New AI-supported tools enhance customer communication

January 16, 2025 By    

We just went live with a new customer communications tool supported by artificial intelligence (AI).

Chris Caywood
Caywood

We discovered that AI is a lot like us: It requires training and can learn from its mistakes. We also learned that the process cost more and took more time than we thought it would. We still think it’s worth it.

Customer communication goal

Meeting diverse customer channel preferences requires offices, phones, email, text, chat and a social media presence. Regardless of what channel these customers use, we need to be there and get it right. That’s a lot to expect from a customer service representative (CSR), no matter how talented they are.

How we used to do it

Before we implemented our new tool, our CSRs juggled multiple platforms. In addition to a physical phone, they monitored separate applications for chat, email, text and social media. Managing these channels was complex and time-consuming. We missed too many communications and made too many mistakes. We lost customers that should still be with us today.

How we do it today

Our new tool consolidates all these communication channels into a single platform equipped with a ticketing system. Now, our CSRs only need two applications: one for customer communications and another for transaction processing. The new tool already helps us improve customer retention rates and increase prospective customer conversion rates through:

  • Unified customer communication: Our interactions with each customer are now stored in one place, regardless of the communication channel. While customers may have preferred channels, they almost always use multiple channels. Having it all in one place tied to a customer and a ticket that’s either in progress or closed helps us make sure we don’t miss anything.
  • Improved documentation: Our new tool records conversations just like our old phone system but also creates concise, written summaries of each call and attaches the recording to its corresponding ticket. We used to rely on CSRs to capture every detail and every call while also being fully engaged with the customer. This unfair and unrealistic expectation hurt our service quality.
  • Real-time collaboration: With CSRs spread across three locations, transferring calls or getting help during a live call is difficult. Our new tool has live monitoring and handoff capability.

How we’ll do it tomorrow

Our new tool’s integration with large language AI will unlock even more potential:

  • Live guidance: CSRs will receive live guidance on what to say and how to say it. Customers will receive friendlier, more accurate and more consistent communication.
  • More complete, real-time feedback: CSRs and managers will have complete, consistent feedback on customer interactions – including interactions that go well and even rise to best-in-class service. Today, most feedback comes from call escalations, which understandably makes CSRs feel like they only get feedback when they make mistakes.
  • Simpler, friendlier language: The tool can turn bullet points and rude responses into friendly, easy-to-understand answers. This one has been fun to test!
  • Automated responses: Repetitive questions like “What’s the price of propane today?” will be handled without a CSR, freeing up their time for more complicated tasks.
  • 24/7 service: We believe that basic after-hours marketing, sales and customer support can be a real game-changer for our business, and a big competitive advantage.

Why “eventually”?

AI tools only know what you tell them. Loading your standard terms, policies, sample communications, website content and other information into the tool creates a knowledge base. We were pretty proud of our documentation and processes until the AI tool uncovered gaps and inconsistencies that our team has been living with for far too long. Until we clean that up and test it in a controlled environment (tech geeks call this machine learning), most of the AI tools are not ready to go live. We’ll share our experiences in future columns – hopefully in the near future!


Christopher Caywood is a co-owner of Caywood Propane Gas Inc. Contact him at chris@caywoodpropane.com.

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