AI customer support agent: How to set up one?
Over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has moved from science fiction to reality, transforming how we live and work at lightning speed. In customer service, AI customer agents are leading this revolution, offering faster, smarter, and more efficient ways to connect with customers.
But what exactly are AI customer support agents, how do they work, and how can they help your business grow? Read through the article to learn more about AI agents for customer support.
What is an AI agent for customer support? How it works?
AI agents are not just smart virtual assistants that are your first point of contact to help businesses handle customer questions. Powered by conversational AI, they are brand ambassadors who embody your unique style, voice, and even personality.
Through natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning technologies, AI support agents understand, assess, and respond to customer queries effectively. They learn from customer interactions and brand-specific documents to generate tailored, context-aware responses independently with minimal human intervention.
The main capabilities of customer support AI agent
1. Deep learning from the company database
Unlike conventional chatbots, AI agents don’t just regurgitate pre-loaded information. They connect directly to your company’s knowledge base like product manuals, help center articles, real-time CRM data, etc.
For example, when a customer asks for the status of their order, the AI agent doesn’t provide a generic reply like “Track your order here.” Instead, it fetches real-time tracking information directly from your logistics system.
2. Brand advocate with personality
Today’s customers don’t just want answers; they want meaningful interactions. They don’t just reply; they recognize customers by name, recall past interactions, and adapt responses to personal preferences. Moreover, AI agents can generate responses that represent your brand’s tone and style, whether friendly and playful or professional and authoritative.
What’s more, one size does not fit all. A frustrated customer? The AI agent responds with calm empathy. A happy, engaged shopper? The AI matches their excitement with enthusiasm.
AI customer support agents can embody specific personas that align with your brand’s identity. Imagine your AI agent as a quirky, helpful “assistant” who’s always ready with a witty remark, or perhaps as a calm and knowledgeable guide offering a sense of professionalism and trustworthiness.
Read more: How to customize AI responses to your brand
3. Predictive problem-solving for proactive engagement
Ever wondered if your support team could resolve issues before customers even ask? While traditional chatbots sit passively waiting for inquiries, AI agents take the initiative. They analyze customer behavior and context to offer proactive support. For example, alerting customers about an expiring subscription or troubleshooting common issues before they escalate.
4. Facilitate human-AI collaboration
An AI agent doesn’t just operate in isolation. When the AI support agent encounters complex, emotionally charged, or highly specific issues that require a human touch, it knows exactly when to step back and initiate the hand-off.
Instead of leaving human agents to start from scratch, the AI support agent can also summarize the chat to provide comprehensive context during hand-off. This is to reduce repetitive questioning and deliver a more informed and empathetic resolution from human support agents.
Why should businesses implement an AI customer support agent?
As we all know, using AI chatbots to automate responses can free up human resources and provide quick replies to customer inquiries. But why should businesses go beyond chatbots and implement an AI agent for customer support?
1. Elevated customer experiences
AI support agents go beyond simple replies, providing personalized, smart interactions. By learning from past interactions and customer data, they simulate human-like and tailor responses to each customer’s needs, creating a more engaging support experience.
2. Consistent and strengthened brand identity
Whether your customers reach out via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or live chat, your AI brand expert AI agents deliver consistent brand voice across all channels, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, live chat, etc. It delivers reliable support and builds customer trust, even during peak traffic times.
3. Adaptability across use cases
AI agents adapt dynamically to various customer scenarios, from guiding new users through product setups to offering personalized recommendations for returning customers. This turns support into a strategic asset.
4. Seamless scalability for growing demands
As your business grows, AI agents handle thousands of conversations simultaneously, ensuring efficient scaling without compromising response quality. They also capture valuable insights that can help refine products and marketing strategies.
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Use case examples of AI agents in customer support
1. Lazada’s LazzieChat & CLEO
Photo courtesy of Lazada Singapore
CLEO, Lazada’s AI-driven virtual customer service agent, delivers precise, real-time assistance while continuously learning from interactions to enhance its responses. Operating 24/7, CLEO helps resolve customer inquiries and connects users to live agents during support hours for more complex issues.
Photo courtesy of Lazada Singapore
In addition to CLEO, Lazada has also introduced LazzieChat, an AI assistant designed to enhance the shopping experience. Acting as a personal shopper, Lazzie intelligently responds to user queries, offering tailored product recommendations and helping customers navigate and discover items on the platform.
2. Bank of America’s Erica
Photo courtesy of Bank of America
Erica, Bank of America’s virtual financial assistant, understands and responds to customer queries by interpreting user intent and providing accurate responses tailored to customer needs.
Beyond answering queries, Erica offers personalized financial insights to help users manage cash flow, monitor spending, and stay on top of their finances. The AI ensures privacy and security, conducting all analyses confidentially, making it a trusted financial assistant for millions of users.
How to set up an AI support agent?
Creating an AI support agent with your brand’s persona doesn’t have to be difficult. With the right tools and approach, you can have an intelligent, brand-consistent AI agent up and running quickly.
Decide your brand voice: How your brand should speak. Is it friendly and casual, or more formal and professional? This will be the foundation for your AI’s tone and style.
Map the customer journey: Identify every touchpoint where customers seek assistance. This ensures your AI agent can support them at every stage, from pre-purchase inquiries to post-sale troubleshooting.
Build a knowledge base: Create a comprehensive knowledge base to power your AI, ensuring it has the expertise to provide relevant, accurate answers.
Train with purpose: Feed your AI agent with relevant data—customer interaction logs, product knowledge, and brand-specific language—to let it not just be intelligent but also aligned with your business.
Test relentlessly: Put your AI agent through real-world scenarios to ensure it performs flawlessly and simulate irate customers, multilingual conversations, and edge cases.
Update constantly: AI evolves over time, so regularly update it with fresh data and insights to keep it sharp and aligned with changing customer expectations.
Read through the article to learn more on how to train AI for enhanced customer service.
Why partner with SleekFlow to build your AI agent?
From e-commerce to FinTech and beyond, SleekFlow empowers companies to maximize conversions and achieve more with fewer resources.
I would definitely recommend SleekFlow to fintech and financial services companies because it's great for handling daily customer inquiries, KYC processes, and application follow-ups.
Gabriel Kung
Chief Commercial Officer, Bowtie Life Insurance
SleekFlow doesn’t just offer automation; it helps businesses achieve smarter, more efficient customer communication to drive conversions through meaningful conversations.
Powered by GPT-4o, SleekFlow AI is a conversational AI solution that includes the AI Knowledge Base and AI Smart Reply, AI writing assistant, and AI smart summary on WhatsApp, FB Messenger, IG DM, and many other channels within an omnichannel inbox.
Upcoming Feature: We’re introducing the SleekFlow AI agent, you can elevate your customer support by automating interactions, reducing response times, and delivering personalized service—all with ease.
Talk to our team to learn more about how the SleekFlow AI can enhance your customer support.
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