Embracing automation: How the newest tools can create customers for life

This article was previously published on Fast Company .

One way to set your business apart from the crowded competition is by providing excellent customer service. Modern tools like AI are crucial to providing that edge.?

It is hard to overstate the importance of understanding customers—they are the lifeblood of our success. To make sure they stick around, we have to innovate constantly. A current opportunity for immense growth can be found in AI-powered customer experiences. By leveraging the power of robotics and AI, we can improve both satisfaction and loyalty: two essential ingredients in customer retention.?

A SCALABLE SOLUTION

In the past, expanding businesses had to spend significant resources on call centers and customer service. When the internet became widespread, innovative companies leveraged websites to answer frequently asked questions or direct customers to an email support desk.

Now, we find ourselves in a highly competitive economic rebound, where customers expect an ultra-personalized experience and can find numerous options elsewhere if they do not feel cared for.

AI offers a scalable solution to this problem. By harnessing advanced AI, businesses can rapidly communicate with their customers. Automating repetitive tasks or using AI to answer customer inquiries gives companies a way to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and provide faster and more accurate service. This, in turn, leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Large-scale robotics deployment can create a seamless and efficient customer experience that is scalable in a way that human-operated customer service centers could never be.

Of course, many customers get frustrated when they encounter an online chatbot or can tell their email was answered by AI. Robotics is still in its infancy, and everyone has had the experience of an online store’s chatbot taking them in endless circles.

However, companies can overcome this by ensuring that there are human workers available as “fallbacks” for more complex situations, or to provide a more personal touch. Striking a balance between automation and human interaction to meet customer expectations effectively is key.

REENGINEERING FOR OPTIMAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The process of reengineering is essential in creating sustainable and delightful customer experiences. By regularly analyzing and redesigning their business processes, companies can keep customer satisfaction at the center of their operations. By mapping talent and adapting to evolving business opportunities, these same businesses can create a balanced triangle of automation, human resources, and customer needs, ensuring delightful customer experiences that are the rule, not the exception.?

The focus on customer satisfaction should be relentless—utmost importance should be placed on knowing why our long-term customers keep returning so that we can continue to meet their needs effectively. Their invaluable feedback also helps us to take our wins and use them to attract and retain new customers. Self-critiquing may not be easy, but it is necessary to grow and improve our business relationships. And it is a great place to leverage the power of AI.

By optimizing all three legs of the triangle, businesses can put themselves ahead of the competition. Designed around improving efficiency, and thereby elevating customer experience, AI can assist in mapping talent. Many repetitive tasks, although important, drain time from employees who could otherwise be engaged in complex or creative aspects of customer service. AI can also be leveraged with advanced chatbots that enhance customer engagement and improve response times.

By incorporating simple tools, businesses can show respect for clients’ time and concerns.?

STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Companies looking to improve their customer satisfaction must remain up to date on technological advancements, and integrate them into business processes where it makes sense. This can be difficult in these rapidly changing times, but putting in the effort pays dividends in the long run.

Everything we do should be about sparking customer loyalty. Candid, communicative, and customer-centric organizations will take the lead as we move into the future. By being transparent in their operations, staying approachable in their customer interactions across mediums, and focusing on delivering exceptional customer experiences, businesses can create lifelong loyalty. Robotics can help drive this quest and make the customer’s experience truly blissful.

Human employees may feel threatened by automation. One way to overcome this is by empowering employees and stakeholders with education and choices—this means involving them from the beginning of the process and making every effort to be as transparent as possible. By providing a way for them to voice their concerns and ask questions, employees can make informed decisions and feel more comfortable with the changes. This approach, aside from being the ethical choice, helps mitigate any potential negative impacts on morale or productivity. Employees need to trust that they are not being replaced, but rather supported, by the adoption of these new tools.?

LEVERAGE TECH, ENHANCE EXPERIENCE?

Robotics can have a transformative impact on businesses and their customers. The adaptive technology inherent in these digital tools can make every customer interaction unique and personalized, and can help free up their human counterparts to be creative. Large-scale robotics deployment can generate significant options, and it is something every 21st-century company needs to pursue.?