Brands today have high customer expectations to satisfy (even exceed) to retain customers and drive loyalty. Vis-a-vis the days of customers waiting on hold for hours, or days after sending an email, are long gone. Live chat as a channel has been a game-changer in helping brands offer real-time customer support.
Recommended: Generative AI - The Future of Customer Support (free-to-download eBook)
However, as the customer support landscape evolves, a significant transformation is underway – the integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) into live chat systems. This paradigm shift is redefining the roles and responsibilities of live chat agents, making them indispensable in the Generative AI era.
Importance of Human Agents in the Era of Generative AI
Human agents are a critical part of customer service as they help foster personalized connections and in resolving complex queries to ensure seamless customer experiences.
Uninterrupted Customer Service: There are situations when a bot might not provide a satisfactory resolution to a customer's issue. In those scenarios, human agents can step in seamlessly, ensuring uninterrupted customer service. Their ability to resolve complex problems helps businesses avoid negative user experiences. Timely resolution can leave a lasting positive impression on the brand.
Deciphering User Needs: Sometimes, user queries can be vague or unclear, making it challenging for a bot to pinpoint the exact issue. Human agents excel in understanding customer needs and can efficiently resolve their problems. Their ability to interpret and clarify user inquiries leads to faster issue resolution.
Personalized Connection: Regardless of how advanced Conversational AI solutions are, some customers simply prefer human assistance. Human agents can establish a personal connection with users in a way that bots cannot replicate. This is particularly valuable when customers are upset or frustrated. Human agents can gauge user sentiments, offer reassurance, and provide timely resolutions.
Benefits of Generative AI-Powered Live Chat Agents
Let’s understand the remarkable benefits of live chat agents powered by Gen AI.
Faster Response Times
Generative AI-powered chatbots help handle multiple queries simultaneously, which reduces response times and improves customer satisfaction levels. The speed of AI and intuition of human agents combine to create a powerful support mechanism. In fact, live chat support is preferred by 79% of users as a result of its immediacy.
Better Customer Experience
Generative AI chatbots are capable of providing personalized and contextual responses. When chat agents collaborate effectively with AI, they can offer customers a tailored and efficient support experience. The personalized support helps trigger customer loyalty and improve brand image.
Fewer Repetitive Tasks
One major advantage of Generative AI is its capability to handle repetitive tasks. Chatbots can manage routine activities such as appointment scheduling, order tracking, and invoice generation, allowing live chat agents to focus on resolving unique and complex customer issues.
What’s the Role of a Live Chat Agent in the Age of Generative AI
Let’s explore the evolving role of live chat agents in the era of Generative AI, including the need to complement the powerful technology to drive phenomenal customer support.
Haptik's live agent interface with a contextual agent inbox, pre-loaded user details, and omnichannel agent workspace
RELATED: How Generative AI Is Transforming the Customer Service Game
Adaptation & Skill Set
In the Generative AI era, live chat agents need to adapt to the evolution in technology. In addition to sending responses, they must understand how AI chatbots work, collaborate with them, and be ready to take over when necessary. Acquiring skills, such as data analysis and interpretation, is essential for agents to provide quality support.
Collaboration with AI Assistants
With Generative AI, live chat agents and AI-powered chatbots must work together to provide efficient customer support. While chatbots handle routine queries, agents have a key role in addressing complex issues that require human intuition, empathy, and problem-solving.
Focus on Complex Customer Queries
As AI chatbots take over routine tasks (as per data, 74% of users prefer interacting with chatbots when they need answers to simple queries), live chat agents can work on resolving complex customer queries. Generative AI equips agents with valuable insights, allowing them to provide more nuanced responses. This shift improves support quality and drives higher customer satisfaction.
How Agent Co-pilot Improves Agent Efficiency
Helping improve the capabilities of live chat agents is Agent Co-pilot, which functions as an intelligent support system by leveraging Generative AI. It empowers agents by providing real-time chat suggestions based on its understanding of customer intent so they can offer comprehensive query resolution. Moreover, this allows live agents to respond quicker and with more accuracy when handling complex queries.
AI Chat Summary - Haptik’s Agent Co-pilot feature powered by Generative AI
Let’s consider a scenario.
An eCommerce brand is running a sales festival and the live chat support system is being inundated with customer queries. Even as live chat agents work diligently, the volume of queries is overwhelming and response times are paramount.
With Agent Co-pilot:
- Every incoming customer query is analyzed for intent before suggesting a suitable response
- Live chat agents can sift through these suggestions, modify them as per requirement, and deliver swift responses
- In the case of more complex queries, Agent Co-pilot provides additional context and the necessary information in real-time, empowering agents with the essential resources at their fingertips
- Thus, response times improve significantly as customers receive faster, accurate, and satisfactory support experiences
Preparing for the Future
As the Generative AI era continues to evolve, live chat agents are an intrinsic part of customer support. Their adaptability and willingness to embrace AI technologies will ensure they continue to provide invaluable support to customers. They should be trained to leverage Generative AI to improve customer engagement. This includes using AI-generated insights to personalize interactions and provide more relevant support.
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