Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic in the business world—and indicators show that will not change in the immediate future. While analysts and pundits have declared that businesses failing to adopt AI risk falling behind, there remains skepticism, particularly by those in customer-facing operations to move forward with AI. There is no denying that AI can provide significant benefits, including increased efficiency, better data analysis, scalability, among many others. How do we reduce that skepticism and convert it into long-term customer loyalty for your brand?
Broadly, customers share the same concerns about AI as the pundits: Is it ethical? Does it compromise security? Is it going to accelerate the emergence of robots in our workplace and homes? While the robotic concern is directed at AGI (artificial general intelligence), it’s a factor that is a genuine concern. Namely, customers associate AI as non-human and robotic and fails to provide a personalized experience or an experience a customer feels they can trust to be successful.
Since 80% of customers consider trust an essential factor in their purchasing decisions, businesses must develop an AI strategy to that not only focuses on efficiency and cost savings but also on a positive customer experience (CX) to ensure trust is built and loyalty remains.
The role of AI in CX
To maximize investments, businesses should consider how AI fits into their overall CX strategy. By identifying the touchpoints where AI can be most effective, a company can ensure the technology seamlessly integrates with customer-facing tools and processes.
Of course, clearly understanding your customers' needs requires its own. Finding the areas where AI can make the most significant impact means researching to isolate pain points in the customer journey. You want to be confident that customer-facing AI-powered tools will address real customer needs and improve overall CX. That’s how you build trust with customers.
How AI helps enhance brand experience
Brands establish trust by offering outstanding products. But they build on that trust by providing prompt, friendly, and reliable service—and this is where AI-powered tools like intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) shine. IVAs use conversational AI, natural language processing, and machine learning (ML) to understand customers, interpret their intent, and provide the correct information at the right time.
One of the biggest trust-building benefits of AI is its ability to provide more personalized service. IVAs can analyze customer data to deliver tailored recommendations, anticipate customer needs, and provide customized support while reducing the workload on customer service agents. By leveraging AI to personalize the customer experience, businesses can build stronger customer relationships and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Traditional customer service tools like interactive voice response systems and chatbots can feel impersonal and often frustrate customers. But with IVAs, there are fewer menus, less time spent on hold, and more successful self-service interactions. IVAs don't just provide quality service—they are trained to do so in a brand-aligned way that feels like a natural extension of the business.
By using brand elements that customers already know and trust, IVAs help create branded experiences. Developers can design IVAs to use a conversational tone, audio cues, and sound effects that align with the brand's voice and personality. IVAs can incorporate the brand's logos, colors, and fonts if the message or interaction has a graphical interface. The combined effect of signature voice tones, sounds, and visuals gives customers a cohesive and recognizable brand experience across different touchpoints.
Another critical advantage of IVAs is their ability to improve over time. Using ML algorithms, IVAs can learn from each interaction and improve their responses accordingly. The more customers interact with the IVA, the more accurate (and efficient) it becomes.
Of course, implementing IVAs has its challenges. And for our purposes, one challenge stands out: It’s critically important for businesses to be transparent about how the technology works. All customers deserve to know—and a portion of them will demand to know—the steps to protect their privacy. By designing conversational AI tools like IVAs to be transparent, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to building long-term relationships with their customers and ensure they feel comfortable using AI-powered tools.
Fortunately, by explaining the purposes of IVAs in clear and simple terms, businesses can help AI skeptics understand how it’s improving their experience. And by taking care to win over the skeptics, companies can unlock the powerful potential of AI to help build brand loyalty at scale.
