Denae
Welcome back to our Marketing Mentorship series. We’re sitting down with JB, our Vice President of Growth for installment number two! JB, what’s our topic for today?
JB
Today we're talking about AI, and how it's related to customer service. And we're gonna dive specifically into the chatbot world.
Denae
How would you define a chatbot?
JB
We all have this idea of that little icon in the corner of a website that pops up with a chat window. Of course, we always love it when a real person is on the other end, but more often than not, you’re having a pre-programmed conversation with software.
These conversations have a set workflow and set parameters. But now with the advent of AI, we’ve unlocked a more free-flow and conversational approach. Instead of concrete questions and answers, we can create a learning model that allows the Chatbot to guide the user to where we want them to go.
Denae
That sounds like it'll be a lot more helpful to the customer. And I know for everybody tuning in, if you go through any of our recent blogs, you’ll see that we emphasize the customer journey above all.
JB
That’s right. If your customer gets lost, you've lost a customer.
Denae
Right. So how will the flexibility of AI chatbots shape the new frontier of customer engagement?
JB
Well, firstly each business needs to take into account their parameters. ChatGPT does this very well. That's an AI chatbot, essentially, that you're able to talk to, and it feels like you could ask it anything. But the truth is, it has parameters saying, we're not going to do anything racist or violent or sexual.
When you look more specifically at your business, you can create even more specific parameters with an AI chatbot that will guide your customers down a pathway where you want them to go. Because again, if we know what the end goal looks like for our users, we want them to arrive there. But no one wants to feel explicitly sold to. The flexibility of AI chatbots paired with business-specific parameters unlocks a new level of a personalized journey for the client, even as we keep the same end goal.
Denae
I see. So even though we’re affording more customization to our customers, that doesn't mean that we're throwing our game plan out the window.
JB
Exactly. Every conversation should have a goal, but that doesn’t mean each talking point needs to be scripted ahead of time. We keep certain parameters in place so that we can stay on topic and stay productive. And now, with the rise of AI chatbots, we’re seeing that play out in different ways.
Denae
It sounds like a chicken and egg situation. Are we influencing the technology, or is the technology influencing us?
JB
You know, we see this question come up often, especially in the interview process.
We now have the most educated populace ever, the most connected populace ever. Job postings get applicants from qualified people all over the world. And as an employer, you want to consider the best talent. What happens when a company has 100 applicants for a job? 1,000? 30,000? The traditional HR method of combing through resumes and holding individual 1-hour interviews just can’t hold up.
So this is the point when the user experience forces us to evolve to meet a need. And that's where we start to see AI coming in.
We’ve even seen this with one of our clients, Cyber Job Central. It is an organization that recruits the best tech talent for companies, and they specialize in technical and online security.
They've taken AI chat to a whole new level by implementing an avatar that can actually go through 1000s of interviews all simultaneously. Instead of hiring 1000 HR employees, they have one AI chat program with set parameters.
Denae
And this is an opportunity for job seekers as well, right? Because as you said, competition is fierce. Applicants need to make themselves stand out. I believe the same Cyber Job software has the possibility for individuals to practice their interview techniques. So this need is shaping both sides of the conversation and AI is right in the center.
JB
Absolutely. We're getting to a point where bots are feeling awfully human like, which allows us to get more comfortable.
Denae
Exactly. Taking a step back from the interview setting, specifically, how else do you see the evolution of AI chatbots impacting the customer experience overall?
JB
We’re seeing a sort of full-circle effect. We used to have this very personal interaction in our daily interactions, and then technology lessened that. When you go grocery shopping you can go straight to self checkout, for example. What that did though is it started to separate us from that human connection and move us into a much lonelier journey that was through technology. I think we're finding this desire to have that human connection again.
Denae
So how can AI help with that?
JB
Now we have technology that is better equipped to meet that personal need that we've separated ourselves from all these years. So it's interesting to wonder how this will evolve, what or who will be left behind, and what we’ll gain in the future.
JB
And the fun part is nobody knows what the future holds. There's a lot of people who think AI will change everything tomorrow, and there are others who think it's just a fad.
I think the takeaway from this needs to be that even if you're implementing AI, do not lose the personal experience. Understand the voice that's going to resonate with your audience and protect the human experience that they're yearning for. And work to use technology to make it efficient, profitable, and scalable.
Denae
And then that customer journey will be oh-so compelling. Well, JB, thank you for your time and thank you all for tuning in. We'll see you next time for installment number three! Until then, stay savvy!