AI tools possess incredible intelligence and are playing an increasingly important role in how businesses operate. Shaping the way we approach our work, AI in customer service is also shaping what customers expect.
Did you know that 94% of business leaders agree that AI is critical to success over the next five years?
And 69% of customers say they’re open to the use of AI to improve their experiences?
We did a little research on which AI support tools out there are worth investing in, and why.
What are the benefits of using Support AI Tools?
Customer service teams face the challenge of meeting rising customer expectations, and customers want two things from support teams:
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Speed,
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Accuracy.
Providing quality customer support means navigating the tricky balance between these two things. So this is where AI support tools can lend most value. Through the wonder that is artificial intelligence, tools can amplify existing strengths – making teams even better and faster at what they do.
How AI can make your team more like Speedy Gonzales (faster)
AI support tools can significantly improve response times. And with timely assistance, comes higher customer satisfaction levels.
Smart stuff like this:
Proactive support
AI support tools can assist in managing and optimizing knowledge bases. They can automatically categorize and tag support articles, suggest relevant resources based on customer inquiries, and identify gaps in the knowledge base that need to be addressed.
Ticket routing
Ticket routing is the process through which customer issues are assigned to different teams or agents. The quicker the problem is put into the right hands, the quicker a solution can be found.
Instead of relying on customers or human agents to determine ticket routing, classifying tickets using AI and automation speeds up the process. Machine learning can automatically categorize tickets, no matter the volume, making sure they are attributed to the right person in a record amount of time, around the clock.
Chatbots
Chatbots are likely the first things people think of when they connect the term ‘customer support’ with ‘AI’. And AI chatbots are getting smarter and smarter.
While they have been able to imitate human conversation for a long time, they are now able to engage in a more sophisticated two-way conversation with customers. That said, customers should always have access to an ‘escape hatch’, aka a way to redirect the conversation to an actual customer support agent.
One of (if not THE) biggest benefits of a chatbot is the fact that they can work 24/7. When customer service agents’ shifts end, chatbots can pick up the slack so your customers aren’t left ignored for hours on end.
How AI can help your team put the Q in Quality
This part is less about replacing human customer support with AI, and more about the myriad ways you can enhance team performance when you add some smart capabilities to your tech stack.
AI support tools also excel in their ability to learn and improve over time. From analyzing customer interactions to identifying patterns, this continuous learning process helps refine the accuracy and effectiveness of their role.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis tools use AI algorithms to analyze customer feedback, reviews, and social media posts. By understanding the sentiment behind customer interactions, support teams can identify potential issues, address concerns proactively, and increase customer satisfaction.
Customer insights
By analyzing large volumes of customer data, AI algorithms can uncover valuable insights about customer behavior, preferences, and patterns. These insights can be used by customer service teams to personalize interactions, anticipate customer needs, and provide more tailored and relevant support.
Quality assurance
A third of all teams surveyed are using AI to assist in the selection of conversations for review.
AI algorithms can automatically pluck out critical conversations for review purposes. Instead of filtering through many conversations for insights that matter, reviewers are given a shortcut.
For example, Zendesk QA‘s (formerly Klaus) Spotlight feature analyzes your communication data to understand what is important to you, based on criteria AI has customized for your support team.
Autoscoring is another window to faster, more actionable quality assurance. Tools can automatically score 100% of conversations based on predefined criteria. These criteria may include factors like customer satisfaction, adherence to protocols, resolution accuracy, empathy, and overall effectiveness.
This reduces the reliance on manual assessments, and improves your QA specialists’ capacity for higher level analysis and coaching.
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Coaching
AI can track key performance metrics of customer service agents, such as response time, customer satisfaction ratings, and issue resolution rates. By analyzing this data, AI tools can provide performance insights and personalized coaching to help agents improve their skills and deliver higher-quality service.
The Top 9 AI Support Tools (and why you might need them)
Disclaimer: This list was difficult to put together, because many many companies say they use AI. However, when you look into it, few of them actually bake it into their product and features.
“It can be very difficult to distinguish between providers that know what they’re doing with AI and those that do not. Everybody is slapping the AI label and everything.
One common sense thing to keep an eye on is how long a company has actually been engaged in some kind of data science related endeavors. And also simply: Do they employ data scientists — which is often a way to cut through the noise.”
1. Zendesk QA (formerly Klaus)
(I mean, of course we’re going to put ourselves as number one. But with good reason, we promise.)
With Zendesk QA, you can identify gaps in your customer experience before they become a problem. Use AI to pinpoint where agents are falling short and resources are going to waste – then fix what isn’t working. Automate quality management across agents, teams, customer service BPOs, and countries. Collect and analyze customer feedback through a customizable AI-powered CSAT solution.
Zendesk QA helps by:
- Providing unmatched visibility into what shapes your support quality,
- Using AI to make sense of your support data, pinpoint problematic cases, and highlight what needs your attention,
- Offering standardization without losing personalization: Zendesk QA fits your processes and needs, not the other way around,
- Drastically reducing manual admin work and removing friction by automating your QM processes,
- Engaging your agents through continuous feedback & active learning.
2. Ultimate
Ultimate is designed to provide customer support automation that can accommodate the growth of your business. They assist global brands in scaling their customer support operations by leveraging artificial intelligence.
With the power of Natural Language Processing (NLP), the Intelligent Virtual Assistant automates customer conversations and repetitive tasks. This ensures that customers receive excellent support experiences 24/7, whether it’s through chat, email, or social media channels.
What sets Ultimate apart is that it is the only solution available that integrates seamlessly with all major CRM providers, including Salesforce, Zendesk, Dixa, Freshworks, Genesys, Giosg, LiveChat, and more. This partnership allows for a smooth and efficient integration with your existing customer support systems.
3. Ada
With Ada’s advanced technology, over 4 billion customer conversations have been successfully automated for renowned companies such as Meta, Verizon, AirAsia, Yeti, and Square.
- No-code automation builder:
Support teams can design, oversee, and consistently enhance automation processes, ranging from basic FAQs to intricate workflows and integrations. - Multimodal capabilities:
Seamless content and training exchange across digital and voice channels, introducing consistency to customer service experience. - Generative content creation:
Effortlessly generate conversational FAQs with a simple click. Synchronize Ada with your knowledge base to automatically create new conversation intents derived from existing content.
4. Yellow.ai
- Conversational AI Platform designed to ensure delighted customers and happier employees. With a combination of AI and human intelligence, the platform enables businesses to unlock their full potential at scale.
- Intuitive no-code/low-code bot builders empower businesses to create sophisticated conversational experiences without extensive coding knowledge.
- Trusted by over 1000 enterprises in 70+ countries, including industry leaders like Domino’s, Sephora, Hyundai, and Siemens Limited
5. Balto.ai
Balto.ai provides real-time guidance to agents during calls. By offering live guidance using Balto helps agents navigate conversations with confidence, leading to improved customer experience and higher employee satisfaction.
One of the key features is its ability to remind agents of the call flow, ensuring that they stay on track and effectively manage each conversation. As agents progress through the call, Balto automatically checks off items on the checklist when they are mentioned, providing a seamless and efficient experience. Agents can tailor the app to their preferences, making each call feel more personalized and comfortable.
6. Stylo
Stylo is a tool that helps users identify issues without the hassle of sifting through numerous tickets. It prioritizes the most pressing customer tickets within seconds, ensuring that no critical moment is missed.
Operating seamlessly within Zendesk, Stylo scans every support ticket and provides valuable insights into the customer’s emotions. Its sentiment analysis can determine whether a customer is feeling frustrated or delighted. Then, the most urgent tickets are flagged, ensuring that immediate attention is given to those that require it the most. This way, users can effectively manage their workload and focus on resolving critical issues promptly.
You’ll also likely find use from the AI tools in your very own helpdesk (if you’re lucky enough to use one of the following):
7. Intercom
Intercom’s AI-powered beta features offer a range of tools to enhance customer service.
- The conversation summarization tool generates detailed summaries of customer conversations with a single click.
- The composer AI features enable tone adjustment and rephrasing of messages, making the writing process more efficient.
- The Expand feature allows users to elaborate on short notes or bullet points, turning them into fully-fledged responses.
- Intercom’s chat bot Fin excels in engaging in natural conversations regarding support queries, surpassing the capabilities of existing bots. It possesses the ability to comprehend queries that extend beyond a single interaction, enabling customers to ask follow-up questions and seek further clarification.
8. Zendesk
- Zendesk’s Intelligent triage automates the categorization of incoming requests based on intent, language, and sentiment, and powers automated routing workflows for efficient request handling.
- Advanced bots automatically detect and classify customer requests for accurate responses. They come pre-trained with intents specific to customer service teams, saving setup time.
- Context panel provides AI-powered insights to agents in the Agent Workspace. Suggesting relevant macros for faster issue resolution, agents are also advised on customer intent, sentiment, and language.
- Macro suggestions for admins offer AI-powered suggestions for creating shared macros. These identify knowledge gaps in macros for optimization and promote seamless collaboration between teams.
9. Talkdesk
- CX Cloud™ platform automates customer self-service. These tools empower customers to find answers to their queries without agent assistance, improving efficiency and reducing wait times.
- Talkdesk Virtual Agent™ utilizes conversational AI to enable customers to engage in natural, two-way interactions. The Virtual Agent can handle various customer inquiries and tasks, automatically transferring customers to live agents when more complex issues arise that require human support.
- Talkdesk Interaction Analytics™ captures, transcribes, and analyzes customer interactions using AI. It identifies key conversation moments, topics, and sentiment to help businesses understand customer intent, uncover trends, and gain actionable insights.
- AI-powered assistant listens, learns, and assists in every conversation. It provides automated assistance to both customers and agents, enhancing efficiency and productivity.
The future of AI in customer service
As AI support tools continue to advance, their application will expand into broader domains. Nevertheless, companies should approach each advancement with a healthy dose of consideration.
It is not in the best interest of either party to widen the gap between the customer and the business. While machines may start to assume larger roles in communication, the analysis of customer conversations for insights and feedback will become more advanced.
But if someone says “chatbots will take over in 5 years” take it with a grain of salt. Human support will always be an asset.
