The era we’re living in offers businesses an unprecedented opportunity: They can make customers more satisfied than ever. It takes vision and a new paradigm. Organizations that realize this, and adopt the right tools to achieve it, will be most likely to soar past the competition.
Unfortunately, far too few businesses are taking the necessary steps. They’re getting caught up in AI hype rather than getting strategic. Here’s what leaders need to do now to move in the right direction.
Tell the future
The next wave of the customer experience (CX) isn’t just about using AI. It’s about being predictive . Organizations can determine customers’ likely concerns and challenges before they happen, and solve them proactively.
The goal of customer service has always been to provide people with the most frictionless experience possible. In the past, that meant reducing friction when problems arise. Now, organizations can prevent friction.
For example, imagine that your broadband provider is going to have some work done, which could slow your service for a period of time. The company knows that you generally have especially high traffic during those hours. It should message you in advance, explaining that it’s upgrading in order to improve your experience, and that if any problems arise it will make them right. That way you can plan. Customers appreciate this sort of heads up.
To do this, a company must often look multiple steps ahead. Recently, I had to fly from one U.S. city to another to catch a flight to Europe. When the first leg was delayed, the airline automatically put me on a flight through the same U.S. city -- more than a day (28 hours) later. That was, of course, not acceptable. The airline should have predicted that I would be extremely dissatisfied. It should have automatically booked me through another city to arrive at my location as soon as possible. Instead, I had to spend five hours on the phone, most of it on hold, to make that happen.
Data is gold dust
Proactive resolutions are only possible when the business has all the right data. AI tools that take actions based on incomplete information are worthless. That’s likely what happened with the airline -- it may have had two separate systems processing information about each of my flights, rather than a single, intelligent system that pulls together all of the information and understands that the goal was to reach my final destination.
To stay a step ahead of the consumer, the business needs to access every scrap of information into a single customer record. It needs to combine conversations a customer has with the brand across all channels (chats, phone calls, online bookings, social media and more). When AI processes all of this data, it can show the company what each customer likes and dislikes; problems that have led the customer to contact the company in the past; what kinds of interactions the customer rated highly; and anything else that’s relevant.
AI tools can also see in aggregate what other customers have dealt with, and what kinds of solutions satisfied them. Based on this information, they can recommend the right next steps.
That's why the top customer experience tools for improving customer satisfaction are not just omnichannel; they are unified , providing a holistic understanding of each customer. This is best accomplished through a unified customer experience management platform (UCXM).
To maximize the effectiveness of these platforms, organizations should also increase cooperation, sharing whatever information customers allow. For example, when you book a flight, the airline can offer to let your credit card, bank, and favorite hotel chains know where you’re going and when. That way, these companies know not to send you fraud alerts when you suddenly have charges in that new city. And a hotel might reach out to you instantly, knowing your preferences and offering you a room so you can skip the hassle of finding and booking one.
Creating fans
Customer experience is the ultimate differentiator. When an organization delivers predictive CX, it goes beyond just developing a loyal customer. It creates a fan – someone who will publicly praise the brand. The lifetime value of a fan is substantially higher. Not only do fans keep coming back for more, but they bring others along with them.
The top customer experience tools for improving customer satisfaction deliver legions of fans. (This is a big reason I recommend Nextiva – a company I have a professional relationship with, but my opinions are entirely my own.) With a unified customer experience management solution as your vehicle, your business can get rid of roadblocks, pave the smoothest path possible, and give customers what they seek: the fastest ride to their destination.
About the author: Wayne Butterfield is Partner for AI, Automation, and Contact Center Transformation at ISG . An automation pioneer, he guides businesses through digital transformation, as well as cognitive and AI automation, in ways that transform customer service. An early adopter of RPA in 2010, he created one of the first enterprise-scale RPA operations. For more than 15 years, he’s been at the forefront of new technologies and pioneering solutions. He helps ensure organizations sidestep pitfalls and swiftly harness the power of modern technologies for efficiency and growth.
Edited by
Erik Linask
