Customer experience (CX) has always been a crucial factor in business success, but the expectations of customers have been steadily growing as technology creates an increasingly connected, on-demand world. As customer expectations have increased, providing exceptional CX has become even more important when it comes to beating your competition. However, keeping pace with this CX arms race can be challenging, especially for companies trying to scale rapidly on many fronts. This is where Intelligent Automation (IA) comes into play.
What is Intelligent Automation?
Intelligent Automation, a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA), leverages technologies like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to create automated workflows that continually improve over time without the need for human intervention. This allows teams to focus on more complex tasks while streamlining processes to increase customer satisfaction.
In principle, it sounds like exactly the thing savvy organizations could use to maximize their CX performance. So, how can Intelligent Automation directly support CX?
Intelligent Automation in CX is growing every day
Automation has been used for years to streamline workflows, improve efficiencies, and reduce errors in work. Within CX, we can see the impact of Intelligent Automation efficiencies before, during, and after a customer reaches out. Here are some ways we’re seeing it improve customer experiences across the board:
Improved Self-Service Options
Most customers today prefer to resolve their issues or find information on their own before reaching out to a contact center. With the help of Intelligent Automation, companies can provide enhanced self-service options through the use of sophisticated chatbots.
These intelligent chatbots are available round the clock, allowing customers to reach out at their convenience and providing them with an opportunity to solve simple issues through seamless automated conversations.
By empowering customers to find solutions independently, the reliance on contact centers and the volume of incoming calls are significantly reduced. As a result, the workload on agents is alleviated, giving them more time and resources to focus on complex and high-value tasks.
The integration of chatbots with live agent support ensures a smooth transition when the chatbot cannot provide a satisfactory solution. This seamless handoff enables the customer’s interaction to continue with a human agent who already has the valuable insight gathered during the chatbot conversation.
Such a comprehensive approach not only facilitates a better experience for customers but also equips agents with the necessary context to understand and address the customer’s needs effectively.
Increased Personalization
Personalization, enabled by AI, helps companies deliver tailored experiences to customers by analyzing past behaviors and making automated decisions. This makes experiences feel intentional, relevant, and timely, driving customer loyalty and long-term success.
For example, AI can identify customers at risk of churning and trigger tailored communications or unique offers to retain them.
Incorporating this technology into a tech stack allows for highly targeted recommendations, such as customized product suggestions in emails based on each customer’s purchasing history and preferences. These bespoke experiences foster deeper connections with customers, leading to increased satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value.
Improved Agent Routing
Intelligent Automation can also analyze incoming calls and route them based on factors like customer sentiment and purchasing history. By quickly connecting customers with the best-fit agent, wait times are reduced and the chances of successful first-time resolution are higher.
Additionally, it provides agents with relevant customer data for a more personalized call experience, while businesses gain valuable insights for continuous improvement.
Automated Booking/Scheduling
Industries like airlines, restaurants, and hotels use Intelligent Automation to streamline booking and scheduling processes. Automated booking systems allow customers to navigate the process without human intervention, allowing for self-service opportunities and reduced contact center volume.
With 24/7 availability, customers can book at their convenience without worrying about wait times. This convenient and user-friendly interface enhances customer satisfaction and frees up staff resources for more complex inquiries.
The data collected from automated booking processes also provides valuable insights to optimize operations and tailor offerings to customer preferences.
Customer Feedback Analysis/Sentiment Analysis
Customer feedback and sentiment analysis gained from Intelligent Automation can be incredibly powerful tools for businesses, especially when it can be done in real time.
Often it’s thought that avoiding negative feedback is key, however, when negative feedback is met with empathy and solution-oriented conversations quickly, companies can turn around a negative experience and make it a positive one.
This customer-centric approach not only ensures that companies stay competitive but also enables them to build lasting relationships with their customers in today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving marketplace.
By actively harnessing the power of Intelligent Automation, businesses can continuously improve their customer experience, exceed expectations, and thrive in an increasingly customer-driven landscape.
Reduced Errors in Information Sharing/Increased Consistency
Consistency and accuracy are crucial in creating the best possible customer experiences, but it can be challenging to have the right information at the fingertips of CX agents at all times. Intelligent Automation can surface the right information to agents when they need it, reducing errors and improving the overall customer experience.
This information assistant acting as an internal SME can make a significant difference in CX for both teams and customers. As customers increasingly prefer self-service options, they have less patience for wait times, incorrect agent matches, and misinformation.
IA in CX can make all the difference for customers and companies
To conclude, Intelligent Automation is a game-changer in the world of CX. It empowers companies to meet and exceed customer expectations while creating efficiencies and improving team performance.
AI may seem like a trend that may pass, however, AI has been around for a while and when combined with RPA it creates a trusted tool to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
