Mike was interviewed for The Future of Business and Tech, with the primary message of the article as “An Expert Warns Businesses Not to Rely Too Much on AI for Customer Service During the Pandemic.” Read the excerpt below and the full article at the link.
Senior vice president and general manager of Khoros Care, Mike Betzer, answers a few questions on how businesses have responded to the increased volume of customer service complaints during the COVID-19 pandemic and warns that AI can be helpful but it’s possible to overuse.
How have customer expectations changed since the pandemic? What challenges are companies now facing and how should they go about solving them?
Customers increasingly expect brands to meet them where they are. About half of consumers who engage with brands on social media are reaching out about customer care concerns. Furthermore, over 65 percent of social media users across all platforms expect brands to respond, regardless of whether the initial outreach from the consumer was via private messages or public posts.
In the past six months, these expectations have only heightened, and many businesses have had to pivot their customer engagement priorities quickly. Many are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize human connections.
What changes do you think are now permanent?
The use of AI and bots to help manage increased volume in support calls and social media inquiries. Having a simple automated welcome message makes customers feel supported and helps set expectations from the get-go.
Additionally, there are more alternative methods of customer contact besides traditional phone calls. Give customers the ability to engage with your business on their preferred channel — SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, Google’s Business Messages — and they’ll be happier. However, these communications must be streamlined across channels into a single engagement hub to help agents support customers in less time and effectively solve customer issues.