This year has been the year of AI. We hosted the Global Customer Service Experience Director of Alvarez & Marsal Alex Mead ([email protected]) recently to talk about it, and I wanted to share what we discussed here with all of you, too.
One thing I appreciate about Mead is how his opinions make me think. For example, I asked him about the short-term implications of AI, meaning in the next one to five years. Mead says that he believes AI will reduce customer effort in experiences. He predicts that customers can ask, "Hey! Where's that order I placed two days ago?" that will be all they need to do for the AI to get them the information they want.
Mead says in this scenario, the AI does two things. First, it picks up the natural language interface, which has been around for at least three years. So, we should be able to speak or type questions like talking to someone. Second, the AI will start its work of authenticating the speaker and finding the information requested in less than a second by checking against various data points and platforms.
Predictive and Proactive
In addition to getting the information, Mead says AI will also discover or intuit whether the information puts the customer on a happy or unhappy path. For example, the AI may determine that the product ordered is now delayed a day by shipping. It may also decide based on the product and the date that it was a gift that will now be late. So, the AI will determine if there is a way to fix the unhappy path, whether from an alternative retail channel or a new delivery method.
It can also eliminate frustration and stress when traveling. Suppose you are at an airport, the airline cancels your flight, and you sit in a call center queue. Instead of waiting, a customer could ask the AI to find the options available that will get them where they need to go, and they can do so with nothing more than a question.
Mead says that the technology necessary to do this already exists. Moreover, tomorrow's customers will demand this simplicity and fluidity in their AI interactions. Therefore, it's up to organizations to break out of the "contact us" mindset that asks customers to press one for this and two for that to get us there.
With more time, Meads says AI will also provide more proactive experiences. That means when the AI realizes the airline canceled the flight, it will push out the options before you even have to ask. The same goes for the birthday gift; the option to still have the gift in time will be pushed to the customer rather than the customer asking about it. Instead of having the information, it will share the information.
Plus, Mead says it will consider the human reasons for doing things. AI will determine why a customer booked a flight. Was it for a wedding? A vacation? To visit someone who would be waiting to pick them up. These parts of the interaction will drive the proactivity.
Too Few See the Real Benefit of AI
In my experience, many organizations see cost-saving advantages to leveraging AI in customer service. However, too few recognize the key advantage AI can provide regarding experiences. Mead agrees, adding that it has been frustrating to him for years that organizations see customer service as a cost rather than an asset to the organization's bottom line.
Further, Mead thinks that the brand and marketing experience is one thing. It gets customer attention and convinces them to buy. The customer service experience is another, which describes every interaction a customer has at every life cycle stage, from pre-purchase to during the purchase to after purchase. The customer service experience occurs at every channel and every life cycle stage. Moreover, these two are intertwined.
The more you invest in customer service experience, Mead says, the more it pays for itself in sales and revenue and average revenue per customer.
In my view, no one is looking at the overall experience regarding AI. Few are saying, "How can we implement AI and generative AI in such a way that will give us the outcome that will create a loyal customer?" Instead, everybody's off running around doing their own thing and working too tactically without that bigger-picture view of the whole organization.