your campaigns instantly, which might take you weeks manually.

AI Chatbots

With the consistent development of natural language processing, voice conversion technology, and AI semantic recognition, customer service has a new face. For starters, AI chatbots have made one-on-one customer service optional by offering 24/7 instant support to all users in any time zone.

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Chatbots can be linked with your enterprise knowledge base to answer all the commonly asked questions in real-time. In addition to that, customers can converse in a language of their choice. If the issue is more complex, the service can escalate the issue to the proper service department and if they are unavailable, ask the user to wait until they return during the working hours.

Content Marketing and Digital Advertising

Back in 2018, the digital ad spends worldwide was estimated at nearly $273.29 billion. By analyzing user data like demographics, interests, age, gender, etc., AI has revolutionized digital advertising. Viewers now receive largely relevant adverts, thereby improving the performance of the campaign. This goes beyond ads too. Through the same collected data, marketers get a better understanding of the best kind of content for their audience. This includes not only the domain and the genre but also the kind of content (textual, image, and video).

Parting Thoughts

AI is far out of the age of discovery and research when scientists experimented with deep learning to find patterns and make predictions. This is the age of implementation where entrepreneurs and engineers use the technology to transform how businesses function, especially in customer service and CX.

While largely responsible for influencing customer decisions, it is one of the greatest means at our disposal to deliver quick and irrefutable customer service. Including AI in your digital strategy is one of the single best decisions you will make to meet customer expectations and accelerate the growth of your brand.

Author’s Bio: Srushti Shah is an ambitious, passionate, and out-of-the-box thinking woman having vast Digital Marketing exposure. She is working as a Digital Marketer and Content writer at Acquire. Her key focus is to serve her clients with the latest innovation in her field, leading to fast and effective results. Working beyond expectations and delivering the best possible results is her professional motto. Other than work, she loves traveling, exploring new things, and spending quality time with family. Reach out to Srushti Shah on Twitter or LinkedIn