Conversation Gateways: The Holy Grail of Customer Experience Management

Over 2 billion digital, real-time conversations take place every day. People are spending more time on digital platforms than ever before

It’s not uncommon for us to switch on Alexa as soon as we enter our homes these days,and one can’t evenimagine driving through a new route without the Google voiceover inthe background. Conversations have always been important for us, but the key differencetodayis that it has evolved beyond simplehuman conversations.In the current scenario, we have chatbots and voice assistants at our disposal round the clock.

Over 2 billion digital, real-time conversations take place every day. People are spending more time on digital platforms than ever before. A Cognizant report

Businesses are now able to provide personalised support to consumers throughout their usagejourney. Conversational AI has become almost synonymous with increased productivity and greater customer satisfaction across global industries “Customer convenience management, the modern approach of being there for the user whenever they need support is also catching up. And here lies the most important question: How to be there for the customer when it matters the most?” —Nishith Patnaik, Co-founder,

Nhance Now

on Conversational AI states that “85% of businesses believe that immediate online help would improve online sales conversion rates.”However, the question ofhow businesses can consistently aid their customers remainsan unanswered one. In today’s competitive world, customer engagement and retention should be on the charts for every business.

The Era of Conversational AI

Conversational AI has made the concept of omnichannel businesses possible. Instant responses help brands solve customer queries much faster and much more seamlessly, which in turn increases the likelihood of conversion. Chatbots make a great engagement tool. Customer engagement accelerates conversations which in turn drives stickiness. This then drives retention of customers and delivers growth.

Today, every business either has a chatbot, or is considering one. Gartner has also predicted that 40% of mobile interactions will be managed by smart agents by 2020.With this kind of tech intervention, there’s a possibility that consumers will give up on calls and turn to only messaging.This also leads us on to think about better touchpoints for consumers to interact with during the post purchase stage.

The AI in Conversational AI

Artificial Intelligence or AI is the brain behind all these machines which are trained through complex systems like deep learning. To break it down further, deep learning is a simple guide or a flowchart that trains the machine to behave like humans. Innovations like voice assistants, chatbots and IoT devices bridge the gaps in connectivity, and make for betterinteractions between the brands and its users. Machine learning and deep learning algorithms also ensure that consumer data is tracked, mapped and analysed, thus enabling the brand to monitor each individual’s customer behaviour.

Omnichannel Presence

A true omnichannel presence means that a customer always has access to two-way communications with brands. Customers feel obliged when brands pay special attention to them offering relevant services. So, you’re not only focusing on customer satisfaction, but also taking a step towards customer delight. A simple conversation beginning with a greeting can go much beyond, and lead brands to derive significant insights about their past behaviour and purchase history. With this in place, providing recommendations for future needs also becomes simple. The entire customer relationship management process becomes much more streamlined with data. Integration of AI and Human Intelligence The best of AI technologies has made it possible to understand and predict customer behaviour. Automated speech recognition technologies help the processor understand the customer despite the various background noises. The integration of human intelligence and artificial intelligence is helping technology disrupt and learn the complex human behaviour. Human intelligence being the secondary source is training AI to be a better version of its own self. It just gets smarter with every interaction.