AI-powered automation for A+ customer support

Providing quality service has always been a challenge for companies, especially those experiencing rapid growth. After all, how can you continue to make each person feel special, calling them by name and remembering their favorite products when there are another 1,500 tickets in your support queue, waiting to be answered?

Thanks to the latest technology, this is no longer a problem. AI-powered automation solutions are capable of alleviating the repetitive workload of support representatives, providing contextualized and customized assistance at scale – all without compromising the quality of the service your business provides. The latest AI Agents and AI Copilots are transforming the quality and scale of the service you can provide to your customers.

And best of all: customers are willing to use this type of program. According to a study conducted in 2023 by Statista, 62% of Americans prefer an automated service to resolve simple issues.¹

In this article, you’ll learn what AI-powered automation is and why it matters in customer support. You’ll also find out how to get started in this realm, with examples of businesses that are doing it successfully.

What is AI-powered automation?

In customer service, AI-powered automation refers to the leverage of technology to streamline and enhance various tasks and processes. This integration involves both basic automation tools (such as simple chatbots, routing rules, and autogenerated article suggestions) as well as advanced AI tools (utilizing machine learning and natural language processing). The latter enables the system to handle more complex queries, interpret nuanced language, and generate responses tailored to the specific context.

Essentially, AI-powered automation tools transform how customer service tasks are executed and enable a more sophisticated and responsive approach.

Need a quick recap of how we got here? Check out this article: Understanding AI: How we taught computers natural language.

Why does AI-powered automation matter in customer support?

1. 24/7 availability

When it comes to customer service, agility has become the new paradigm. Companies that fail to meet the expectation of fast, accurate and tailored responses risk alienating their audience to competitors. Fortunately, AI-powered automation tools allow companies of all sizes to offer immediate assistance to their customers, regardless of whether support reps are on the clock.

2. Tailored recommendations

As highlighted in our Customer Service Trends Report 2024, personalization emerges as a pivotal factor for driving business growth. Nearly a third of support leaders cite it as an important driving force for moving towards more modern tooling..²

The data further underscores the strategic significance of tailoring experiences, indicating that support teams embracing personalization are twice as likely to observe boosts in both customer satisfaction and retention rates. This insight indicates the transformative impact of personalized approaches in shaping positive customer perceptions and fostering lasting connections.

In addition to gathering valuable information about your customers, AI-powered automation solutions can help you trigger messages and user flows based on events. Then, you can send personalized messages to people who have completed those actions, populated with customer data such as their first name to ensure they feel relevant.

Imagine, for example, that a customer added a few products to their shopping cart but their payment failed. You can set up an automation flow to send a contextual, personalized message to the person, helping them to continue to move the conversion needle.

It could be something as simple as: “Hey there! 👋 It looks like your payment failed. Don’t worry – your card hasn’t been charged. Here are some tips to help you try again 👇”. And then you can embed a help center article showing them what to do when a payment fails.

Technology is advancing and customers’ options are expanding. Be ready to rise to the occasion with this article: 5 ways to bridge the customer service expectation gap.

3. Consistent responses

One of the most frustrating aspects of the customer experience is having to repeat yourself to different support representatives before getting your question answered or your issue resolved. And, if that wasn't bad enough, there are companies that give contradictory answers across different channels.

To guarantee that this isn’t the reality of your company, you must adopt an AI-powered automation solution that allows you to standardize the content of responses and adapt their format to the medium in which they are being delivered.

Let's break down this process with a practical example: imagine your e-commerce store has a specific order cancellation policy. In this case, the procedure involves making a request, providing the order number, and patiently waiting for three business days to receive a refund.

It's crucial that this information is consistent across all your communication channels. However, it's equally important to tailor the content to fit the expected format of each channel, whether it's WhatsApp, email, or chat. This ensures that customers receive clear and relevant instructions regardless of the platform they choose to engage with your business.

How would they be different?

Email

• Formality: The email message could maintain a formal tone, providing a detailed step-by-step guide on how to cancel an order and seek a refund.

• Visuals: It may include visual elements such as screenshots or hyperlinks for a more comprehensive understanding.

WhatsApp

• Conciseness: Given the nature of WhatsApp as a quick messaging platform, the message might be more concise, conveying the necessary steps in a straightforward manner.

• Interactivity: It could encourage quick replies or offer automated buttons for easy navigation.

Chat

• Real-time assistance: In a chat setting, the message may involve more real-time assistance, with the option for customers to ask questions or seek clarification instantly.

4. Adherence to the company’s policies

Automated systems ensure consistent application of policies, mitigating the risk of human error and enhancing regulatory compliance.

By leveraging AI, businesses can seamlessly enforce and update measures across diverse channels, maintaining coherence in customer interactions. This not only fosters trust but also streamlines operations, aligning service delivery with organizational guidelines.

Moreover, AI-driven automation enables real-time monitoring and adjustment of policies, guaranteeing immediate responsiveness to evolving business needs and industry standards.

5. Scalability in peak times

During peak times, customer support teams often find themselves overwhelmed with a high volume of inquiries and requests. This can lead to long wait times, frustrated customers, and an overall negative experience. AI-powered automation can help solve this issue by providing scalability in busy periods.

According to our report The State of AI in Customer Service 2023, 67% of support leaders believe they are already seeing value from their automation efforts.³ This includes time savings, workflow optimization, and the ability to become even more customer-centric.

With AI handling routine inquiries and tasks, human agents can focus on more complex issues, improving response times and customer satisfaction. AI-powered automation ensures that customer support teams can handle peak times without sacrificing quality or efficiency.

6. Feedback loops

Feedback loops are an essential part of improving customer support experiences, and AI-powered automation can play a crucial role in this process.

By using machine learning algorithms, AI-powered agents can analyze customer interactions and feedback to improve their responses over time. This means that the chatbot can learn over time, identify common issues, and provide more accurate and helpful responses to future queries.

Furthermore, AI-powered automation can help reduce response times, allowing customer support teams to handle more inquiries and provide faster solutions. This ultimately leads to better customer satisfaction and loyalty.

AI-powered automation use cases

As teams delegate mundane tasks to AI-powered automation solutions, they regain the flexibility to focus on more meaningful and fulfilling responsibilities. But what exactly can reps do with this technology? Here are a few use cases to inspire you:

1. Answers to repetitive questions via chatbot

One of the most common and efficient use cases for AI-powered automation is answering repetitive questions via chatbot. As you probably know by now, chatbots are computer programs that can engage in conversations with human users and provide instant answers to frequently asked questions.

By using Large Language Models (LLM) and complex algorithms, chatbots can understand user queries and provide helpful responses. This saves time and effort for customer support reps, who can focus on more complex tasks, while also offering quick and accurate answers.

2. Routing tickets

When customers submit support tickets, they need to be assigned to the right team or rep for resolution.

AI algorithms can automatically classify those requests based on their content and route them to the appropriate team or professional. This reduces the workload on human agents and ensures that issues are addressed more efficiently.

Moreover, machine learning algorithms can learn from previous ticket routing decisions and become better at predicting which team or rep is best suited to handle a particular issue.

3. Summarizing conversations

In today's fast-paced business environment, communication is often happening across multiple channels, such as email, chat, and phone. This can make it difficult to keep track of important information and decisions, especially when you need to route a query to a workmate or scalate a certain issue to a different support tier.

AI-powered automation solutions can analyze these conversations and extract key insights and summaries. This can help support reps to stay up to date on important discussions and make more informed decisions, as well as speed-up problem resolution.

4. Tone adjustment

Tone is an essential component of effective communication, as it can influence how a message is received. AI-powered automation tools can analyze written communication, such as emails or chat messages, and provide suggestions on how to adjust the tone to better convey the intended message.

For example, if an email comes across as too aggressive, the AI algorithm may suggest using less confrontational language. This can help to avoid misunderstandings and improve the overall quality of communication.

What do you need to get started with AI-powered automation?

1. Identify the business processes that can benefit from automation

To kick off AI-powered automation in your business, let's start by pinpointing the tasks that can benefit from this smart technology. Think of everyday processes like data entry, invoice processing, and customer service – these are prime candidates for automation, offering a time-saving solution and minimizing errors.

By bringing automation into play for these activities, your business stands to gain efficiency improvements and cost reductions. It's like having a helpful assistant that takes care of routine work, allowing your team to focus on what really matters.

2. Choose the right AI-powered automation tool for your needs

Now that you've spotted the processes ready for a tech boost, let's dive into choosing the perfect AI-powered automation tool for your needs. In the sea of options out there, finding the right fit is crucial.

Keep an eye out for user-friendly options, ones that have a proven track record of success, and make sure they come packed with the features you're looking for. Think of it as selecting a tool that not only gets the job done but does it in a way that suits your business like a glove.

3. Train your team on how to use the AI tool

Now that you've got your hands on an AI-powered automation tool, you need to make sure your team knows the ins and outs of using it like pros. Training is key to getting everyone on the same page and guaranteeing that the support reps are using it to the fullest.

Give your team thorough training and solid assistance, ensuring they have access to all the resources and documentation they might need. It’s this knowledge that will allow them to harness the full potential of your new automation ally.

4. Start small and scale up

When implementing AI-powered automation, it's important to start small and scale up gradually. This will help you to identify any issues or challenges early on and make adjustments as needed. Start with a small pilot project to test the waters, and then gradually expand the use of the tool as you gain confidence and experience.

5. Monitor and optimize your processes

Finally, it's important to monitor and optimize your processes on an ongoing basis. This will help you to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments as needed. Use analytics tools to track your progress and identify any areas where performance could be better. By constantly doing so, you can ensure that your AI-powered automation efforts are delivering maximum value to your business.

Examples of AI-powered automation in business

Hospitable, a short-term rental management automation software, turned to Intercom's AI-powered chatbot, Fin, to enhance its customer support.

Facing a backlog of support queries, Fin swiftly resolved 500 issues, impressing the organization with its speed and accuracy. Currently, Fin handles 30% of inbound queries, allowing Hospitable to meet support demand without a significant increase in staff.

The collaboration has reduced response times by 95%, enabling Hospitable's support team to focus on high-impact areas. The company’s CEO and founder, Pierre-Camille Hamana, is excited about the results to come:

Your customers deserve an AI-powered automation platform

Are you ready to revolutionize the way you interact with your customers? With Fin, our advanced AI-chatbot, you can experience the transformative power of AI-powered automation.

Say goodbye to long wait times and confusion. With Fin AI Agent and Fin AI Copilot, you can resolve issues instantly and boost team efficiency. Our contextual automations elevate customer satisfaction, making them feel heard and understood. Plus, with cutting-edge AI language models, every interaction is seamless and intelligent.

Don't wait any longer to redefine your customer experience. Embrace the future of efficient, customer-centric automation with Fin. Act now and step into a world of endless possibilities.

Start your free trial here.

Sources

1 Statista, Share of customers preferring human connection vs. automation in customer service in the United States in 2023, by generation.

2 Intercom, Customer Service Trends Report 2024. We commissioned an independent research firm to survey 2,004 customer support professionals about how customer support teams are preparing for ground shaking changes and new capabilities. The margin of error for this study is 2.2% at the 95% confidence level.

3 Intercom, The State of AI in Customer Service 2023. We asked 1,000+ global support professionals how they’re making the most of this once-in-a-generation shift.