Where Chatbots and AI Fit into Your CX Strategy

Customers expect and use multiple channels to access customer support. "Most customers will still prefer to use an automated or self-service option as long as it is convenient and easy to understand," says Jeff Toister, author of The Service Culture Handbook, "because when a customer does want to connect with a human, it's almost always because something is either urgent or complicated." During the recent California mass power outage everything powered by electricity – Internet Wifi, traffic lights, expresso machines – was brought to a halt. The sheer volume of over 700,000 residents looking for information also brought the PG&E website, chatbots and call centers to their knees. The 2019 CGS Customer Service Chatbot and Channel Survey found that AI technology implementations are happening faster than customers are able, or willing, to embrace them.