The Role of AI in Omnichannel Customer Support Strategies

Customer support expectations are evolving. According to Salesforce findings, 79% of customers now expect consistent and highly efficient service across all touchpoints. However, 55% of consumers polled in the study also noted that they had experienced a disconnect between departments when resolving complex customer service issues.

AI has emerged as a powerful tool to help companies bridge these customer support gaps. It can not only streamline department collaboration but also elevate customer experiences to new heights of engagement and delight.

This article explores the transformative roles of AI in omnichannel customer support strategies and how it can enhance the customer experience, streamline support and drive personalisation across all touchpoints. Read on to learn more.

Why Omnichannel Customer Support is Crucial in the Digital Age

Customer frustration with traditional customer support is reaching a boiling point. A 2023 survey revealed that 38% of consumers would rather undergo a cavity filling, and 28% would rather scold their mouth with hot coffee than endure the ordeal of calling a customer service centre. Who can blame them? From the endless waiting on hold to interacting with automated services that don’t understand their requests, it's no wonder why so many consumers would rather spend their time in the dentist's chair than calling customer service.

The truth is, companies can invest heavily in product development and marketing, only to see their efforts topple if customer support falls short. To illustrate, a massive 96% of customers are likely to abandon a company after a poor customer service experience.

However, despite the apparent imperative for delivering exceptional customer service, only 10% of companies in the UK offer customer support on multiple channels. Omnichannel customer support enables companies to meet customers where they are, providing flexibility and convenience. For instance, a customer can initiate a return via a mobile app while simultaneously inquiring about a more suitable replacement product through a website’s live chat. Promoting seamless communication through multiple channels helps foster loyalty and trust.

Findings from Softek reveal that businesses with omnichannel support strategies retain 89% of their customers, compared with just 33% of brands with a weaker customer service approach.

How AI Enhances Omnichannel Customer Support Strategies

The latest AI technologies can help level the playing field for brands initiate customer support transformation without investing millions in overhauling processes and IT infrastructure. Plug-and-play AI tools can unify customer data, automate tasks and generate relevant content and insights to enhance the customer journey across all channels.

Here are some use cases where AI technologies not only help customers get their queries resolved efficiently but help brands make their support provisions more engaging and ultimately boost trust and brand loyalty in the minds of consumers:

Creating a Unified Customer Experience

Creating a unified customer experience platform is a great way to start delivering omnichannel services. AI tools like Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service provide Gen AI assistants that can simplify tasks like ordering, inventory management and customer support handling across multiple devices.

Future Platforms utilised a range of AI innovations to transform Domino’s Pizza app into an e-commerce powerhouse. For example, we implemented a multi-channel experience compatible with mobile, web, Apple Watch, and Xbox One devices, enabling users to order using voice or text commands or even hand gestures.

Additionally, AI tools helped the pizza brand optimise delivery routes with GPS solutions, ensuring customers’ orders arrived fresh and fast. This approach led to significant operational savings for Domino’s and a 46% boost in sales.

Automated Customer Support Ticket Handling

AI-powered ticketing solutions like Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk enhance omnichannel customer support by intelligently routing support requests based on customer sentiment. This ensures faster and more effective handling of support requests compared with traditional rules-based systems.

The AI platform also provides a single pane of glass view of customers and learns from previous interactions, improving its effectiveness over time. Consumer Process Goods (CPG) brands like Tesco use AI-powered ticketing to streamline support for its 40,000 weekly customer queries across multiple online channels and in-store.

Thanks to AI’s integrations, sentiment analysis and predictive analytics capabilities, the brand achieves a 79% first-attempt resolution rate.

Streamline Support Operations

Streamlining support operations with AI can enhance the customer experience before checkout. Walmart’s AI-powered platform, for example, uses ML and Gen AI to optimise customer search results, evaluate channel performance, and streamline support in last-mile delivery, ensuring customers can find and buy what they need quickly and easily.

Moreover, Walmarket’s AI-driven chatbots provide 24/7 support, increasing customer satisfaction by 38%. These innovations demonstrate the potential of AI to set new industry benchmarks for customer support throughout all links in the value chain.

Personalise Customer Interactions

AI-powered personalisation is vital for improving omnichannel support strategies and driving loyalty. Virgin Active’s app exemplifies this, offering tailored fitness plans, wearable device integration, and voice-activated class scheduling through Amazon Alexa.

Additionally, we helped the brand create a loyalty programme that incentivises fitness goal achievement with personalised content and rewards to encourage greater user engagement.

By integrating personalised loyalty schemes across multiple touchpoints, businesses can demonstrate that their customer support extends beyond answering customer service enquiries, it can also help them reach their long-term goals.

Future Platforms: Supporting Omnichannel Transformation with Digital Products that Stick

AI is reshaping the customer support landscape, bridging the gap between customers and organisational departments to drive greater satisfaction and brand loyalty.

At Future Platforms, we specialise in creating omnichannel strategies that keep customers coming back for more. Whether you’re looking to optimise your existing platform or create one from scratch, we use the latest AI tools and teachings to push your brand forward.

So, if you want to learn more, contact us now or read our latest Digital Loyalty Index for more insights into the changing consumer landscape.