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Guest Post: Scaling Up Customer Service… But AI Just Doesn’t Quite Cut it Yet

This week we feature an article by Daniel Ramsey, founder and CEO of MyOutDesk. He discusses the pros and cons of AI customer service tools, as well as the benefits of utilizing a virtual assistant. There is no doubt that the presence of AI in today’s businesses has helped companies operate smoothly when teams cannot […]

This week we feature an article by Daniel Ramsey, founder and CEO of MyOutDesk. He discusses the pros and cons of AI customer service tools, as well as the benefits of utilizing a virtual assistant.

There is no doubt that the presence of AI in today’s businesses has helped companies operate smoothly when teams cannot afford more customer service employees. For some, businesses are finding that their retention rates are dipping while using AI customer service software. So what is the perfect balance in incorporating AI, yet still fostering genuine client relationships? Despite tremendous success in AI software like Siri & Google Assistants by the big five tech companies, most AI solutions out there made by tech start-ups lack the programmatic ability to respond in a genuinely human way to queries.

An “unsupervised” AI bot has led businesses to receive sudden surges in negative feedback, bad reviews, and increased churn. Every customer in the world, including myself, will always choose “talk to a person” or “connect to a representative” as the first choice over a call. When small teams don’t have the time, there’s a solution to still continue improving AI customer service: with human touch. When a customer service representative administers AI tools at a full-time capacity, that is when the synergy happens and all customer expectations can truly meet satisfaction.

Enhancing the Digital Learning Curve

With dozens of AI bots on the market, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to automate your customer interactions. Your customer begins their interaction thinking they’re chatting with a person, and when they realize it’s a bot, their level of satisfaction drops precipitously. It’s natural to look for automated solutions first. After all, IT solutions are often more cost-effective than hiring team members.

Many aren’t yet aware that competitive businesses are assigning a full-time virtual assistant to pair with their digital customer service technologies. For the same low overhead cost as popular digital software subscriptions, virtual assistants are providing the human touch needed for up to less than 70% the cost of a traditional employee.

Increasing Retention Rates + KPIs, with “Hybrid” Virtual Solutions

Businesses find that they can finally deliver the genuine customer satisfaction that all buyers demand – when the power of virtual AI meets the power of human virtual assistance – fortunately at a lower amount of overhead costs than a full-time physical employee (allowing the best profit margins).

An experienced, qualified Virtual Assistant provider is capable of supplementing the rest of client service needs. They can handle customer onboarding and training processes, along with Tier-1 support and Help Desk tasks.

A virtual assistant is fully in charge of administering customer service technologies (open, manage, and close tickets) – delivering the genuine customer satisfaction that all buyers demand.

As Shep mentioned during our special webinar, “If your employees and customers are nervous, uncertain and even scared, you owe it to them to communicate at a much higher frequency and much more empathetic than you ever have before. ” Communication is key, and this is why AI tools need to couple with fast human response, which can all be afforded by a virtual assistant.

There’s Nothing More Important to a Growing Business Than Your Customer Experience

In today’s service economy, excellent service is the deciding factor for most businesses. If teams do not focus on creating a good experience across each and every interaction, you will have negative feedback, bad reviews, and increased churn.

Despite the hype, commercial AI is still maturing. While it can be useful for basic keyphrase recognition and providing canned responses to common questions, ultimately it’s confined to the limitations of a predefined workflow. AI cannot yet think outside the box and adapt to situations that require a degree of empathy and comprehension—and it often falls apart when asked even simple questions outside of what it is programmed to recognize.

Relying on AI as a front-line customer interaction tool alone can be dangerous. So rather than attempting to replace human assistance with AI solutions, it’s better to combine them for optimal customer service. The modern workplace is increasingly collaborative, and human assistants remain intrinsically more capable of fostering relationships than AI alone.

There’s a place for automation, and there’s also a place for real, human staffing – and VA providers such as MyOutDesk virtual assistants are the top-tier solution for your high-tech help desk & customer service roles for a fraction of what business would pay locally.

Daniel Ramsey is the founder and CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated virtual assistant company in the marketplace. Back in 2008, he was inspired by his own time-management struggles to find a better way to help agents leverage their time & energy.  He created MyOutDesk to provide a trusted, reliable solution to the office administration, marketing & prospecting tasks that every agent has – but most lack the time to focus on.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Business Leader Explains Why We Must Embrace Change

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