previous icon Back to blog
Aug 30, 2023
7 minutes read

How Generative AI Supercharges Your Customer Service

Meeting customer expectations remains customer service's biggest challenge. Speed, convenience, and qualitative assistance seem to be the most important aspects to achieve this. With the power of Generative AI, customer questions can be identified, categorized, and resolved more quickly. Besides, your organization is continuously fed with data to improve the entire customer journey. Learn more about the Power of GenAI for Customer Service in this blog.

Brechtje van Houtum
Brechtje van Houtum,
Content Marketer

Introduction: The Power of Generative AI

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) refers to a dynamic AI knowledge center consolidating various business-specific knowledge sources, contextually enriched by Large Language Models (LLMs). With GenAI you can have automated, human-like service conversations to serve customers anytime via any channel, such as chatbots.

PWC notes that 59% of customers will leave their favourite brand after several lousy customer service experiences.

Customers from every demographic often use self-service channels, such as web and mobile, as their first point of contact for “pain-free” customer service (Forrester, 2015). Thanks to the advancements in GenAI and related communication technologies, customers intuit that self-service channels are often the fastest and easiest way to get their problems and queries resolved.

Many customer-centric businesses have already started to make AI the driving force of their customer service offerings. Oracle reports that 8 out of 10 companies have already implemented or plan to implement AI as a customer service solution – they cite greater efficiency and improved customer experiences as key to their growth. Gartner even states that more than 50% of executives plan to increase their investments in AI initiatives.

Below, we explore five of the main benefits GenAI brings to customer services, how AI can grow your revenue, and practical guidance on how to effectively integrate it with your current customer service solutions. Let’s jump in.

1. Solving the Number One Problem in Customer Service

Long wait times are the number one problem customer service teams face. Long wait times result in lost customers and reputational damage – which has a direct impact on companies’ revenue.

How long is too long for your customers to wait? 15 minutes? An hour? 6 hours?

MIT operations researcher Richard Larson states: “Often the psychology of queuing is more important than the statistics of the wait itself.” Boredom builds agitation. Uncertainty intensifies the stress of wait.

Moreover, people who wait for less time than expected walk away happier than before – this motivates them to spend more. In comparison, an unhappy customer is less likely to buy and less likely to return. While, as documented by White House Office of Consumer Affairs, an unhappy customer typically tells 9-15 people about a bad customer service experience.

AI chatbot within customer service is 24/7 opened

Customers want fast access to support and information. PWC report that nearly 80% of Americans say speed, convenience, and knowledgeable help are the most important aspects of a positive customer experience. A remedy to lack of availability, GenAI-fuelled chatbots offer instant answers to customer queries and speedy solutions to customer problems. AI can quickly identify, categorize, and solve customer issues. For example, unlike their human counterparts, AI chatbots have the ability to effectively monitor website and in-app activity for customer issues 24/7.

2. Agents' Assistance for Effeciency and Productivity

AI can reduce workload and automate menial, time-consuming tasks for your customer service teams. According to ZDNet:

  • 81% of the companies use AI to gather preliminary information

  • 75% of companies use AI to automate the handling of routine customer issues

  • 74% use AI to classify customer problems

With AI, customer service reps no longer need to spend hours resolving basic customer issues that can easily be solved with technology. Instead, AI can quickly handle basic tasks and reroute customers to service reps when they need solutions to more complex problems. Additionally, GenAI enables agents to easily switch in languages. Making communication in a non-native language not only possible, but even grammatically correct. This shift in focus will free up to 50% more time for employees to engage in creative problem-solving (Gartner). Driving customer-centric innovation and creating unprecedented business value.

As such, AI chatbots free-up agents’ time – this enhances both efficiency and productivity and enables your team to focus on the more fulfilling aspects of their job. This both improves morale and reduces employee turnover.

3. Meet Your Customers' Needs

The businesses with the best customer service always consider the different needs and preferences of their key customer segments. Millennials and Generation Z do nearly everything on mobile – from paying their rent to ordering pizza. The smartest companies consider how the user journey for these important demographics needs to be optimized for mobile-first customer service interactions.

TechSee note that both Millennials and Generation Z want self-service customer service options and real-time responses via smart devices. In comparison, Baby Boomers typically prefer to speak to customer service reps on the phone. AI, combined with in-person and onthe-phone support, helps cater to every kind of customer preference.

AI customer service chatbot says thank you

In addition, conversational AI often provides the more human elements of customer service that consumers crave – without the long wait times that often go hand-in-hand with phone calls to customer service teams. As IBM note, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning enable conversational AI to process, understand, and respond to customer conversations in a natural way.

4. GenAI for a Frictionless Customer Journey

Research from Dimension Data highlights that although 58% of companies agree that data and analytics will enhance the customer journey, 64% still don’t have data analysis capabilities that combine data from every channel. A seamless customer journey begins with an omnichannel customer service solution that reduces friction.

GenAI does away with the need to discuss an issue with multiple customer service reps – this reduces irritation and friction for consumers. When utilized as a key component of an omnichannel customer service solution, GenAI passes along all relevant data to customer service reps – via online chats or phone calls. This means that customers don’t have to explain their problems again and again to different customer service reps. Thus, GenAI can help provide a seamless, effortless, and integrated experience across every channel.

You can also use data derived from artificial intelligence to fuel a more complete picture of key customer segments. You can use GenAI to collect insights into the changing needs and frustrations of customers. In addition, you can also utilize AI to provide comprehensive data on the non-linear ebb and flows of the user journey. Rich data makes for smarter, more agile customer-service solutions across every channel.

5. Choose Cost-Efficient, Inherent Scalability

Scaling your customer service team is expensive. From hiring and onboarding costs to sizeable salaries and benefit packages. In comparison, it’s far faster and cheaper to scale with additional infrastructure that supports your current customer service offering.

AI customer service chatbot service is always ons

As IBM highlight, the innate scalability of conversational GenAI is particularly helpful during sudden spikes in customer support demands, such as during the festive season, or when products expand to new geographical markets.

Impact on a Company’s Bottom Line

Reduced wait times that improve customer satisfaction and retention rates, the automation of repetitive customer service interactions, and an unbeatable capacity for cost-effective scalability. What do the benefits of conversational AI mean for a company’s bottom line?

The Watson Blog states, “Businesses spend $1.3 trillion on 265 billion customer service calls each year.” They add that AI offers a drop in per-query cost from $15-$200 (with human agents) to $1 (for virtual agents). Furthermore, Juniper Research reports that chatbots save companies an estimated $165 million each year. Adding that chatbots can cut a company’s operational costs by up to 30%, it has potential for a huge impact on your bottom line (Smallbizzgenius, 2020). According to Gartner, thirty-eight per cent of leaders see improving customer experience and retention as the primary purpose of initiatives to deploy applications trained on large language models, while 26% highlight revenue growth.

Improve Your Customer Service with GenAI

Curious to see how Gen AI can impact your customer service? From 24/7 availability to unlimited scalability, conversational AI promises several benefits that can revolutionize your current customer service solutions. In summary, these are the five notable benefits described:

  • 24/7 customer service – solving the ‘availability problem’

  • The ability to automate menial, time-consuming tasks for your customer service teams

  • The capacity to deliver customer service that best fits the expectations and wants of different customer segments

  • GenAI-powered data and analytics for a frictionless customer journey

  • Unlimited, cost-efficient scalability

Want to start using AI? CM.com can help you provide exceptional conversational-AI centric customer service to your customers with a generative AI chatbot. Turn customer conversations into valuable engagements with a self-learning chatbot. Create your own AI powered chatbot within the platform, no coding required.

Curious to Learn More About the Power of Genai?

Was this article interesting?
Share it!
Brechtje van Houtum
Brechtje van Houtum,
Content Marketer
logo linkedin icon

Whether it’s developing content strategies or creating social media content, Brechtje is eager to contribute. She spreads CM.com’s message far and wide, stays on top of cutting-edge tech developments, and champions a 'customer first' philosophy.

Latest Articles

blog-ai-for-the-future
Apr 16, 2025 • CM.com

How to Build AI for the Future

You start with one agent, and before you know it, you will have an entire agentic workforce! Plan ahead and future-proof your AI endeavors with seamless integrations and monitored control.

blog-interview-halo-customer-service
Mar 20, 2025 • Chatbots

Chatting with the Near Future: AI's New Role in the Customer Experience

AI innovations in customer service are emerging more rapidly than ever before, especially with the latest addition of Agentic AI and it’s AI Agents. We spoke with Roel Jansen, our Head of Commerce of our Engagement Platform, on how these AI advancements are transforming customer interactions and enhancing the experience. With Roel's expertise and vision, discover the future of customer service and what it means for businesses today. Whether you're an AI enthusiast or just curious about the future, you won't want to miss these engaging insights!

featured image agents of chance blog 2025  AI
Mar 13, 2025 • CM.com

Agents of Change

A contemplation on CM.com in the era of AI Agents.

blog-ai-agent-creation
Feb 27, 2025 • AI

How to Create AI Agents in Five Easy Steps

AI agents are your virtual helpers. Digital employees designed to perform specific tasks within an Agentic AI framework. What type of tasks? Pretty much anything you can think of: Analyzing data, writing emails, automating cancel or renewal processes, creating tickets, and so on and on and on. But how do you create these AI agents? Let us show you how.

halo
Feb 06, 2025 • CM.com

Agentic AI Agents: Helping You Get Things Done

Looking for a smart and capable employee that never sleeps? A little helper that can take over all your menial and repetitive tasks to make your life a little easier? One that will continuously learn and improve itself to keep assisting you the best it can? This may sound like a dream (and an unrealistic one at that), but it's much closer to reality than you might realize! Discover Agentic AI!

hero-17-sms-customer-service-templates-to-use-today
Nov 11, 2024 • AI

Turning shoppers into loyal fans: how to retain customers post-Black Friday

Black Friday is a huge shopping event, drawing crowds of eager shoppers hunting for deals. But after the frenzy fades, the real challenge begins: turning one-time shoppers into loyal, repeat customers. Customer retention is vital for long-term success and post-Black Friday is the perfect time to build lasting relationships. So, how can your business retain customers post-Black Friday? In this blog, we’ll explore how to make it happen.

blackfriday-2024-blog-featured-global
Oct 14, 2024 • AI

The Art of Simplicity: Helping Your Customers Make Quick Decisions This Black Friday

Black Friday 2024 is just around the corner, bringing with it a great opportunity for retailers to maximize their sales. However, standing out in such a competitive event isn’t easy. Consumers expect attractive offers, fast deliveries, and top-notch customer support. In this article, we’ll show you how to simplify the purchasing process during Black Friday, optimizing everything from promotions to logistics and 24/7 customer service. Discover the best strategies to ensure a seamless experience and increase customer loyalty. Don’t fall behind this Black Friday!

whatsapp-business-blog_image-deals-offers
Sep 11, 2024 • WhatsApp

Increase Conversion With Promotional Messages on WhatsApp

In an age of mass marketing, as well as constant TV, internet and email advertising, it’s safe to say that peak sales periods like Black Friday and the Holiday Season can be something of an overwhelming experience for consumers around the world. Feeling overwhelmed by irrelevant information from companies that doesn't match their personal needs and desires, it's no surprise people might want to switch off their phones, radios, and televisions, tuning out all forms of marketing until the sales peak season is over. As an eCommerce player, you should always be looking to avoid this by diversifying and personalizing your marketing strategy in a way that suits your customers needs and sensibilities.

unlock-communication-excellence-with-cpaas
Jun 06, 2024 • CM.com

Unlock Communication Excellence With CPaaS

Diving deeper into CM.com's CPaaS approach in empowering business users to unlock Communication Excellence - a guest article by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, a global advisory and consulting firm focused on helping clients in achieving business transformation goals with Strategic Business and Growth advisory services.

Is this region a better fit for you?
Go
close icon