Week 3: Customer Operations
Better experience at lower cost
Today’s topics
- Where AI creates customer value
- Documenting interaction points
- Practical applications
- Building voice consistency
The opportunity
AI enables:
- Response in minutes, not hours
- Consistent quality regardless of staff
- Personalization without time cost
- Team focus on complex situations
Before they buy
- Website contact forms and chat
- Phone inquiries
- Email questions
- Quote requests
During the sale
- Processing orders
- Handling payments
- Sending confirmations
- Scheduling delivery
After the sale
- Order status questions
- Support requests
- Complaint resolution
- Gathering feedback
Ongoing touchpoints
- Billing questions
- Policy inquiries
- Account changes
Intelligent email response
- Draft responses for review
- Handle routine questions automatically
- Redirect staff to complex issues
Email automation requirements
- Response templates for common scenarios
- Categorization rules
- Escalation criteria
- Voice profile matching your business
Smart triage
AI categorizes and routes:
- Urgent issues flagged immediately
- Routine questions to standard processes
- Technical issues to specialists
- Nothing forgotten in queues
Proactive communication
- Order updates before they ask
- Appointment reminders
- Post-service satisfaction checks
- Personalized renewal notices
Self-service that works
- Chatbots for common questions
- Smart knowledge base search
- Interactive troubleshooting
- Natural language FAQ
Building voice profile
Document these elements:
- Overall tone and style
- Greetings and sign-offs
- Apology handling
- Language for upset customers
Business-specific language
- Product names and terminology
- Industry terms customers use
- Internal terms to avoid
Forbidden patterns
- Generic robotic phrases
- Overly apologetic language
- Corporate jargon
- Responses for any business
Always escalate
- Serious complaints
- Legal or liability concerns
- High-value customer problems
- Complex troubleshooting
Seamless handoffs
- Provide full conversation history
- Never make customers repeat information
- Enable easy override anytime
Monitor quality
Response quality:
- Information accuracy
- Voice and tone consistency
- Resolution rate
Customer satisfaction
- CSAT scores for AI interactions
- Comparison to human-handled
- Feedback mentioning automation
Implementation phases
- Phase 1: AI drafts, humans review
- Phase 2: Auto-send routine, sample review
- Phase 3: Full automation with monitoring
Common mistakes
- Automating too fast
- No escape path to humans
- Generic voice
- Ignoring edge cases
Key takeaway
AI in customer operations works when customers are happier, not just when costs drop.
Start with assistance. Build to automation on proven quality.