In today's ultra-competitive business world, success of a business no longer depends solely on products and pricing. Consistent customer engagement is highly crucial. When customers are engaged with your brand, they are more likely to become loyal brand ambassadors, repeat buyers, and reliable sources of feedback. Moreover, according to recent research by Gallup, when customers are fully engaged, they contribute to a 23% increase in revenue for your business. At Advanced, we have recently embarked on a journey to refocus our business around a relentless approach to customer centricity.
However, establishing and maintaining consistent customer engagement is no easy feat. It requires brands to deeply analyse customer behavior and preferences and understand what type of communication customers want to receive, through which platform, and at what time. This is where the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes into the picture. However, we need to acknowledge that AI isn't a simple plug-and-play solution. AI enhances humans' ability to boost customer engagement—it's a combination of software and people!
In this article, we will take a closer look at how AI can help you revolutionise customer engagement by creating seamless and impactful interactions. Furthermore, we will navigate through the potential limitations that come with AI while sharing valuable pro tips on successfully implementing this groundbreaking technology to boost customer engagement.
Reshape customer engagement with AI
According to the Statista report, 94 percent of customers stated that a positive customer experience made them more likely to make a purchase again. However, 86% claimed that they would leave their preferred brand after receiving two to three bad customer service experiences.
So, how can AI reshape it all? The answer lies in creating exceptional customer engagement. Here are a range of effective strategies that utilize AI to enhance customer engagement and create a smooth and enjoyable customer journey.
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Real-time, 24/7 customer support
In today's fast-paced world, customers no longer want to wait on 'hold' when they call the support team of their brand for assistance. They crave immediate, round-the-clock responses from the brands they engage with. AI voice assistants and chatbots are the ideal solution in this case. By eliminating the long waiting queue, these AI chatbots answer customers' queries instantly without the need to talk to a real person. Furthermore, it enables brands to establish a customer service desk that is omnipresent and ready to assist customers 24/7 in real-time.
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Offer customised recommendations
By now, we are well-acquainted with the AI-powered recommendation software used by brands such as Netflix and Amazon. This software observes our interactions and recommends items based on our previous interactions, searches, and buying history. For example, if you frequently watch "The Big Flower Fight" on Netflix, the platform might suggest you try shows like "Next in Fashion." Similarly, if you search for Nike shoes, Amazon may recommend items similar to that. This way, AI enables brands to offer personalized recommendations to their customers, keeping them engaged until they convert.
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Data-driven customer insights
To effectively engage with customers, it is crucial to have a deep understanding of their motivations, behaviour, and preferences. This is where the impact of AI algorithms, such as machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), becomes invaluable.
ML models allow businesses to make predictions about future customer behaviour, enabling them to strategically allocate resources and focus on areas where they can have the greatest impact. On the other hand, DL algorithms leverage vast amounts of data from past interactions, unveiling the underlying factors influencing customer decisions and swiftly detecting intricate patterns within extensive datasets – something that would be challenging or even impossible for humans alone.
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Create omnichannel engagement
Omnichannel customer engagement refers to the seamless integration of various communication channels and touchpoints to provide customers with a consistent and integrated digital experience. This approach connects channels such as phone calls, email, live chat, social media, and more to create a unified customer journey. With an omnichannel experience, customers have the freedom to choose their preferred communication channel without compromising continuity.
AI is highly effective in creating omnichannel customer engagement. As 75% of customers connect with a brand across multiple channels using various devices, AI tools gather customer data from various touchpoints and unify it in one place. By identifying patterns and trends in customer behaviour, preferences, and interactions, it enables businesses to gain a holistic view of each customer's journey and deliver personalised, contextually relevant, and omnichannel engagements.
Unlock the challenges of AI in improving customer engagement
While AI, along with its complementary technologies like ML and DL, presents numerous advantages for elevating the customer engagement process in the marketing realm, it is important to recognize that there are limitations as well. Let us delve deeper to learn about the potential drawbacks associated with AI.
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Accessibility of poor-quality data
To successfully implement AI, a significant hurdle is the accessibility of data. Often, data is fragmented, unreliable, and lacks quality, posing obstacles for businesses aiming to harness the full potential of AI on a large scale. To overcome this challenge, it is crucial to establish a well-defined strategy right from the start on how to source the necessary data for your AI initiatives.
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Lack of AI expertise
Another challenge that hinders the widespread adoption of AI is the scarcity of skilled professionals and technical staff who possess the expertise and training required to successfully implement and manage AI solutions. Studies indicate that there is a significant shortage of experienced data scientists and other specialized professionals with knowledge in areas like machine learning and model training. This shortage creates a bottleneck, making it difficult for businesses to fully leverage the power of AI.
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Need constant human supervision
AI is constantly improving, but it still has limitations compared to humans. It struggles to understand customers' complex requests and might not fully meet customer needs. This can result in negative experiences for customers, poor outcomes, and even legal issues. To avoid these problems, AI needs constant human supervision. Companies must have internal processes in place to check and oversee AI systems used for customer service.
Harness the power of AI with proven tips
So, how can you leverage AI successfully to create seamless customer engagement, even amidst potential challenges that may arise? Here are some proven tips:
- Analyse your customer engagement strategy: Evaluate your existing customer engagement strategy by defining clear objectives and identifying customer touchpoints and pain points.
- Design the customer journey: Craft detailed customer journeys to gain valuable insights into your customers' interactions and experiences across all touchpoints.
- Discover opportunities and implement AI tools: Harness the power of customer data analysis and AI-driven sentiment analysis to grasp the pulse of customer sentiment, uncover emerging trends, and pinpoint areas ripe for enhancement.
- Train your AI tools for efficiency: Train your AI systems with high-quality data to achieve accurate predictions and efficiency for personalised responses and seamless customer engagement.
- Track and measure the impact of AI: Continuously monitor and measure the impact of AI on customer engagement by tracking metrics such as response times, average session duration, customer satisfaction scores, and conversion rates. Use these insights to refine your AI implementation and optimize the customer engagement process.
Leverage AI and take customer engagement to the next level
By embracing the power of AI, we can unlock a world of possibilities. We can gain data-driven insights, become truly customer-centric, and drive personalized engagement to propel businesses towards success. Challenges may arise, but with the right strategies and frameworks, we can overcome them and create highly personalized and seamless customer engagement for our customers. This leads to increased customer loyalty, revenue, and growth.
Want to discover how AI is disrupting different industries? Read AI in motion: how AI is disrupting the transport and distribution industry and enhance your expertise.