Dealing with customer service for a faulty product or return? You’ve probably felt the frustration firsthand. What should take five minutes turns into irritation as you navigate endless menus, hold loops and finally plead for a human to solve your issue.
Most days the hassle outweighs the cost, leaving you disappointed and disenchanted with the brand you’re engaging with. But what if there was someone, or something, that handled it all for you? Your own digital sidekick that initiates returns, arranges replacements and keeps you updated through your favorite communication channel. No hold music, no wasted time; just fast and seamless resolution.
The power of AI is delivering real solutions that help people accomplish their goals with ease. One area that may drastically improve consumers’ satisfaction with customer service: AI-powered bots that can act as a shopper’s own personal concierge service. This emerging technology can ease common customer service pain points and turn lackluster chores into more luxurious, customized experiences.
The retail landscape is dramatically transforming as AI reshapes how businesses interact with customers. At the forefront of this evolution is the sophisticated deployment of AI-powered virtual agents. Driven by large language models (LLMs), virtual agents can speak like humans, follow complex questions and understand various inputs. They are rapidly outpacing the one-dimensional linear chatbots of today.
Ditching Robotic Replies for VIP Experiences
The majority of today’s chatbots are reactive. They can manage simple tasks like canceling orders, checking statuses and setting passwords. Most still rely on Natural Language Processing (NLP), keeping them locked in a cycle of linear interactions. Some bots incorporate customer context, but many place consumers into a frustrating maze of irrelevant, pre-programmed replies.
Currently, most retailers are operating at these early levels of automation to handle a sizable portion of initial customer engagement. Issues that may be slightly more complicated are usually routed to human agents.
Imagine a customer shopping for a product who wants to check if it’s in stock, apply a discount code and explore shipping options for another already posted order — all in one conversation. Most chatbots can’t keep up. They often lack the required real-time adaptability. This inflexibility vexes shoppers, which can result in abandoned carts and lost loyalty.
With the arrival of generative AI, the next generation of retail bots are emerging. These virtual shopping agents can analyze customer data in real time to provide personalized recommendations, track orders, process returns and handle more complicated transactions. As these virtual agents become more adept at solving increasingly complex issues and better at understanding human language, consumer perception will shift, and some shoppers will actively seek virtual agents as their preferred way to engage with retailers.
Let’s return to the example of shopping for a product. A virtual agent can seamlessly switch between topics, allowing you to check if it’s in stock, apply a discount code and explore delivery options — all in the same conversation, without skipping a beat. Want to combine a gift card with your credit card for payment? No problem. The virtual agent can handle this complex, multi-layered request effortlessly, just like a human sales associate would.
With virtual agents, customers will no longer suffer long wait times or engage with unsophisticated bots that cannot resolve their issues without human assistance. This will also free up a human agent’s time to focus on customers most needing their support.
AI Virtual Agents are a Shopaholic’s Dream
Retail chatbots of today are precursors to the more powerful and useful implementations of AI. Instead of leaving a chat open or staying on hold, customers can trust personal shopping concierges to solve their issues asynchronously and report back with a proactive resolution.
As we look ahead, the emergence of virtual concierges will deliver more immersive and efficient shopping experiences. While the chatbots we’re familiar with will continue to support consumers with simple tasks, they’ll pave the way for personal shopping concierges that can deliver more highly personalized, proactive and empathetic conversations.
Retailers that embrace these technologies can position themselves at the forefront of the next retail revolution, where we believe virtual agents will no longer be optional. They will become as essential as a website or mobile app. As this technology continues to evolve, personal shopping concierges will play a crucial role in shaping the future of retail customer experiences.
Peter Graf is the SVP of Strategy at Genesys. In his role, he is responsible for developing, communicating and sustaining the Genesys strategy. Prior to joining Genesys in 2017, Graf held a variety of executive leadership positions in strategy, development and marketing throughout his more than 25 years in the global enterprise software industry, most notably as an EVP at multinational software corporation SAP. Graf earned a doctorate in artificial intelligence from Saarland University and a master’s degree in computer science and economics from Technical University of Kaiserslautern in Germany.