Conversational experiences powered by generative AI not only enhance the overall customer service experience, but also help brands shift from a reactive to proactive customer service approach.
Imagine this – you’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of a package you ordered a week ago, as the store promised delivery within seven working days. However, eight, nine, 10 days have passed but the package has not arrived. Unhappy and losing patience, you proceed to message the retailer via their online chatbot to demand for an explanation.
If the brand offers 24/7 customer support, it’s likely provided via a chatbot powered by AI, and more recently, generative AI. With this solution, you can enter into a live conversation, ask your question, and receive an answer in a matter of seconds, helping you make an informed purchase decision right then and there. You might even get a few more recommendations for products you’ll be interested in, such as a leather shoe care kit, based on your purchase history.
This type of customer service interaction is part of a larger behavioural shift that can be attributed to people increasingly seeking more personalisation as well as customer care via messaging channels. By connecting with shoppers in the moment they seek assistance online, brands can unlock new sales opportunities and deepen customer loyalty.
Though it might sound counterintuitive at first, one way brands can provide human-centered messaging that drives both deep connections conversions at scale is through artificial intelligence (AI).
Conversational experiences powered by generative AI not only enhance the overall customer service experience, but also help brands shift from a reactive to proactive customer service approach. Such proactivity and empathy for customers fosters deeper connections, while offering clarity and objectivity and delivering consistent brand messaging, voice, and service quality.
Gaining customer loyalty with proactive messaging
Galvanised by the pandemic, digital transformation has progressed at lightning speed over the last few years – but many retail brands still have a ways to go where customer experience is concerned. Zendesk’s CX Trends 2023 report found that across Asia Pacific (APAC), 67% of consumers feel that most companies could be doing a better job personalising customer experiences online, and 75% expect to be able to get in touch with an agent within a few clicks or taps. Further, 70% of APAC consumers said they would spend more with companies that allow them to start a conversation on one channel – such as an online chat – and pick it up on another – perhaps a phone call with a live agent – without needing to repeat themselves.
These are important insights that retailers are picking up on. The industry needs solutions that help them proactively connect with their increasingly savvy audience, improve their shopping experience, and build positive brand association through sincere, human-driven messaging.
With proactive messaging solutions, brands can reach out to shoppers using more meaningful and timely messages that are not only personalised, but contextual. Say a customer is trying to checkout an item during a retailer’s online sale before it goes out of stock, but is facing issues with its payment system. A CX solution enabled with generative AI and proactive messaging capabilities would be able to detect the delay in checking out and send the customer a proactive message enquiring if they need any assistance. Based on their response, intent and sentiment analysis can then triage and route this particular chat to a live agent given its complexity, complete with an accurate summary of the situation and the customer’s past interactions and a suggested response for the agent to review and tweak before hitting “reply”.
These sorts of personalised and proactive messages, which are based on user behaviour, interaction history, previous orders, and profile, can help brands reduce operational costs, get ahead of issues before support teams are overwhelmed, and increase both conversion and sales rates. In fact, our Zendesk CX Trends report also shows 62% of leaders in APAC believe AI will drive large cost savings over the next few years. A majority (57%) of organisations also estimate a positive ROI on AI investments in enhancing and personalising the customer experience.
When augmented with proactive messaging and AI, great CX can go a long way in keeping customers happy and engaged, which in turn reduces the chance of churn – a real threat, when 60% of shoppers in APAC say they’ll switch to a competitor after just one bad experience.
The retail industry has always needed to provide excellent customer experience to thrive. In years past, retail brands could make their reputation on the level of service provided to shoppers in-store – from greeting and assisting shoppers to providing tailored suggestions and a more personal touch. This is not to say that in-store experiences aren’t important – but with the retail industry shifting online, more and more customers expect to receive the same level of customer service online as they do in-store. For the brands that keep up, there are plenty of rewards to reap.
