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AI is changing the customer service and engagement game, offering up unprecedented ways to connect with customers where and when they need you. Learn how major companies are leveraging AI to serve up hyper-personalized, emotionally resonant experiences when you join this VB Live event!
Chat and text messaging is increasingly the way consumers prefer to communicate with brands, says Brian Gross, VP of Digital Innovation at airline Aeromexico. And that’s why the company dove in with both feet with the launch of their Aerobot chatbot, which increased customer service automation to above 90 percent, and dropped resolution time from 16 minutes to just two minutes.
“I’ve spoken at chat bot conferences over the past year, and a lot of people are still in the experimental stage,” Gross says. “There aren’t that many companies fully exploiting it, beyond maybe programming some FAQs in, or linking you with their agents. We’ve dived in at the deep end.”
The artificial intelligence-powered bot runs on both WhatsApp — the messaging app used all over the world — and Facebook Messenger.
“Our platform bridges humans, AI, and this extremely popular channel, chat,” Gross explains.
They use it for both customer service and sales, and the company is in the process of adding secure payments to the mobile chat window. It follows up after the sale, with notifications about your flight — from check-in time to status — and allows the customer to get their boarding pass, offers inspirational destination content from hotels to things to do. It’s a well of practical information, too.
“You can ask any question and it will detect your intent,” Gross says. “It’ll detect if you want to shop for tickets, or look at flight times, if you want to check in, if you have a question about luggage or pets, if you want a map of the airport, or if you want to change your ticket.”
If there isn’t a ready answer, the bot offers an apology and sends the customer over to a front-end customer service agent — the human kind.
And in terms of human engagement, it’s been a game changer, he adds.
There’s direct engagement, where the company sends out push messages with deals and offers. And while email promotions have a clickthrough rates in the low single digits, chat promotions have clickthrough rates about 10 times higher
But they’re looking at the bigger picture, Gross says. Up until now airlines have only really had direct access to their loyal, frequent flyer customers, but chat is opening up new doors.
“Think about the customer’s relationship with any airline at this time — once they get off that plane and they’re done with that airline, how are they engaging with you? For most people, it’s not that much, unless you’re a frequent flyer,” he says. “What chat gives us is a two-way channel of communication, letting us establish a continuous relationship with a much broader range of people.”
Which means 2018 is the year to seize the AI advantage, and go beyond mere customer retention to real customer engagement across your consumer base. To learn more about the technology you need, the opportunities it unlocks, and what it takes to get your ball in the game, don’t miss this VB Live event!
Don’t miss out!
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- What’s new in AI for 2018 — and what’s coming down the pike
- How businesses are using AI to drive results
- How to go beyond customer retention and power customer engagement
Speakers:
- Brian Gross, VP Digital Innovation, Aeromexico
- Michael Healey, President, Yeoman Technology Group
- Stewart Rogers, Analyst-at-Large, VentureBeat
- Rachael Brownell, Moderator, VentureBeat
