AI Chatbots: Friend or Foe This Holiday Season?
The holiday season is here, which means consumers are ready to spend. Every dollar spent inevitably leads to more customer service inquiries, whether travel, clothes or gifts. Given that the human attention span has dropped a whopping 25 percent in the past few years, brands must deliver personalized service faster than ever. But is it possible to meet ever-increasing customer expectations with often understaffed contact center teams? Likely not. This is why many brands are turning to artificial intelligence chatbots to get customers the answers they need quickly — and send them on their way.
While AI chatbots are on the rise, are they really the companion customer service teams need this holiday season? Here’s how brands can use AI to reduce stress — and customer frustration — and enhance the customer experience.
But … Consumers Don’t Even Like Chatbots
Are AI chatbots the answer to transforming the customer service industry? Currently, 84 percent of customer service professionals believe AI and other automation tools will play a critical role in meeting customer service expectations. While customer service teams are optimistic, many consumers are uncertain, if not fed up. A recent study based on 35,000 chatbot interactions found that 66 percent received a one-star review. The stakes are high this holiday season, and given the existing negative sentiment about chatbots, the customer service industry must step up its AI game. Here are six ways to get there:
1. Your chatbot is only as good as your data.
You can select the right chatbot and deploy it flawlessly, but the technology itself will only get you so far. Every chatbot and the answers it gives are underpinned by data. Therefore, if your data isn’t accurate, your chatbot won’t be either. By making sure your data is clean, correct and updated regularly, you can ensure your chatbot is a reliable source of information.
2. Know your customer.
The whole point of a chatbot is to make it easier for your customers to get the information they need, so you first have to know your customers. By analyzing your existing data, you can pinpoint common queries and pain points to make sure your chatbot addresses them appropriately. In addition, make sure your chatbot is designed to adjust tone and language so it can give your customer an appropriate and tailored experience.
3. Prioritize the user experience.
If your chatbot is cumbersome to use, then your entire deployment could backfire. Customers either won’t adopt, or worse, they’ll get frustrated with the overall experience. Chatbot interfaces should be easily accessible and intuitive, and should easily integrate customer data to offer tailored responses. Furthermore, a chatbot should be an avenue to speak with an agent, not a roadblock. If a chatbot can’t solve the customer’s issue, there should be a quick and easy path to connect to a live, real human, such as typing “agent” or “representative.”
4. Solicit feedback and enable continuous learning.
Just like your data, chatbots are dynamic entities, which means you must evolve them in ways that best suit your customers’ needs. Your customers will tell you what they think, but you have to ask. By actively collecting customer feedback, whether that’s through surveys, five-star ratings, or even something as simple as rating an interaction with a thumbs up or thumbs down, you can keep a pulse on what’s working for your customers — and what isn’t. But that’s only the first step. From there, you must add an operational process to update the chatbot with feedback information to show customers that you’re listening.
5. Measure ROI.
As with any business expenditure, you must track chatbot return on investment. At a minimum, you should be tracking response time, resolution rate, and customer satisfaction. These metrics will help you establish a benchmark so you measure your chatbot’s effectiveness along with the impact of any changes you make.
6. Address privacy and compliance.
Maintaining security, privacy and compliance is critical for any chatbot deployment. Not only does each conversation require encryption and secure data handling, you must also have strict measures in place to protect underlying data. In addition, transparency is key, which means giving your customers information about your data practices and any legal documentation so they understand how their information is being used. What’s more, if you're collecting personal data you must adhere to legal regulations in your customer’s location, not just your own.
Chatbots can help uplevel your customer service — or sink your satisfaction ratings. By implementing these six steps, you can set your chatbot up for success this holiday season.
Urvashi Sheth is the chief customer officer of Intermedia Cloud Communications, a one-stop shop for unified communications, business email, VoIP, web/ video/ content sharing, identity & security services.
Urvashi Sheth, chief customer officer at Intermedia, is a visionary leader recognized for her transformative influence on customer success through technology. With more than 20 years of experience, Urvashi has revolutionized customer operations across B2B, B2C, retail, and enterprise sectors. Her innovative application of AI-based solutions has significantly improved customer experiences, reduced churn, and boosted revenue retention, driving remarkable bottom-line growth for the companies she has worked with. Her excellence in technology and customer experience has earned her numerous awards and accolades.
In addition to her role at Intermedia, Urvashi serves on the advisory boards of several major companies. Her consultative approach helps refine their products to tackle real-time challenges across various industries, making these products more feature-rich and effective.
Urvashi is highly regarded for her expertise in generative AI (Gen-AI) and machine learning (ML) automation. She skillfully anticipates the potential of advanced technologies and applies them strategically. For instance, her recent deployment of Gen-AI/LLM technology boosted agent productivity by 13%. Her team is also leading the way in using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology for customer self-service, enhancing response efficiency and accuracy while reducing costs.
At Intermedia, Urvashi has been instrumental in shaping customer success and support strategies. Her visionary leadership has integrated AI and ML into sales and support operations, employing predictive and white-space analysis to forecast customer behavior and enhance recurring revenue. These innovations have greatly improved operational efficiency and positively impacted the company’s bottom line.
Urvashi’s consultative approach extends beyond technology. She excels at analyzing customer feedback and utilizing sentiment analysis to identify trends and patterns. This allows her to continually refine customer experiences and foster long-term loyalty. By combining her deep understanding of customer needs with cutting-edge technology, Urvashi drives comprehensive business transformation and delivers outstanding customer outcomes.
Beyond her technological expertise, Urvashi is skilled at building and leading high-performing teams, promoting a culture of continuous improvement, and driving organizational change. As a passionate advocate for customer-centricity, she mentors aspiring leaders and shares her knowledge through industry conferences, webinars, and publications. Her dedication to excellence and ongoing learning sets a high standard for the industry and inspires those around her.
