Who knows your customers best? They do. Hard sales data reveals what drives their spending. But despite investments in CRM systems, branch surveys or online polls, you’re probably still in the dark as to what’s going on in their minds. The good news is that this data is right at your fingertips – all you need is to unlock the potential of your AI-driven contact centre.
When implemented properly, AI tools can capture and contextualise customer feedback and also enhance the overall customer experience and significantly ease the burden on your agents.
AI is everywhere. People interact with it through their computers, smartphones and even cars. It runs factories and coffee machines. But one of the most common places the average person encounters AI is in the contact centres of private companies and public institutions. And AI’s role is rapidly evolving. Where it once served purely to boost efficiency – i.e. handling more clients – today, it decodes the mechanisms behind human behaviour and decision-making, enhancing customer experience. In the case of a negative experience, it becomes a powerful tool for damage control.
VoiceBots and ChatBots are the most visible faces of AI in customer communication. Some people cannot stand them; others swear by them. But the range of AI tools available is far more diverse. Their value depends as much on how and where they are applied as on what is expected of them. Done right, it improves customer satisfaction and, hence, also the resulting feedback.
Basic AI assistants work well when their job is simply to identify the customer and connect them to the right department, such as claims, service, or sales. Problems arise when customers expect more. When the system asks, “How can I help you?” it expects a simple answer, such as “I want to pay an invoice”. However, instead it gets the response: “I have two numbers with you, both paid by direct debit, but I’ve just received a bill for one of them. I’m not sure if I should pay it because we might dispute roaming charges. And I think I have credit there anyway.” After a few failed attempts to explain their inquiry, the customer most likely gives up and insists on speaking to a human. The human operator must then deal with an upset customer. In such cases, rather than helping contact centre agents AI adds to their frustration and stress, which eventually increases the risk of agent burnout.
Sometimes, it’s better if the AI doesn’t try to solve the issue, and instead immediately routes the customer to a live agent. For instance, the Webex AI Agent can identify key words during a customer call and, based on these, connect the customer to an agent with the appropriate expertise. The agent can then start the conversation already aware of the customer’s details and with a good idea of how to help.
From the perspective of contact centres, one of AI’s most revolutionary capabilities is real-time conversation analysis. AI listens to the conversation in real time and, based on the context, suggests relevant information to the agent, adjusts product or service settings, or opens up opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling.
One example says it all: a customer calls their bank’s helpline to report a lost card and needs a replacement urgently due to upcoming travel abroad. Cisco AI Assistant suggests a higher-tier card with lower fees for ATM withdrawals abroad and a better exchange rate. It also recommends travel insurance that covers the customer’s family. In addition to the conversation content, AI can also interpret customer sentiment. By combining Webex AI with Webex Contact Centre, the agent is informed of rising customer frustration or agitation. Moreover, Webex AI offers tips on how to continue the conversation more effectively.
A common persistent misconception is that if the customer doesn’t reach out, they must be satisfied. However, the customer may in fact perceive the lack of proactive communication as a sign of lack of interest from the service provider.
Their disappointment and dissatisfaction often grow in proportion to the level of care or benefits received by new customers compared to existing ones. Here too, AI has something to offer. It can provide suggestions to the contact centre and plan further steps to maintain a good relationship between the company and its clients. It can prompt the staff to reach out when a contract is about to expire or to offer an attractive discount based on the services the customer uses.
The examples above clearly demonstrate how a well-configured AI toolkit can become an essential assistant for any business. It not only supports communication with the customer but also helps shield contact centre agents from stress and burnout. What’s more, it can extract commercially valuable insights from customer feedback – how they think, what they need, demand, and expect. In short, everything that can give you a competitive edge.
Unfortunately, few companies work with feedback truly effectively. Based on Soitron’s internal research, the most common practice is to sort data into a predefined template and generate a satisfaction score. This type of statistics may help improve the company’s image in the eyes of investors – but not customers. Rather than creating an ambiguous score, it’s much more useful to put feedback into context – especially when it’s negative. With artificial intelligence, this is a quick and easy task. AI can help trace trends and their relationship to products and services, or identify possible correlation between rising satisfaction and changes in after-sales service.
Identifying trends is the first step towards happier customers. The second – and more important – is to learn from them. You can task AI with analysing feedback, such as a bunch of negative responses or complaints, and then ask it to propose next steps. This could mean sending a personalised apology email, a thank-you note, a private offer, or even a gift. The follow-up steps may involve modifying products, services, or even internal processes.
The key is to communicate with the customer. When you show them you care, they’re more willing to accept that your product or service didn’t fully meet their expectations. This may help reduce the severity of the negative experience and, ideally, transform it into something more positive.
Thanks to AI, working with customers and their feedback can be simple, efficient, and above all, beneficial. Any company operating a contact centre can take advantage – but in reality, this happens all too rarely. Why? Because of a flawed perspective. Many businesses perceive their contact centre as a cost seemingly generating no revenue. This makes it difficult to justify increased budgets for customer feedback processing. Yet this is precisely where the greatest return on investment can be achieved.
AI can uncover links between customer satisfaction and business performance. Moreover, data from the contact centre can be used across the entire organisation. It can feed into CRM, ERP, or EIS systems. All you need is a single data source that consolidates information from every department. An experienced implementation partner will help you ride the AI wave and navigate the challenges of the modern age. Because if you miss the wave, a competitor will turn up like a shark – ready to swallow your customers whole.
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