Conversational AI: The Future of Customer Experience

Speech Recognition: Enables the system to understand when a user has carried out a voice input and then uses that input to determine what action should be taken (e.g., if you said 'turn off the lights, this would prompt the conversational AI to turn off the lights in your living room).

Natural Language Understanding: 'Understanding' in essence means that the conversational AI understands what you mean by your input (e.g., if you say "I want to go to Rome", this would prompt the system to look up flights and hotels for your trip.)

Intent Detection: The intent detection layer is where the system can determine what the user wants to do by using natural language processing to interpret the meaning of their input. For example, if a user says "I'm feeling hot", the intent detector will recognize that the user is complaining about their temperature and could prompt them with recommendations for how to cool down (e.g., 'turn on air-conditioning').

Improve the first impression: The first interaction a customer has on a business website sets the tone for their experience with that business as a brand. Conversational AI bot answers questions and helps customers as soon as they land on a website. Getting instantly assisted would leave a good impression.

Increase in Business Transactions:  The newer, more intuitive digital channels such as chatbots and voice assistants like Alexa and Google Home make it easier for customers to order products, book flights or do any kind of business transactions and provide real-time support. Consumers expect brands to keep up with their preferences and adopt newer methods for communication.

Recommendations: Personalized recommendations are key for companies to retain customers and boost their sales. Chatbots powered by AI can give fast, accurate recommendations according to what users have previously browsed or ordered on the company's website. It can also help them find similar items based on past choices.

Isolation of Conversations: It is important for companies to identify what kind of conversations are suitable for each channel. AI Chatbots or virtual assistants are designed to handle one-on-one or group interactions with limited human involvement while email or phone calls are better suited for complex queries or to communicate with more people at the same time. Once you know where a conversation is most suitable, it becomes easier for marketers to direct customers through each step of the customer journey.

Turn Around Issues Faster:  Since companies are already using multiple communication methods for customer service, it is challenging for them to address all complaints and queries in a timely fashion. With AI chatbots and virtual assistants, companies can respond more quickly and efficiently by sorting through several queries at once.  

Create a More Human Customer Experience:  The tone of an online conversation with a chatbot is more human-like, which makes a consumer feel that a business cares for its customers' concerns and takes them seriously. The use of natural language facilitates this kind of engagement. Chatbots are designed to follow up with customer service support requests and track complaints in real-time, but they also maintain the tone of human interaction. Conversational AI is not about simply using words and sentences; it's all about the attitude and style behind the text. The brand tone of voice and writing style must be replicated in chatbots and virtual assistants for a successful conversational experience. Brands that succeed in the future will be those that combine the best of what humans do – their warmth, empathy, and morality – with the best of what machines do – their scale and objectivity.

Simplify business processes: AI assistants allow customers to reach quick resolutions without having to wait for a representative, which can improve their overall satisfaction with a company's service. Companies thus are able to reduce costs, focus on more complex internal and external issues, attract and retain high-value customers and improve their brand perception.

Gain access to demographic information you never had before: A great example of this is the data TGI Fridays collected from its conversational AI bot. Based on how many people used the bot to make a reservation, they discovered that women were using it far more often than men. With this insight, they could determine how they would market their new drinks and desserts in order to attract a more gender-balanced audience. Here are a few core factors that can contribute to an enhanced conversational experience. These factors must be considered along with the right use cases to shape up your business strategy.

Personalization: Today's generation is smart enough to tell when they are being talked to in an automated fashion. Considering this, enterprises are focusing on leveraging intelligent personalization techniques to provide a rich and personalized conversational experience for their customers. During the onboarding of new customers, chatbots automatically initiate friendly conversations through personalized greetings. They can also understand the preferences of each new customer and ask them relevant questions such as where they are from or what is their primary goal for using a given service, which makes it easier for marketers to engage with them. This can be achieved by leveraging the information collected via customer feedback, data analytics, and behavioural analysis.

Interactivity: Customers often prefer multiple-turn dialog interactions as it makes them feel like they are interacting with a real person, so enterprises must aim for such a level of interaction as much as possible. Conversational AI goes beyond simple personalization and moves into truly intelligent interactions where the brand is both accessible and helpful at just the right time. Smart conversations are rewiring customer-brand relationships like never before.