The Future of Customer Service is AI: Adapt or Perish

Till recently, customer behaviour and preferences were analysed on the basis of PoS data available to businesses. Questionnaires, surveys and other information collected by marketers served to plan a strategy towards customer retention and experience enhancement. But it is no more the same today. There’s absolute disruption in the way data is being collected, viewed, analysed and the resultant insights being acted upon.

With so much information technology available to both businesses as well as to customers today, marketers need to ensure that marketing communication is more orchestrated than co-ordinated. This is the very foundation of AI, or Artificial Intelligence. In basic terms, AI is capable of intensively analysing mammoth amounts of data from numerous sources, including human behaviours and emotions. This can then be used to create more meaningful customer experiences.

If available data is properly shared between analysts and marketing teams, we are looking at a future where we can harness the power of Artificial Intelligence to create more meaningful relationships with our consumers and make a huge positive difference both to enhance customer experience as well as to boost revenues.

However, as exciting as that may sound, it will surely take a lot of doing. A recent market report Econsultancy/IBM Watson revealed that only 6% of companies think that dark data (unstructured) and dark social are barriers to building a joined up view of the customer journey. According to Jeremy Waite, Data Analytics Guru & evangelist for IBM Marketing Cloud:

“The smartest executives in 2017 will be more focused on making sense of the data they already have versus trying to capture more of it.”

He further recommends:

“Aim to find insights, behaviors and buying patterns in the data you have, rather than just trying to capture more leads and email addresses.”

Reaching out to customers

With such vast volumes of data available, the need of the hour for marketers is to identify and know the customer and help them at all points in their journey, personalize communication on a 1:1 basis, make them feel comfortable, especially around parameters of privacy, else, at the first hint of concern, it is most likely that s/he will be distrustful and reject technology completely.

With highly intuitive solutions such as Gamooga’s Customer Journey Builder, you can now create compelling multi-channel customer journeys across email, mobile, and the web. Now you can deliver a seamless customer experience and see your revenue increase drastically. Its intuitive and graphical interface makes setting up intelligent journey campaigns on a highly powered IFTTT model an enjoyable and gamified experience. You can set rules and create complex campaigns in minutes. Moreover, you can create your marketing strategy with random split-testing and optimize it on the go without relying on technical expertise, to deliver campaigns that actually perform.

Following are some of the benefits you receive, with the Journey Builder:

Contextual Engagement

Take the guesswork out of relevant user outreach. Map your user-journey using intelligent user specifics and engage them at their optimal moments. Trigger personalized journeys based on user behavior, preferences, or any other data point. Reach the right customer at the right time and channel.

Powerful Automation Made Easy

Build 1-to-1 journeys at scale by automating engagement and adapting customer interactions based on their behavior without ever having to depend on technical analysts. Use predictive intelligence to deliver relevant content at the right time and place. Whether the user’s journey is simple or complex, automate it in minutes and drive maximum impact.

Intelligent Tracking

Receive highly actionable insights by measuring a variety of metrics such as conversion rates, cohorts, repeat order rates, etc. to drive traction. Measure everything from CTRs, timing, channels, conversions, and more. Evaluate your progress and use predictive intelligence to optimize your campaigns and drive real results.

Conclusion

One thing is for certain. The future of Marketing is all about the logical structuring of dark and unstructured data from all over the internet, including social media, push and voice notifications from across all connected devices and turning the same into actionable insights for making better business decisions. The amount of data available to marketers can be overwhelming and interpreting the same can be a challenge for many. The sooner businesses adapt to technology, the more likely they are to survive in this highly evolving customer experience landscape.