How to Know the True Impact of AI in Customer Service with Jeff Fettes

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

1. How do you measure true ROI on AI in customer service?  
2. What customer service metrics should companies track to evaluate AI success?  
3. Why do most customer service AI implementations fail?  
4. How can contact centers integrate AI across the entire customer journey?  
5. Should AI in customer support be used to replace human employees or assist them? 

Top Takeaways:

• Use AI in customer service because it is beneficial, not just because it is new. AI should be implemented when it makes processes genuinely easier or better for customers. It is about evaluating what your customers, employees, and organization need and then using AI to deliver that. 

• Limiting AI to the beginning of your interaction adds unnecessary cost and frustration, especially if the customer still needs to speak to a human later. For better impact, integrate AI into every stage of the customer service journey where appropriate. 

• When customers move from AI to human agents, history and the details of the interaction should be transferred seamlessly. This way, agents do not need to ask questions that force customers to repeat themselves. 

• The goal of AI should not be to replace staff but to support them. It should enhance the capabilities of your existing team and help them to reach your organization’s unique goals. 

• Many leaders claim their AI projects are successful even when they’re over budget or delayed. A study by Laivly found that 65% of leaders called their most recent AI initiative successful even though, in reality, 43% of AI projects are delayed or stalled, and 53% went over budget. 

• Don’t measure AI by the percentage of customers it touches or deflects. Focus on how it improves productivity and customer satisfaction metrics that you have set within your organization. AI is only successful when it delivers results that are important for your business and improvements that are meaningful to your customers.    

• Plus, Shep and Jeff discuss more stats and insights from The AI Paradox: Everyone Thinks They’re Winning. Tune in! 

Quotes:

“Customers only want to participate in AI if it’s going to be good for them, if it’s going to be easier for them, if it’s going to make their lives better, and if they like it.”   

“The promise of AI is that it should support the metrics you already know make your organization successful. If you have to reinvent your organization completely with a new set of metrics to support AI, you’re probably heading down a path that is going to be more difficult.”

“AI in the contact center should be deployed in the entire workflow, from addressing the customer, to assisting the agent, to post-contact follow-up.”  

“Look at the AI metrics that are intrinsic to your organization. What are the things that you do every single day? Those are the metrics that have to be impacted by AI to know that you’re successful.” 

About:

Jeff Fettes is the founder and CEO of Laivly, a platform that addresses customer experience challenges by integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation into customer service workflows.

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