Even in this era of rapid digitization, it is the customer experience that defines success for a business. Highly successful companies have realized that the lines between products, services and environments are increasingly blurring, and customers hold companies to high standards of product quality, service and price. The Microsoft 2017 Global Customer Service Report revealed that 54% of customers say that they have higher expectations regarding customer services today than they did a year ago. When it comes to customers in the age bracket of 18-34 years, the number jumps to 66%.

Customer experience is the new battlefield, although not every business completely understands its value or how to deliver memorable experiences. Some limit it to only digital interactions, while others focus on the speed at which queries are resolved. But customer experience is the sum total of several things that all go to decide how the customers eventually perceives the business.

From the messaging used to products sold and even the sales and after-sales timeline, it is important to ensure that every step of the customer’s journey is fulfilling.

Traditional, Informal Training No Longer Works

A strong service culture is necessary to build excellent service quality. This is also what influences employee motivation regarding the quality of service delivered. When it comes to creating an efficient service culture, the role of training and development is of paramount importance. 

Informal, needs-based training, the need for which is felt only when the company smells the smoke of customer grievances cannot provide long-term solutions. The firefighting mode of training employees, where no benchmark for either onboarding or continued learning is set, doesn’t work.

On the other hand, customers today are conversing with a brand through various channels, and all forms of interactions are shaping their perceptions. This means the customer experiences can longer be entrusted to just a handful of individuals with the right communication skills. Adding value for the customer has to be inculcated right from the onboarding phase of both employees and clients.

So, the need of the hour is a robust corporate training strategy that is neither limited by its dependence on specific individuals nor delivered in an ad-hoc manner. This is where a learning experience platform, armed with the power of AI, can work wonders to convert informal training into a formalized and standardized process. This way, training can be delivered across the board, at multiple locations and for multiple roles, simultaneously.

How Can AI Help Deliver Strong Customer Experiences? 

Traditional training modules no longer prepare employees to flourish in an agile corporate landscape, where both customer needs and business needs change rapidly. An AI-powered learning experience platform, like KEA, provides agile corporate training solutions to ensure that employee training can occur at the speed of business.

The key advantage of an AI-powered learning platform is that the software learns and improves its performance as employees use it. Take the AI-driven chatbot, whom we like to call our personal learning facilitator, KEA, for instance. KEA continues to learn and improve its responses, such that employees can simply ask the chatbot for solutions to their queries, rather than having to wait for a specific colleague or top management member to be free to resolve their issues.

This means that the business is better equipped to deliver prompt and responsive customer services, without overdependence on specific team members. In addition, employees get to learn new skills at their own pace and based on their specific needs, leading to greater engagement with the training. The personal learning facilitator can help keep them motivated to continue to learn and grow by making relevant content suggestions or reminding them to complete a specific training module.

Also, if your organization already has a wealth of valuable data regarding customer behavior, an AI-driven training platform could be a unique and effective way to educate employees about the general customer sentiment.

To deliver amazing customer experiences consistently, you need to cultivate a high-performing team that can execute on your vision. The right training and development initiatives can help consolidate a company culture that eats and breathes customer satisfaction.