Five Ways Contact Center AI will Make Your Customers Happier Today

A recent study from Forbes ranked customer service as the top factor impacting brand loyalty and 48% of respondents in the same study indicated they would pay more for quality customer service. 

We also know that when customer service agents are content and satisfied in their roles, they are more likely to create an exceptional service experience. Happy agents are motivated to go the extra mile, provide personalized support, and create lasting relationships with customers – yet agent retention and morale are persistent challenges across the industry 

Listed below are five ways to apply AI and automation to contact centers to improve employee experience for agents while making customers happier.  

1. Omnichannel Routing & Agent Assignment 

AI-powered omnichannel routing software intelligently auto-routes customer queries across all customer service channels, matching cases to agents dynamically based on predefined criteria and on past conversations. Customer queries are matched with agents based on their performance history and specific expertise. AI routing leads to quicker resolutions, more personalized service experiences, and higher cost savings.  

2. Auto Summarization

AI-powered auto summarization tools quickly distill key points from customer interactions, creating concise and accurate summaries. Auto summarization saves agents valuable time eliminating the need for manual summarization and data entry. Automation also helps ensure important information is captured more consistently, which is beneficial for oversight, training, customer follow-up, and the overall lifetime support of each customer. 

For example, a customer may begin a service interaction with a chatbot. If the conversation reaches a stage where a live agent needs to take over, auto summarization can provide the agent key context without the agent needing to read a full transcript or ask the customer repetitive questions.  

3. Contextual Recommendations and Customer Insights 

AI-driven contextual recommendations provide agents relevant information and suggestions in real-time during customer interactions. By analyzing customer history, previous interactions, and current issues, these systems can offer agents tailored advice on how to best address customer needs or predict potential issues.  

If an agent at a retailer receives a message on Instagram regarding a particular shoe, an AI-powered system could analyze the customers’ past purchase history in real-time and provide the agent with other suggested shoes based on their interest and needs. Providing powerful context and recommendations at the agent's fingertips, without any searching or platform switching, empowers agents to provide exceptional service. 

4. Supervisor Alerts 

An AI-based supervisor alert system can monitor customer interactions in real-time, flagging potential issues that may require immediate attention. This proactive approach allows supervisors to intervene when necessary, providing timely support to agents and ensuring customer issues are resolved promptly. Such systems help maintain service quality and reduce agent stress by providing a safety net for complex or challenging situations.  

This technology is especially helpful for supervisors who work in separate locations or with remote employees. Remote supervisors can view a dashboard with automated alerts that allow them to intervene proactively to address issues before they escalate. 

AI-powered systems can be a valuable substitute or augmentation for traditional CSAT surveys that only capture a small percentage of customer feedback after they happen, when it is too late to fix a customer experience.  

5. Automate Post-Call Tasks

Finally, AI can significantly reduce the administrative burden on agents by automating various post-call tasks. This may include updating customer records, scheduling follow-ups, summarizing the call, or generating reports.  

Minimizing these time-consuming activities can result int improved agent experience, more consistent and accurate data collection and retention, and improved customer experience.  

Conclusion: AI Elevates Customer Service While Making Agents Happier  

AI is revolutionizing modern business and the contact center is one of the clearest use cases for harnessing the power of AI today. The five use cases above are all low hanging fruit for contact center leaders looking to implement practical AI solutions that can start making an immediate business impact.