4 Ways to Improve Customer Service with AI Virtual Agents

If you've been wondering how to automate your customer support efforts with AI virtual agents, you're not alone. Made possible by the power of generative AI, these more advanced agents have the potential to revolutionize customer service automation — as long as they're deployed in the right manner for the right purpose. 

Read on for the perfect starting points to implement AI today and build for what's next. 

What are AI virtual agents? 

AI virtual agents go beyond the limitations of traditional automation (e.g., interactive voice response systems (IVRs)) and provide contextual, human-like experiences across multiple channels and circumstances. 

Especially when determining how to automate customer service, it's easy to lump all AI agents into a single category or treat them as the same type of entity. However, it's crucial to understand that the data on which a model or agent is trained — and its intended use — determine its efficacy. 

In reality, AI agents have as many types and varieties as humans. Some AI agents will be better at communication. Others will excel at data analysis. When determining how and where to implement AI virtual agents in your contact center, it's incredibly important to choose the right agent for your intended purpose. Luckily, the best intelligent CX platforms, like Five9, offer guidance and multiple paths to AI implementation success. 

Improving customer service with AI virtual agents 

Understanding how to automate customer service with AI virtual agents means identifying key categories and deployment opportunities. Below are our top use cases for implementing AI virtual agents in your contact center. 

Text-based tickets, emails and chats 

As you should always do when implementing a large change, start small. Consider what text-based systems you have in place: ticketing systems, web- or app-based chats, social media, etc. Text-based AI virtual agents are an easy first step for CX leaders for customer service automation, as they are relatively simple (and quick!) to train and deploy, especially with many AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) vendors available. 

AI virtual agents can read, categorize, route and in some cases, even answer your incoming tickets — much faster than humans. It's worth repeating, however: start small. Fully automating your systems will only lead to trouble and dissatisfied customers, as AI is not infallible, can hallucinate, and can be manipulated to provide results outside the norm. 

Start with the basic, routine queries: password resets, appointment scheduling (and rescheduling or cancellations), or topics covered in your knowledge base. Once deployed, make sure you regularly review customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, first-contact resolution (FCR) rates and other key contact center metrics to ensure your agents are working as intended before extending its use. 

Voice-based channels 

A step up from text-based agents — and even any IVRs you may already have in place — AI virtual agents can be added to your phone systems. But like with your text-based channels, start off small. 

The routine, time-consuming tasks that your human agents often dislike are perfect for AI virtual agents to take over. Depending on your industry, the models powering your AI virtual agents can be trained to handle even more complex, yet still unpleasant calls, such as symptom recording in healthcare contact centers. 

What's more, once it's time for your customers to speak with a human agent, AI virtual agents can route calls more intelligently than traditional systems, streamlining operations and reducing customer frustration. 

Human agent assistance 

Intake is far from the only spot in your contact center where AI virtual agents can prove their worth. After your text- or voice-based AI agents hand off customers to your human agents, you could have AI agents trained to assist your human ones, ready and waiting. 

Assistance AI agents can help your human agents with a number of tasks: pulling up customer information; offering personalized, relevant information (such as local weather to ease small talk); and providing suggested responses or coaching based on the call or chat in progress. 

You may have AI agents that assist with after-call work (ACW), as well. Auto-filling important information, auto-generating call summaries and even auto-drafting personalized follow-up emails or chats are straightforward tasks that help your human agents focus on your customers, not admin work. 

Analytics and data science 

For many companies — not just contact centers — AI has been used in analytics and data science for quite some time. AI ingests massive amounts of data to function, and initial uses of AI used this relationship to its fullest. 

Today, intelligent CX platforms use AI and AI agents to provide contextual, valuable insights for your contact center, such as sentiment analysis and customer satisfaction. However, AI virtual agents can surface other insights that are much more complicated to discover. 

For instance, if customers are sending in requests about a particular feature or issue with your software, AI analytics can raise the issue with the appropriate teams, potentially finding it before your Engineering teams do. 

The path to AI virtual agent success 

The power of AI and AI virtual agents for customer service automation isn't limited to just these four categories. AI as an industry is constantly evolving, and each day brings new innovations that you can take advantage of in your contact center.  

But it all starts with embracing AI virtual agents to deliver superior customer experiences, support and guidance that meet you where you are and guide you throughout your journey, and, of course, an intelligent CX platform to make it happen. 

Start your path to successful AI in your contact center. Build for what’s next with the AI Blueprint for Contact Center Readiness.