Customer experience: the key to staying in business

As consumers expect instant answers 24/7, the ability to choose their preferred communication channels, and quick issue resolution, businesses face rising expectations. A global study by Vonage, an Ericsson company, found that 74% of consumers are likely to take their business elsewhere due to a poor customer experience.

Top causes for frustration include long wait times, multiple contacts to resolve issues, and having to repeat concerns. Addressing these issues manually is challenging without significantly boosting support staff. Fortunately, AI offers a solution, and customers are increasingly comfortable with it—61% are positive about using AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants.

AI can help customers find information – whenever they need it

AI virtual assistants, in the form of voice assistants or chatbots, can handle routine self-service interactions and provide responses to standard questions that would otherwise hold up the support queue. This allows customer support to be available 24/7 and gives human agents more time to handle complex queries. For instance, an AI virtual assistant can assist with order status, offering navigation, or appointment scheduling, and can also provide service in any language.

AI can help customers find the right person – right away

AI virtual assistants also excel as receptionists, efficiently routing customers to the right agents without requiring them to navigate lengthy phone menus or enduring multiple transfers. Like humans, AI can analyze sentiments and decide when to transfer customers to a human agent or escalate to a supervisor.

AI can amplify human agents

AI can summarize a customer’s contact history, giving agents the full context so they can resolve issues immediately. AI can also keep knowledge bases updated and make relevant information easily accessible to agents during calls. Additionally, AI can provide valuable insights for development and training by summarizing calls, analyzing outcomes, and offering realistic training scenarios and actionable feedback.

It's tempting to begin with the technological capabilities in mind. However, the key is to start with the end-to-end customer experience in mind.

What does the customer journey look like? Which channels do customers prefer? How does the transition between channels work? How can you ensure that the context of a customer’s problem is always retained and that customer sentiment is prioritized in every interaction? Once you have understood all customer touch points and defined your objectives, you can decide which AI features to use and how to best integrate them into your communication solutions.

After selecting the AI features to integrate, it's time to move into action. An AI virtual assistant can automate routine tasks, direct the customer to the right human agent at the right time and help agents resolve issues more quickly and focus on more meaningful tasks. This efficiency comes at about half the cost of hiring an extra live agent, making the business benefits clear.

No-code and low-code tools let any business add AI features to their communication platform, no matter their IT resources. Cloud-based solutions, like those from Ericsson's Vonage, make it easy with a simple drag-and-drop process. This helps businesses of all sizes improve efficiency and provide a better customer experience.