Enhancing Engagement with AI

Better Chat, Better Relationships: Enhancing Engagement with AI

Enhancing Engagement with AI: In both business and life, there’s often a best way to approach things, and chat is no exception. Over the past couple of years, many guidelines have emerged for optimizing chat experiences, but some stand out above the rest. Implementing these best practices can help you meet visitor expectations more completely and quickly while also achieving your business goals. Leveraging AI can further enhance these efforts, making the process more efficient and effective.

Yes, implementing these tactics will take some time and a modest investment. However, my experience working with several e-commerce brands has shown that you’ll get a high return on this investment. Not only that, but you’ll also build deeper and more personal relationships with your customers.

The Power of AI in Live Chat

Generative AI isn’t just for creating content—it’s revolutionizing the world of online search and customer engagement. Some may argue that search engines are being replaced by AI, but the reality is more nuanced. AI tools can enhance live chat experiences, driving engagement and increasing conversions. According to Kayako.com, live chat significantly boosts engagement, and analytics expert Neil Patel suggests that with chat available, 10–50% of your visitors will engage, and a third of those should become buyers. Even with conservative estimates, that’s a conversion rate of 3.3%.

Tactics to Drive Up Live Chat Engagement with AI

1. Include a Pre-Chat Survey to Optimize Your Chatbot Experience

Efficiency is a key aspect of any good user experience, and AI can streamline this process. For online chats, this means first determining what kind of contact you’re dealing with—sales, support, or something else. AI-powered chatbots can handle pre-chat surveys efficiently, asking initial questions to qualify the contact and clarify their intent. For instance, for an e-commerce site that sells low- or moderately priced products, good questions to ask are:

• What do you need help with? [Options: Sales question, Support question, Something else]
• What is your question concerning? [For a Sales question, options could be: finding the right product, viewing product features, ordering, checking out, something else]

These questions help AI chatbots to route the inquiry appropriately, ensuring a smooth and efficient customer experience.

2. Use a Typing Indicator

AI can enhance the responsiveness of your chat interactions. Typing indicators show customers that you’re actively engaging with them in real-time, addressing their ‘Is anyone there?’ concerns. Configuring your chat app with AI to show agents a customer’s words as they type and alert when the visitor hits ‘Send’ can make the interaction feel more personal and immediate.

3. Accept Chat Requests Automatically

Your visitors shouldn’t have to wait for someone to answer their chat request. AI can automate the acceptance of chat requests and inform visitors that a chat agent will get back to them shortly. This reduces perceived wait time and improves customer satisfaction. Your response time should ideally be less than ten seconds, making visitors feel attended to immediately.

4. Use Targeted Proactive Chat

Context matters greatly in user experience, and AI can help you achieve this. AI can analyze visitor behavior to offer proactive chat invitations based on their activity. For example:

• On their first visit, initiate chat 30-60 seconds into their visit and after one interaction.
• On subsequent visits: Engage after 30 seconds and show interest in specific products or actions.

These AI-driven engagements can increase the chances of conversion by showing that you are attentive and ready to help. For instance, if a visitor views multiple products, AI can trigger a chat offering assistance in finding the right product or a discount to incentivize purchase.

5. Send Users a Chat Transcript

AI can ensure follow-up by sending chat transcripts to users. After a chat session, AI can automatically ask for the visitor’s email and send them a transcript of the conversation. This not only reinforces the interaction but also provides a reference for the customer. Additionally, AI can tag the email for specific purposes, like’sales only’ to maintain trust and avoid unsolicited marketing.

6. Integrate Chat with Your CRM

AI can seamlessly integrate chat records with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This ensures that all customer interactions, including website visits, support tickets, and live chat sessions, are stored and accessible. AI can help analyze these interactions to provide personalized communications in the future. Training your sales and support chat agents on the use of your CRM will enable them to deliver more personalized communications, enhancing customer satisfaction.

Advanced: Integrate AI-Based Apps to ‘Triage’ Chats

Automation through AI-based chatbots can make operations more efficient. AI chatbots can:

• Infer visitor intent based on their inputs.
• Offer a logic tree of questions and answers.
• Route visitors to the appropriate resource or answer.
• Pass conversations to human agents when necessary.

Most leading chatbot platforms incorporate machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to achieve this automated triage effectively. This ensures that visitors receive the most relevant responses quickly, improving their overall experience.

Better Chat, Better Relationships with AI

Using AI to enhance your chat strategies ensures that you not only meet but exceed visitor expectations. These technologies help streamline interactions, provide faster responses, and personalize experiences, leading to better engagement and stronger customer relationships.

By investing in AI-enhanced chat solutions, you’ll build deeper and more meaningful connections with your customers while driving higher conversions and achieving your business goals.