Guest blog post by Chelsea Cook
Digital voice assistants may seem like future technology, but that future is already here. We’ve been using smart artificial intelligence assistants for some time now – Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Amazon Alexa are used in homes all around the world to makes our lives easier by simply issuing voice commands. Now, businesses are turning to AI and digital voice assistants to reach their customers and provide them with an exceptional customer experience.
What is a digital voice assistant? Using AI, these smart assistants understand natural human language, listen for a request, and complete the task asked of them quickly and efficiently. AI digital voice assistants are becoming the norm as businesses compete to be better than their competition.
When you’re ready to implement the technology required for digital voice assistance into your business plan and strategy, reach out to a reliable IT consultancy company such as Mustard IT support who can provide you with the expertise needed to get you set up.
Here’s how you can use AI digital voice assistants to connect with customers and boost your business.
Personalized Service for Customers
With so much competition these days, personalized customer service is one of the most important marketing tactics for any business. If you’re not personalizing the customer experience, consumers will go elsewhere to find it. Digital voice assistants help you provide that personalization by engaging with customers on all levels – from answering questions to completing the sale – making them feel as though they’re an integral part of your business.
Using digital voice assistants, and other voice AI intelligence such as IVR (Interactive Voice Response), businesses can deliver even more personalized service for their customers and clients by communicating with them from the time of purchase to the time of product or service delivery. It’s anticipated that the global IVR market will increase by 6.7 percent from 2018 to 2025.
How does it work? After ordering a product or service from you, IVR can reach out and provide up-to-the-minute information about delivery and appointment time. This can include information about delays and cancellations that require rescheduling.
Anticipate Customer Needs
Marketing research shows that it’s customer satisfaction that initiates loyalty, with consumers recommending your business to those they know based on their buying experience. Being able to anticipate what your customers need is the driving force behind this feeling of satisfaction. To do this, you need to collect a lot of big data on your customers, including what products they purchase, use, and their buying patterns. You want to also be able to understand their motives and goals behind the purchases they make.
Artificial intelligence can do this for you – combine AI and CRM (customer relationship management) and the data you collect about your customers is one of the most valuable marketing tools you’ve got.
By using AI, voice assistants are able to remember a customer’s previous inquiries and requests and provide more personalized service. Being able to anticipate your customer’s needs is just what busy people want – to spend as little time as possible explaining what they need. When your digital voice assistant can anticipate what’s needed, it can improve customer service and response time leading to a boost in both productivity and sales.
Build Trust and Reliability
As consumers continue to look for convenience in the products and services they’re buying, AI and digital voice assistants are becoming crucial to brand loyalty and customer retention.
Digital voice AI allows you to create an automated system for connecting with your customers that’s still tailored to the individual needs and requests of consumers. You can build customer service that’s consistent and unified across the board for all your customers. Digital voice assistants ensure that a customer’s interaction with your brand is seamless and they’re getting a unique customer experience each and every time.
Your AI marketing strategy builds trust and reliability between you and your customer, making them feel as though you understand just what it is they want and need. When consumers have a great experience with your business using digital voice assistants, it keeps them coming back and away from your competitors. Now that consumers are familiar with digital assistants such as Alexa, it’s easy for businesses to achieve their own branded voice to connect with customers.
Consistent Customer Service 24/7 and Real-Time Assistance
Being able to give consistent customer service around the clock with no downtime can significantly improve your sales – but more importantly, being available 24/7 is what consumers want today. People are shopping for products and services at all hours of the day, with questions and concerns they want answered right away without waiting for human agents to be available. This can include anything from password resets to questions about your products. Digital voice assistants raise your business efficiency and also reduce costs – you can hire workers to be available during day hours, relying on the effectiveness of AI agents during off hours.
The Future of AI in Customer Service
Customers aren’t looking for lengthy sales pitches, advertisements, or messages that aren’t relevant to them. They want personal and useful information that provides them with guidance and a quick way to get what they want. Digital voice assistants do just that – they let you give customers a streamlined experience that keeps them coming back to your business for all their future products and services.
What does the future hold for AI and customer service? By 2020, market reports say that almost 80 percent of customer service will involve some type of AI interaction. You can expect continued new advances as developers and marketers work together to give consumers even more of what they want – value for what they’re buying combined with a great customer experience that’s stress and hassle free. If you’re not yet using digital voice assistance for your business, you soon will be to connect with your customers and boost your competitive edge!
