Customer support is one of the most complicated aspects of running a business. While it doesn’t actively make you money, ignoring it can have a decidedly detrimental effect on your bottom line. To make matters more confusing, perpetually shifting trends mean that whatever’s working today won’t necessarily being work tomorrow. However, as long as you stay up to date on the latest technologies entering the field, you should be able keep your customers happy. And that’s where this Zendesk report comes in handy. However, customers aren’t entirely convinced, particularly when you look to older generations. The report showed that more than 50% of Millennials and Gen-Xers are happy to use AI when it comes to simple issues, but are notably more hesitant to do so for complex problems. Additionally, the report showed that users were more willing to interact with an AI-powered bot in search of accuracy over speed, but still users were more likely to avoid them than embrace them. More importantly though, this data points to a specific type of artificial intelligence in customer support that is growing substantially in popularity, and getting on board with this trend could make a huge difference for your business. This means that it’s safe to say that a self-service option is an undeniable avenue to efficiently address customer support needs at your business, particularly because customers expressly want ways to solve their own problems. Fortunately, self-service features are the most talked about solution in terms of future roll outs in the coming year, with more companies considering adding the technology next year than are currently using it in 2020. The only reason that AI-powered customer support hasn’t become the norm is that, honestly, it’s just not good enough yet. Chatbots still fumble through awkward “conversations,” while customer data provides odd suggestions for products you’ve already purchased. Fortunately, the future is bright when it comes to the evolution of AI-power customer support. From the chatbots powered by conversational AI rather than the awkward decision-tree process of the modern era to collaborative data providing comprehensive snapshots of every customers’ support needs, it’s only a matter of time before you won’t be able to tell if you’re talking to a robot or a person when solving your service-related problems. And, as far as customer support is concerned, that’s a good thing.
