As customer preferences continue to evolve and care channels such as chat become more widely used, there is sometimes a perception among companies that voice is becoming less important. This couldn’t be further from the truth, however, as studies have shown that voice is still king in customer care. And while this certainly refers to the fact that customers are still calling into customer care centers at overwhelming numbers, it also refers to the fact that voice and speech are becoming even more important in applications across other customer care channels as well.
Increasingly, the customer care industry is teaming up with technology to focus on delivering seamless and effortless customer experiences. But our industry often promises a better omnichannel experience and improvements to the customer journey, while in reality, many companies fail to deliver.
When it comes to customer care, the possibilities for applying artificial intelligence to increase efficiency, lower costs and improve the customer experience seem infinite. The question that most companies are facing is not whether they should incorporate AI, but how. Not all AI is created equal — and for the purposes of customer care, there are actually some specific characteristics that it’s important to make sure your solution has.
It can be hard to keep up in the customer care industry with the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Which is why we sat down with DMG Consulting’s President, Donna Fluss and Interactions’ SVP of Marketing, Jane Price to identify the most important issues you will likely face.
The recent announcement of Google Duplex, Google’s automated personal assistant, was met with much fanfare for its apparent ability to make a phone call and mimic a human booking a hair appointment. While the demo was impressive on the surface, when you peel back the proverbial onion, you realize that Google Duplex shares a lot in common with today’s ever-present chatbots.
Utility customers think that the service they receive from their utility providers is just “okay”, and that it takes too much time to get things done. This is according to a study by Interactions that surveyed over 1400 U.S. utility customers on their customer care experiences with their utility companies. The most interesting result is that over a third of utility customers would switch utility providers as a result of poor customer service.