The Future is Here: Artificial Intelligence and Bots in Customer Service

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Top Takeaways:

• March shares his Six Pillars of Customer Service: 1) be prepared for crises in social era; 2) lean into the power of messaging; 3) make effective use of bot technology; 4) deploy AI effectively; 5) adopt a messaging approach to all digital channels; and 6) use social agents as the model of future customer service teams
• March gives the history of clients using Twitter or Facebook pages as customer service platforms despite other channels; a recent trend is private messaging, which significantly reduces email and chat volumes.
• The next evolution in social customer service is artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation, which enable humans and bots to exist in the same conversation in a way that isn’t really possible on other service channels.
• According to March, private messaging is the first service channel to potentially replace phone-based customer service. Although phone AI misunderstandings can lead to awkward transitions to human representatives, messaging AI can make seamless transitions.
• Hyken and March both see a trend in consumers very rapidly starting to expect a messaging option.
• March urges entrepreneurs to take baby steps – don’t build a massive chat-bot; instead, use machine learning to recognize and respond to the most common questions you currently receive. Automating just 25% creates a huge efficiency gain, speeds up the resolution for your customers, and saves your agents a lot of hassle. Small changes can yield big returns.
• March sees a future in which AI will handle routine questions, while humans will be top-tier agents who can handle complex issues that require greater access and ability to resolve them, so make sure your human messaging agents have good typing skills.

Quotes:

“We’re seeing [messaging platforms] become the primary channel of choice for customer care from the business perspective and the customer’s perspective.” – Joshua March

“Over the next few years, your customers are going to expect that they can speak to you seamlessly and easily on their phones by messaging you on [Facebook, Twitter, Instagram], and if you’re not there, it’s going to be a problem.” – Joshua March

“Anyone in the customer service role today needs to be thinking about how they can adapt their organization to this messaging-centric future, which is very rapidly coming.” – Joshua March

About:

Joshua March is Co-founder and CEO at Conversocial, provider of social customer service software for Fortune 500 companies. Marsh is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Message Me, The Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging.”

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

1. What is a message bot?
2. What is social customer service?
3. What can I do to improve customer service?
4. What is the next big customer service innovation?
5. How does automated customer service messaging work?