Hamed Mazrouei, Founder and CEO Vivant and Milagro.
Automated chatbots respond in milliseconds. Self-service portals are available 24/7. Sure, these tools may help with hold times, yet when a customer feels unheard, no algorithm or generative AI agent will be able to reverse frustration or even restore trust.
As businesses scale and support strives to use automation to become increasingly efficient and always available, the challenge isn’t how fast you respond—it’s how human you remain.
Let’s face it, sometimes we just need to talk to a person.
A report by Gartner predicts that “80% of customer service and support organizations will be applying generative AI technology in some form to improve agent productivity and customer experience (CX)” and this technology “will transform customer service and support by 2028.” But is it really helping customers have a better experience?
Maybe. According to customer service executives, the biggest customer service challenge they face is slow response times. In that link, Sprinklr shares an example of one company that reduced its average response time from six hours to just 70 minutes using AI automation. That’s all fine and good as long as the responses are actually resolving the issues.
Done correctly, you build customer loyalty and a reason for positive word-of-mouth. Not only that, it inspires repeat purchases—88% of the time, according to amplifAI.
On the other hand, if the AI agent does not provide a resolution or is difficult to use, it will have damaging effects. Some of the reasons why customers become frustrated with automated customer support include:
• Having to reword the issue multiple times so the AI agent understands it and provides a relevant solution
• Not being directed to a human agent if the issue is not resolved, or worse, having to repeat the issue all over again; in other words, there is not a seamless transition or retention of conversation history across interactions
• Not providing adequate self-service articles on information on the online portal
• The issue remains unresolved after multiple attempts
In short, customers expect their support experience to be as close to effortless as possible. The best AI agents can actually replicate the human’s ability to gauge the mood or emotion of the customer, anticipate the need for escalation to a human agent and facilitate a seamless transition.
Identify. In a chat or automated voice response system, it can tell if the customer is getting frustrated or is unhappy by reading cues such as all caps or exclamation points, asking for a live agent, looking for alternative channels, even abandoning the chat.
If your self-service portal is advanced, sentiment cues can also be found there, such as a search that seems to be failing (multiple attempts to reword the issue) or, again, abandoning the search.
Anticipate. A “smart” agent will recognize the need to escalate the customer to a live agent and proactively offer to do so. “You don’t seem to be finding what you need.” Or, “How about I get you to a live agent to further assist?”
Escalate. This part is key. If the customer is already on edge from their failed bot experience, make sure your system allows for an expedited transition to a live agent. Nothing is worse than sending an already frustrated customer to a lengthy wait or another round of being on hold. And transfer the call, chat or search transcript with them so the live agent can pick up where the automated agent left off.
Set the live human agent up for success. The best way to turn around an unhappy customer is to quickly resolve the issue and then exceed their expectations. But first, if it is an expedited situation, the human agent should address the reason for the escalation. “Looks like you already spent some time on our self-service portal. I’m sorry you didn’t find what you needed. Let me help, and we’ll get this resolved for you quickly.”
One of the biggest sources of frustration with automated tools is that if the customer can’t get the help they need, they don’t have a way to express themselves to a bot. Often, simply a friendly voice on the other end of the phone (or chat) is enough to diffuse the situation.
One mistake companies make is not understanding the impact of AI on the customer journey. The companies that win aren’t just leveraging technology to impact efficiencies; they’re designing every interaction with empathy, intuitiveness and the unmistakable reassurance of a real human connection.
Companies looking to apply AI to their customer service operation should keep their motivations in check. If it’s to downsize their human support staff and save money, it can make sense as long as the remaining support agents are more efficient, relieved of mundane repetitive tasks and more available to help solve complex problems … or to simply talk to a person who wants to talk to a person!
The key is to first focus on the customer in front of you and consider integrating AI technology to help employees provide the best possible experience, from one human to another.
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