Automating satisfaction: How AI will strengthen the customer experience – Three key takeaways

In our latest webinar, PolyAI’s Damien Smith was joined by Michael Andes, Founder of Augusta Lawn Care Services, and Michael Hansen, Director of Call Center Operations at Carter’s | OshKosh B’gosh, to discuss their journey of deploying AI voice assistants.

Read on for the takeaways from the webinar, or watch the entire session on demand.

1. Build customer trust through repeatable and consistent experiences

With the introduction of conversational technologies, business leaders finally have access to the right technology to automate calls without risking customer experience.

“Regardless of whether you’re using AI or technology, every business’s end goal is to create a dependable customer experience. Technology has reached the point that it can compete with that of human labor, and the learning curve and cost to get to that point is becoming more achievable,” said Mike Andes of Augusta Lawn Care Services. “As business owners that want good CX, technology has got to the point where we have the confidence that the customer will be taken care of.”

2. Successfully scaling support and managing staff attrition

Companies are turning to automation to overcome increasing attrition rates, costly hiring processes, and difficulties retaining skilled agents.

“With labor, you have churn and have to retrain people constantly. The objective of having automation is to be able to make us more efficient and be able to pay our workers out in the field,” said Mike Andes of Augusta Lawn Care Services.

“I found in 2021, I had to hire, on average, six people to keep 1. When you have to hire 150-180 people over a three-month period, that becomes very expensive,” said Mike Hansen of Carters.

Voice assistants offer a cost-effective solution to scale the contact center and address increasing call volume with engaging experiences over the phone.

“As the cost of labor continues to go up, it’s making more and more sense to switch to technology. Even though the initial costs might be higher, technology, over time, goes down in cost and gets better,” said Mike Andes.

Using voice assistants to handle FAQs takes much-needed pressure off the contact center and reduces the need for contact centers to invest in bigger premises and pay for agent licenses and training fees.

“It was easy to show the ROI that by putting this automated system in, we’re not moving away from people; we’re moving away from hiring six people to get one employee” – Mike Hansen.

3. Automate the phone to answer every call

Customers pick up the phone for various reasons, whether out of habit, when their query is urgent, or because they feel they’ll be better understood than using online channels. Companies investing in the phone channel maximize revenue opportunities by answering every call.

“In an industry where only 10 to 15% of businesses answer their phones. We understand the frustration of leaving voicemails and waiting days for a response. With our voice assistant “Max,” we aim to change that narrative,” said Mike Andes of Augusta Lawn Care Services.

To hear more about how our panel delivers fulfilling (and, dare we say, enjoyable?!) customer experiences, watch the full session here.