“Is there an AI for that?” Yes, there probably is. With how widespread AI has become, it was only a matter of time AI entered the customer experience space.
Here’s a few examples of questions we’ve been asked in the last few weeks:
- Can we integrate AI with my helpdesk?
- How do you think support will change in the next few years with AI?
- Are these new AI tools worth investing time and energy into setting up?
We don’t have all the answers, but here’s our take on how AI would empower support agents, improve customer experience, and is something we should all embrace!
Your agents will be even more important and brands will change the way agents are trained.
wrrk had helped many brands set up self-service options and AI-powered features. In most cases, 20% of tickets can be deflected and never have to reach an agent. With an investment into a 3rd party AI solution, that number climbs up into the 80s. In a world where common questions can be resolved quickly with the assistance of an AI, the type of conversations that reach human agents will change. They will be new/complicated issues that your helpdesk hasn’t learned how to resolve (yet).
The old paradigm where you train support agents on your most common issues to maximize value and close as many tickets as quickly as possible will be a thing of the past. Instead, brands will need to provide guiding principles and guidelines that empower agents to talk to customers. Build a repository of information that the new technology can then read and use to respond to your customers.
A different skillset will be required.
Your agents’ experiences will evolve over time. What we’re seeing now are AI tools built by helpdesks that summarize content from your help centers and past conversations; an agent reviews and hits send to reply to your customer or adds a note that sums up the conversation thus far. There are also tools that integrate with your storefront to upsell and make product recommendations, but a customer might still want to hear that recommendation from a human voice. AI can also make recommendations to your agents on how to resolve the tool.
Over time, these “easy” tasks that agents are manually doing may fall into scope with what an AI can confidently take over. Your agents should lean into the skills that make them human and irreplaceable – pick up on verbal/unwritten cues, have conversations, and build relationships with customers. The customers who still call you really want to talk to somebody and desire a human interaction!
A more holistic look at customers will be available.
The previous model where customers reach out to you, then is routed through to many different departments, and phone support agents don’t speak to email/chat support agents because you have support agents spread across multiple BPOs/call centers and don’t talk to each other AND different ticket systems… exhausting just to read, right? Customers will no longer find that acceptable.
With omnichannel helpdesks, there really is no excuse for customers to have to reach out and re-explain an issue many times. Plus, integrating all your systems and agents in one place means any AI tool you use will work better for you! Your agents will have unparalleled info on your customers, which will allow them to provide customized service that previously was only available to your VIP customers.
The “important” KPIs will evolve.
Your response times will go down once you incorporate AI into your support environment. You’ll also have more complicated problems going to agents because customers will be able to resolve most of their issues on their own using your help center. That is a given and that means the KPIs you measure your team with will change. Instead of using response times and solves in a day, you’d likely evolve into tracking more customer-centric numbers like sales conversions, cancellations saved, cross-sold conversations, etc.
Because of lower ticket volume, your front line staff will also now have the time to build relationship with customers and delight customers in a way that they haven’t been able to before. Send a handwritten note/card someone’s way if they mention a significant life event. The possibilities are endless!
Proactive Wins.
Your customer support team is often not utilized in a way that is proactively generating revenue for you. There’s will be an opportunity now to change that. Instead of waiting for customers to reach out when something goes wrong or they need something, proactively reach out to them! See how well things are going if they haven’t submitted a product review. Tell them in advance of exciting new products/features if they’ve mentioned anything that might mean they would be interested before – they’re then more likely to promote your brand.
Don’t know where your organization stands compared to others or want to talk through your options in terms of the best AI for your use case? Reach out to our team for a support ops audit as your first step!
