By : Josette Weinstein | December 4, 2023 | 4 min read

How AI Bots Drive Omnichannel Customer Support

AI bots have increased in popularity and they are solving a common issue that many companies have: providing omnichannel customer support.

In an increasingly digital world, customers expect businesses to have a presence wherever they are, which means that you need to think about how you can deliver a consistent customer experience across all channels.  

To meet these needs, businesses are turning to AI bots as a means of providing the same level of assistance regardless of where the customer is interacting with them.  

In this article, we will look at how AI bots can help you provide omnichannel customer support. 

The importance of omnichannel customer support 

The most significant shift in customer behavior in recent years has been the rise of the omnichannel customer. This is the expectation that customers will be able to access services, make purchases, and receive support across all channels.  

The importance of providing an omnichannel experience means that many customer service departments have had to adapt their operations. In the past, many customer service agents only answered customer calls or emails, now many are using various channels to respond to customer inquiries—including websites, mobile apps, social media, messaging apps, and more.  

This shift to multichannel communication has been hard for many organizations to achieve and there is often a lack of consistency between support channels. That’s where an AI bot can help.  

What is an AI bot? 

An AI bot is a piece of software that is designed to mimic human conversation. AI bots can be designed to deliver a range of tasks, including customer support, sales, online marketing, and e-commerce assistance.  

AI bots are programmed to learn from every interaction, meaning that when used for customer support, they will use a combination of the data you’ve provided them (such as FAQs, product information, and knowledge base articles) along with the data from every single interaction with a customer to help them respond in the best way possible.  

AI bots are particularly useful for businesses looking to provide an omnichannel experience to customers. 
 

How AI Bots can help deliver omnichannel support experiences 

When designing your customer support experience, you want to think about how you can make it as seamless as possible for your customers to get their questions and issues resolved.  

Conversational AI bots utilize a few different types of technology, including AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to build their knowledge and learn based on previous interactions. All of the information the bots collect and analyze is stored in a central location so that when a customer interacts with them on one channel, they can utilize that information when chatting with the same customer via different channels during the same conversation, or even the next time that customer reaches out for support.  

Because AI bots operate in a virtual space, they can easily move between channels to interact with your customers. This means they can help you provide consistent customer experiences across multiple channels.  

Combining your CRM and AI bot to drive powerful omnichannel support 

Remember the centralized database we mentioned above? The best place to store the data collected by an AI bot (and human agents as well) is within a CRM system.  

When your AI bot and CRM software are connected, there should be a seamless sync of data between the two. That way, when a bot escalates a complex support case to a human agent, the agent can quickly review the information and chat history between the customers and bots for faster, more personalized support.  

The benefits of connecting your AI bot and CRM: 

  • Provide speedier, more personalized omnichannel support 
  • Gather critical data about your customers and your products/services 
  • Drastically increase customer satisfaction
  • Ensure consistency in support across all channels 

The key to getting the most out of your AI bot is to ensure that it is synced with your CRM system. If they aren’t syncing, your bot and agents may not have the information they need to provide accurate, omnichannel support. 

Conclusion 

The rise of omnichannel experiences has meant that customer service teams have had to adapt and change the way they interact with customers. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to providing customer support, AI bots can help you meet these expectations by providing support via multiple channels. The best way to set your support team up for success is to connect your AI bot and CRM system so that both virtual and human agents have the data they need to provide fast, reliable support.  

Interested in learning which bot is right for your organization and current CRM system? Let us help

You might also like

How to Optimize Your Support Operations With AI

By : Josette Weinstein Mar 25, 2024 6 min read

6 CRM Benefits that Improve Your Bottom Line

By : D'Andre Davis-Taylor Feb 26, 2024 6 min read