Zendesk & Conversational AI: Your Key to Providing Superior Customer Service in 2023

It was a German expressionist film, Metropolis, from 1927 that featured the first depiction of a machine conversing with a human being.

Since then, AI is not limited to the world of science fiction.

The application of AI has become ubiquitous over the last few decades.

Today, we are dealing with AI in almost every aspect of life and the customer journey.

While we are on it, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you landed on a website and saw a ‘let’s chat‘ pop-up and received a real-time reply, even at midnight? It’s easy to recall, right?

That’s because AI has become the lynchpin to offering real-time and winning customer service experiences.

Talking of the business impact of AI, Gartner estimates that conversational AI in contact centers will reduce labor costs by $80 billion by 2026. In addition, one in ten agent interactions is expected to be automated by 2026, compared with 1.6% today.^[i]

Considering the potential of AI in customer service, it is imperative to ensure that you are capitalizing on this winning duo.

And what could be a better way of doing this than choosing a customer service platform that offers the best of both worlds?

Enter Zendesk, which makes AI and your customer-facing teams work together efficiently.

In this blog post, we will discover how Zendesk is leveraging conversational AI to offer superior customer service.

How Is Zendesk Integrating AI to Offer Customer-Centric Services?

Every team needs its star player and every customer support team needs the right tools to improve customer experience.

That’s where Zendesk comes in.

Zendesk has established itself as the alpha in the customer service industry.

The company is always one of the first to adopt new technology trends in customer service and its conversational CRM is a perfect example of its progressive outlook.

By utilizing AI to offer and aid its customer service offerings, Zendesk has ushered into the era of conversational AI to help you take CX up a notch.

Conversational AI: What Is It?

The concept of conversational AI is easy to understand.

Remember an automatic reply that appeared when you tapped a pop-out chat window on a website or when you texted a company’s number? That’s one way conversational AI works.

Here are some use cases that will help you better understand the application of conversational AI:

1. Chatbots

The purpose of chatbots is to simulate human conversations through computer programs. With them, users can get answers and help anytime, anywhere, through social media messengers or chat applications built into websites and mobile apps.

One example of an AI-powered bot is Zendesk’s Answer Bot. It can help customer service providers answer common questions quickly and determine when to bring in an agent for assistance.

2. Voice assistants

A voice assistant is an AI application that comprehends voice commands and performs specific tasks for the user based on those commands. Unlike chatbots, voice assistants are mostly found in search engines, smart speakers, and operating systems. The voice assistant can be programmed to recognize a wide variety of languages, just like chatbots.

3. Interactive voice assistants (IVAs)

An IVA is an automated telephone system that lets users express their intentions verbally as well as with keypad input. They function as a hybrid of chatbots and voice assistants. Almost everyone has used an IVA at some point in their lives when it comes to getting information from a bank over the phone or making inquiries about a utility bill.

How Does Zendesk Provide Everything You Need to Get Started with Conversational AI?

Customer service trends are advancing rapidly and Zendesk is at the forefront of them!

The introduction of conversational CRM and conversational automation via bot technology enables businesses to automate messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. These are a few testimonies to Zendesk’s strategic vision for the future.

However, there’s more to it than just that!

Know how Zendesk’s tool kit for your customer-facing team offers everything they will need to stay on top of their customer service game. Discover more in our exclusive eBook – Customer Service Trends in 2023.

Ready to Align Zendesk with Your Customer Support Strategies? Talk to Us!

Statistics References:

^[i] Press Release