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When new technology is released into the world It's tempting to jump in headfirst into the latest innovation and integrate it into all aspects of your company.

In this age AI, or artificial Intelligence (AI), you may consider incorporating chatbots and large language models (LLMs) in your services. We've found that there's a balance that needs to be struck, say Lauren Gilbert, Eyal Avital and Mau Fournier of the Customer Happiness team.

Particularly when it comes to Customer Service, AI can be beneficial but should be used with caution when compared to the real, human professional in customer service. "Many users want to hand over 100% of customer support responsibilities to these shiny new AI instruments, but there are always situations where human interaction is required. Delegating everything to AI is likely to leave a lot of your customers more frustrated than they were before they wrote in," starts Mau.

Let's take a look at the ways and times you could include AI to improve your customer service offering.

Essential qualities for a customer service group

What does the ideal customer service appear like? How can it best aid a company's clients?

"We attempt to live the five qualities of the PREACH model in order to keep an approach that is customer-centric," starts Eyal Avital. "We strive to be proud, Responsible, Empathetic, articulate, concise and human.

We all agree that empathy is perhaps the most important of these. "Put yourself in your customer's in their shoes, and be empathetic to their circumstances. Let them know they are important to the employees of the company who are helping to manage it." Lauren says. Lauren.

"Empathy is often overlooked" says Mau. "You need to embody empathy to be able to comprehend the client's problem And you must demonstrate empathy through your responses to make the customer feel heard, which can help to lower their defenses when they're upset."

Additionally, clients require assistance from someone who is knowledgeable enough about the platform to be able offer the necessary information as well as the language to convey the product. "When it comes to a platform that you count upon to manage your business, getting support promptly from a person who understands the platform inside and out and can help you resolve a challenge in a manner that's simple to grasp and take action on, is crucial," thinks Lauren.

Customer service is not just a box-ticking exercise: genuine kindness is vital. "Don't simply answer a superficial question -- try to find out what's driving the query and what they're trying to accomplish," thinks Mau. "Help them with the core issue, and follow up in the future to confirm that they were able to get the job done. The audience will be content if they can sense someone on the other side truly wants to find solutions to assist," he adds.

Don't forget to consider timeliness and clarity when you interact. "You should provide fast aid, and communicate in a concise and clear manner," starts Lauren. Eyal states: "You must be timely with your responses to clients. You may offer the best service however, if you're not prompt enough in the mind of your customer, they'll feel ignored and will view your interaction negatively."

When AI fails

There is no doubt that AI can be helpful particularly for businesses and entrepreneurs who have a lot to do however, it's not always the ideal choice. There are few aspects of excellent customer service that AI can simply not recreate.

Personalisation

From our observations so far, AI is missing the mark on providing solutions that can meet a specific customer's needs. We've seen numerous examples of help desk software that requires users to reply to a series of questions before getting an answer from an algorithm. By definition it is true that an automated solution can only resolve a limited range of problems since it's not a "one size fits all' situation.

"AI will certainly show proficiency and offer responses to queries - and they are often superior to humans however its knowledge may not be as up-to-date and knowledgeable of your particular domain as a human could be," says Mau. "It is able to be useful with simple and quick interactions However, it doesn't have the ownership of being helpful and it can't follow up like a human could or at the very least, not as yet."

Longevity

Even though LLM (AI) applications have improved the tone they use in their interactions with their customers, there's still one alternative. "LLM apps may use an appropriate tone of voice however it's not the same as genuine empathy from a real human. The human capacity for empathy and linking an experience to its specific experience can't be replicated," says Mau.

Similarly, AI is all about the immediate. "LLMs have a short attention span that's part of the AI technology," he adds. "They won't remember the chat you had just six months ago regarding your client's issues or the way the content you provide them with as well as the fact that they enjoy going to fishing with their loved ones. Bringing these details back to new discussions will ensure that your customers feel as if you really care."

AI is a great tool to help

It's not saying that AI can't be useful for customer services. There are certainly clear-cut opportunities to automate, as with every new technology It's important to be aware of how to invent and when to do it.

"We need to use AI in place to tackle mundane tasks that could be automated, while leaving the human voice an alternative for people with specific requests," begins Mau. " LLMs offer a fantastic first draft for replies, however, the most effective result will always come from the editing you make to the draft. Bring your own voice into conversations."

"What was once the FAQ on a website is now handled by artificial intelligence or bots to answer basic questions in a matter of minutes and 24 hours. Any questions that aren't answered by the one-click and one-question options must be directed to human support," Eyal adds. "Otherwise the customer could become frustrated. It's similar to the old days of getting stuck and having to repeat numbers to get to the correct department via the phone."

The integration with AI is an ongoing process. "There's an evolving process (crawl-walk-run) for integrating bots and LLMs," starts Eyal. "New firms should be able to devote more time to their community and provide hands-on help. Once they are more popular, they can offboard their basic frequently asked questions and turn to LLM."

"AI could help you expand when your career grows because more employees can raise inquiries," says Mau. "Many of these will be basic questions that AI can take off of your plate so you can be more focused on more intricate problems."

"You can be able to rely on AI as you begin your journey, but I would advise against it. I'd recommend more manual support when you're starting out: the questions you are asked in the initial stages of your career are an abundance of information that can be used to understand your intended customers and the ways you can improve things to better serve them."

Conclusion

It appears that the "people-first" strategy we're pursuing works well. It combines the expertise of a plethora of experts with the empathy only a human being can provide. Eyal affirms that our way of work helps to humanize Memberul as a brand "a combination of compassion with sharing resources, as well as making it fun by using Emojis and GIFs" Keep things fun and useful.

Mau gives some reviews from customers who said it was nice to talk "to an actual person with such a warm approach to helping" and someone who could provide individualized guidance to your specific question. "That client said that it was the most helpful support they ever had!" smiles Mau.

Lauren is able to recall a client who contacted her with a concern about member retention. Based on her experience in her business, as well as the unique patterns within her business we were able provide recommendations on a pricing plan which ultimately improved her customers life-time worth.

"You might be able to use AI for help with the kind of issue but when it comes to decisions which could have a significant impact on your business, I'd venture to say that most people aren't ready to trust AI alone with that - nor should they according to my view".