How to woo customers using conversational AI

Today's business environment is more dynamic than ever. The limitations of time and space have been eliminated by high-speed internet and other digital technologies for customers and enterprises. Due to huge competition businesses are constantly battling for customers' attention. While technology has enhanced business opportunities, it also has shaken the foundations of brand loyalty.

Every year businesses lose thousands of customers to their competitors and new entrants in the market. Poor user experiences and a company's ineffective customer relationship management (CRM) are primary causes for this. It is well known that acquiring a new customer is five to seven times costlier than retaining or recalling existing customer. According to research by Bain & Company, an organisation’s revenue can rise by 25–95% with just a 5% increase in consumer recall. This number represents a huge business opportunity at a relatively lower cost.

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Millions of customers, especially in the e-commerce industry, make a single purchase from a company and then become dormant. Often, there is no particular reason for their dormancy. Such clients offer enormous business prospects at a low cost. All that the businesses need to do is to reach out to these customers and rekindle the passion that initially drew them to their goods or services. However, due to the huge number of such dormant customers, it is practically impossible for businesses to reach out to them with traditional means. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an important role in reactivating such customers and bringing them to the business cycle.

AI analyses the entire set of dormant customers and identifies patterns in dormancy and recommends strategies to connect with them leading to re-activation. Conversational AI uses the smart calling feature to contact customers at the time when they are most likely to answer. This is crucial in ensuring that the calls are not overlooked among the customer's many telemarketing calls.

Most importantly, with the analysis of customers’ previous interactions with the company, conversational AI can customise and personalise the call flows which can lead to a higher customer satisfaction and better customer relationship management. With conversational AI, the large volume of customers is not a challenge, as the calling capacity can be increased and decreased with minimal resources and without any physical infrastructure and additional training.

Efficient CRM with AI not only translates into higher revenue for the present and future but also lowers customer retention costs and elevates customer lifetime value (CLTV). Customer recall can help companies boost their revenues up to 60% with minimum efforts and costs. Artificial intelligence is enabling businesses retain their current customers and prevent them from slipping by improving customer experiences and customer relationship management.

With the exploding start-up culture and increased digital penetration, business leaders had started believing that customer loyalty and retention are things of the past. However, efficient use of AI can make the impossible possible again. The right use of AI can not only help a business save money but also create a perennial stream of revenue with customer recall.

(The author is the chief data scientist and co-founder of Rezo.ai)