A new report from software marketplace Capterra has revealed that 57 per cent of Australian businesses are using AI-enhanced customer service tools, such as chatbots and virtual assistants, to improve customer experience and operational efficiency.
In particular, 55 per cent of Australian companies have seen improved customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores since using AI-enhanced customer service technology. Companies also favour AI for multilingual conversations (58 per cent) and analysing data to generate insights (52 per cent).
Furthermore, AI-powered customer service software has been well-received by Australian businesses, with 76 per cent of employees reporting a positive impact on customer interactions due to the benefits it offers such as faster response times (60 per cent) and cost savings (58 per cent).
Still, AI cannot fully replicate the human approach in customer services. Humans are found to perform better in most core customer service areas, such as personalised interactions (81 per cent) and sales facilitation (72 per cent), surpassing global averages significantly.
Customer trust an issue
The more pressing challenge is the lack of trust among customers with regard to AI in general. The report noted that maintaining customer trust (51 per cent) and ensuring accurate information (42 per cent) remain key challenges in AI adoption. Capterra also noted that companies need to be transparent on how they are using AI, and that they need to satisfactorily address concerns of how customer data is handled by the AI technology they are using.
Despite these concerns, the report pointed out that the future of customer service AI adoption remains promising, with employees predicting that 44 per cent of customer service inquiries will be managed exclusively by AI within the next five years.
“When adopting AI in customer services, the human element remains vital, but it’s also important to leverage the areas in which both AI tools (for example, faster response times) and human support agents (for example, emotional connection) work best. It’s comforting for customers to know that a complex situation can be escalated to human agents if need be – taking the customer experience to the next level,” says Laura Burgess, Content Analyst at Capterra Australia.
Capterra added that by integrating AI for routine tasks and reserving human agents for complex interactions, businesses can optimise resources, enhance satisfaction, build trust, and maintain operational efficiency.
