The business landscape is noisy and crowded for most of us. But keeping your customers happy and engaged is crucial to your success and their return. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a powerful toolkit to elevate your customer experience in ways you might not have thought of. And it’s not about replacing your employees with robots.
As a small business owner, you can leverage AI to make your customers feel valued and keep them coming back for more.
Help Your Employees Focus Where They’re Needed Most
Some things you can automate, some you can’t. Some questions are easily answered (over, and over, and over throughout the day) and some require more thought.
What if you could hand off all the simple questions to “someone” who will never become impatient no matter how many times it’s asked the same thing? What if you could trust the answer will always be given in a professional way from the first time to the thirty-first? Imagine your website anticipating your customers' needs before they even ask.
AI-powered chatbots can greet visitors, answer basic questions, and even guide them toward relevant products or services. This not only saves you time answering repetitive inquiries but also provides immediate assistance, enhancing the customer journey from the very first click.
And this assistant never sleeps.
Trust your human employees with the “peopling” and relationship-building tasks and leave the virtual, repetitive work to AI.
After all, how many times can you tell someone your address and hours without feeling a little robotic anyway?
Help Customers Get What They Want Quickly
AI can also personalize the online shopping experience. By analyzing past purchases and browsing behavior, recommendation engines can suggest products that complement what a customer has already shown interest in.
Recommendations greatly increase the likelihood of a sale. It also creates a sense of feeling understood, like the website is offering exactly what you need.
Eliminate Frustrating Waits
Beyond sales, AI can revolutionize your customer support. One of the most common phrases you hear when calling any company these days is, “We are experiencing very high call volumes.” That’s usually followed by an annoying number of minutes that you will have to wait to get a human on the line.
It’s not that more people are calling. It’s that more companies don’t have the staff to support the call volume. Some have turned to “wait in line” call backs but there’s another solution.
AI-powered chatbots can handle simple inquiries, freeing up your staff for more complex issues. Chatbots can also be trained to answer frequently asked questions 24/7, ensuring your customers receive prompt assistance even outside of business hours.
Gain Important Customer Insight
The power of AI extends beyond your website. By analyzing customer reviews and social media sentiment, you can gain valuable insights into what customers think of your brand.
Using this data, you can identify areas for improvement and proactively address any customer concerns. AI can monitor social media and alert you if a customer expressed frustration, allowing you to reach out and resolve the issue before it escalates.
Give Customers What They Want Without Hours and Hours of Work
Finally, another way AI can improve the customer experience is through repurposing content. Some of your audience enjoys podcasts, others blogs, or short video clips. It’s time consuming to do it all but you should to meet your customers’ preferences.
In the past, repurposing took a lot of work. Today, there are AI products that can turn blogs into videos, videos into transcripts, and webinars into bite-sized TikToks and Reels with a couple of clicks. That way, you can give your customers access to the medium of their preference without spending hours repurposing it.
Finally, AI is not a magic bullet. And it takes some time to “teach” it. But it is a powerful tool that can help you personalize customer interactions, streamline processes, and ultimately, create a more positive and memorable customer experience. Plus, it’s never going to ask you to buy a box of cookies from its kid or quiet quit on you.
Christina Metcalf is a writer/ghostwriter who believes in the power of story. She works with small businesses, chambers of commerce, and business professionals who want to make an impression and grow a loyal customer/member base. She loves road trips, hates exclamation points, and is currently reading three books at once.
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