How AI Can Improve Customer Service?

The sudden surge in demand was combined with the logistical difficulties that come with the fulfilment and distribution of orders during the pandemic. Many businesses have not been prepared to cope with this perfect storm, and orders have taken far longer than normal to be shipped or skipped entirely.

Fremont, CA: After years of steady growth, COVID-19 has significantly accelerated the penetration of e-commerce. According to an eMarketer survey, US e-commerce revenues will leap by 18 percent this year due to the effects of the pandemic. This rise in revenue was certainly a relief for retailers, but it also brought with it something less lucrative and more difficult to navigate: a peak in customer service enquiries.

How COVID-19 Customer Service Teams Infected

The sudden surge in demand was combined with the logistical difficulties that come with the fulfilment and distribution of orders during the pandemic. Many businesses have not been prepared to cope with this perfect storm, and orders have taken far longer than normal to be shipped or skipped entirely.

Why is this a big problem for retailers?

The surge in complaints and questions leaves your employees exhausted and unable to produce excellent experience—which, in turn, adversely affects your ability to attract customers. Given that most of the people who are driving your online growth right now are new tourists who are also new to e-commerce, the stakes are even higher.You have an unparalleled chance to make lifelong customers out of them for a lifetime, but you only get one shot.

How are retailers able to leverage customer service chatbots?

The chatbots are the front line of yours. This is the first contact between the company and its customers. And they can make your and your employees’ lives so much easier.

- Automation is taking the burden off your squad. Not every investigation involves a human touch. Many of them are repetitive and require easy responses. Good chatbot solutions can handle these basic requests with ease, leaving your precious human resources free to deal with more pressing issues.

- Chatbots will provide the customers with instant satisfaction 24/7. No matter the amount of questions or complaints that come in, the technology will respond in a flash, ensuring that customers are not left waiting, stewing, getting mad, and planning to take down the business in a Twitter fire-storm.