Customer service is of the utmost importance, particularly for niche industries. In these fields, consumers will typically have a bigger learning curve before making a purchase. They may not be as familiar with what you’re offering or may not understand how it can best benefit them. Because of this, they’ll likely reach out to your customer support team several times before purchasing.
Customer service as a whole is transforming thanks to new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Here are three ways AI can improve customer service in highly technical fields.
1. Self-Service Tools
In highly technical industries, it’s common for customers to have lots of questions. They may not be as familiar with how your products or services work, let alone how those products and services can help in their day-to-day lives. As a result, these queries can range from basic product information to more complex programming and specialized requests. While having a dedicated customer support team can be valuable, AI-powered self-service tools can handle a large proportion of these questions for you.
Self-service tools, such as chatbots and customer portals, enable potential consumers to find information, get answers to their questions, and receive product recommendations. These types of tools provide 24/7 support, meaning your customers can always find what they’re looking for, regardless of the time of day. For example, an automotive AI chatbot at a dealership can schedule a showroom visit for later on in the week, even if the potential customer reaches out after hours. That allows the business pipeline to continue moving even if your dealership is closed and your support team is at home sleeping! These types of tools reduce wait times and empower the consumer to make purchasing decisions through personalized communications.
For businesses, self-service tools enable dedicated support staff to work on more strategic tasks and answer complex or urgent issues. By eliminating basic support queries from the queue, your trained customer service team can be responsive to high-stakes leads, providing them with an exceptional experience. Implementing AI-powered self-service tools into your website and support channels can enhance your customer care and improve overall satisfaction as well.
2. Knowledge Management
Your trained customer support team is only as knowledgeable as the information they receive. And in today’s hybrid workplace environment, your team is likely spread out across the country — if not the globe. You may have a customer support agent based in Los Angeles, another in Miami, and someone else in Tokyo. While this flexibility can be advantageous in terms of hiring the most qualified individuals, it also means that disseminating learned information from customers and clients is more challenging. Not being in the same office as other team members, let alone the same time zone, can make it harder to share updates and timely learnings.
Thankfully, AI can improve how your help center staff analyzes data and inbound queries. Instead of running reports manually, AI can search through huge amounts of data instantly. Staff can get detailed daily reports showing the most common questions and flag any urgent concerns or needs that should be addressed immediately. These insights help ensure your support team stays current on industry protocols and provides customers with the most accurate, relevant information.
With its predictive insight capabilities, AI can also analyze historical data and forecast potential issues or customer needs before they come to the surface. For instance, a software company may learn that new users are contacting support for troubleshooting upon immediate download of the application, and the company may decide to create a step-by-step onboarding guide. AI can even suggest how best to create the guide to answer the types of questions that new customers are having. Anticipating customers’ needs ahead of time is one way to ensure that you’re providing them with the best support possible.
3. Agent Performance
Wouldn’t it be great if your support team could receive a suggestion on how to best answer a demanding customer without necessarily writing it up themselves? Well, AI can do that! AI has the power to act as a sort of copilot, providing backup assistance to your team if and when they need it. Even the most trained, talented customer service members need help from time to time. Real-time assistance can provide agents with instant suggestions and actionable prompts so even the most challenging customers feel taken care of and supported.
This can be particularly helpful in highly technical fields where agents may not know the answer or solution to every inbound query. Instead of reading manuals or finding the answer via reports and documents, AI can quickly search and scan to find the best possible answer. It may even direct agents to refer customers to specific points of the manual for additional information.
This type of assistance can be extremely beneficial in onboarding new customer support staff, too. AI can provide real-time guidance, ensuring that agents feel empowered to respond to customers and learn about the types of queries they receive along the way.
Final Takeaways
AI is a powerhouse tool, one that nearly every business should use to its advantage. For niche, highly technical industries, AI can be utilized within your customer support team to provide around-the-clock, exceptional service.
