The past few years have seen the excitement around artificial intelligence (AI) in business grow steadily. In fact, according to IDC, executives invested in AI systems to the tune of US$24-billion in 2018 and are predicted to spend more than US$77-billion by 2022.
When hearing the words artificial intelligence, some people tend to worry about losing their jobs to robots. Rather than focusing on the negatives, it’s better to learn more about how AI can supplement and enhance human endeavors.
For instance, AI is changing the way businesses think about customer communications. Smart businesses recognize that AI can change communications into personalized experiences.
Simply by taking stock of what communications a customer is already receiving, businesses can start to plan how to use AI to augment customer experience, changing what were just communications into great digital experiences.
Here are three simple, but powerful, ways organizations can use AI to transform their customer communications.
1. Personalization to hyper-personalization
Companies typically have enough data to apply basic personalization when composing a message, in order to select the right channel, time and tone for each customer. Some are sitting on a treasure-trove of data that, if harnessed, can take their communications to the next level.
The next level of personalization is achieved by applying artificial intelligence to big data to predict the future behavior of a customer. AI is used to identify the offer that is most likely to result in action from the customer. It is also useful for providing content based on that prediction to prompt the user’s next action.
Ultimately, AI can help provide the kind of communication that is most useful to customers as individuals. Customers are therefore much less likely to get the wrong information and brands are much less likely to send out information that damages their reputation, ultimately impacting their bottom line.
In this way, companies can customize each customer touchpoint in a journey, exponentially increasing the likelihood that the customer will engage with the business. This represents a massive benefit for the company – having a customer move into a more engaged state increases the potential for a higher lifetime value.
2. Integrating communications with voice tech
AI-enabled voice devices such as Siri, Google Home, and Amazon’s Alexa have become more prolific and are steadily integrating into our lives. Especially when it comes to newer generations, conducting information searches, writing shopping lists and even making purchases, are quickly executed via voice instruction.
Research estimates that in 2020, 50% of all searches will be done via voice and 30% of all searches will be done without a screen by 2020.
Considering the high adoption of voice technologies, organizations need to bring Ai-enabled voice tech to the forefront of customer engagement by using it to augment digital communication. For example, integrating voice tech into regular processes like bill payment provides an added convenience for customers, and an opportunity for the company to get paid faster.
3. Using chatbots to improve communication
While becoming common in customer service, chatbots are not often thought of as a way to enhance communication. Yet integrating intelligent chatbot functionality into a message is relatively simple and creates an instant opportunity for a two-way conversation with your customer.
There are many benefits to incorporating chatbots into communications for both the company and its customers. In a consumer survey by Ubisend, 69% of respondents said getting an instant answer was the main reason they used chatbots.
Working in concert
This kind of functionality is well within the capability of current AI technology and for more useful than any attempt to replace humans within organizations.
Instead, these use-cases illustrate how much potential there is for AI to work in concert with humans, augmenting their customer communication efforts. Importantly, with AI and humans working together, it’s possible to dramatically enhance CX, building relationships that result in loyal, engaged customers.