AI for customer service: a practical guide for businesses
By Rafael · Updated · 2 min read
The short answer
Start with AI that drafts replies to common questions for a person to approve, then consider a website assistant that answers only from your own information and hands off to a person when it's unsure. Speed matters to customers, but so does a human when things go wrong.
Three levels to grow through
- AI-drafted repliesStaff paste a customer message and your policy; AI drafts a reply; staff edit and send. Low risk, immediate time savings.
- A website question assistantAnswers hours, services, policies and order questions from your own information, and hands off when it doesn't know.
- An agent in your inboxSorts and drafts replies to incoming email and handles simple requests, with a person approving anything unusual.
Guardrails customers will thank you for
- Answer only from your own approved information, and say "I'm not sure" otherwise.
- Make reaching a person easy and obvious.
- Never let AI promise refunds, discounts or exceptions on its own.
- Review a sample of conversations every week at first.
Common questions
- Can AI answer my customers' emails automatically?
- It can draft and even send simple replies, but start with AI drafts approved by a person, and automate only the questions it consistently gets right.
- Will customers mind talking to AI?
- Many are fine with quick, accurate answers, as long as it's easy to reach a person when they need one.