How Can AI Improve Customer Experience?
Annie Wilhelm / Foodservice Tips, Restaurant Tips / June 20

Customer experience is directly tied to customer satisfaction, loyalty and promotion. Not only do you want to ensure customers walk away happy with the purchase of goods or services, but they should leave excited to relive the experience. And with technology evolving at an exponential rate, businesses must scramble to stay on top of industry trends and adapt to new innovations to remain competitive.
Most recently, artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm with the introduction of open AI, making the technology free and accessible to everyone from multi-sector conglomerates to small-budget mom-and-pop shops alike. The possibilities for automation, cost-savings and free customer support, among other advantages, are now only limited by the imagination. In this article, we’ll answer the question, “How can AI improve customer experience?” and supply a few ideas about how you can implement AI into your customer journey.
Benefits of AI in Customer Service
Before we delve into the different AI tools you can integrate into your company website and business strategy, let’s go over how AI can improve customer service:
- Improved response times and availability – In today’s world, customers expect speed and instant gratification. AI offers 24/7 support, opening business interactions on an international level without the need to employ a supporting staff.
- Personalized interactions and recommendations – Artificial intelligence can sift through vast amounts of data and purchasing history, surpassing human processing speeds. With this information, AI can better create a more personalized and valuable shopping experience.
- Enhanced data analytics and insights – AI algorithms can analyze patterns and trends in customer behavior, allowing them to predict future interactions and offer insights into how to improve products and services.
- Reduced operating costs – Because AI tools can streamline tedious tasks that once took a whole customer service team to complete, it allows businesses to scale back on personnel or better utilize labor through more productive avenues.
- Automation of routine tasks – Automating routine tasks not only speeds up workflows, saves money and improves customer experiences, it can increase employee morale and free up time to explore more rewarding tasks and solutions.
- Create a unique brand experience – Nowadays, you can program AI with a personality, voice and tone on brand with your company’s goals and initiatives. Artificial intelligence is another avenue to explore to create a more personalized customer experience and brand encounters that leave a lasting impression.
How Can AI Improve Customer Experience?
Companies leverage artificial intelligence in their marketing campaigns, data analysis, customer service programs and other sectors to streamline how they conduct business and influence sales. Check out these artificial intelligence tools for enhancing customer experience.
Chatbots & Virtual Assistants
Several AI chatbots on the market today can aid customers, answer commonly asked questions, free up call queues, collect customer feedback and help users navigate websites or apps.
Chatbots are the future of the restaurant industry. They can take orders, book table reservations, send notifications and make food recommendations. Better yet, these plans are remarkably affordable, starting from as low as $15 per month to several hundred, depending on the type of plan and the number of employees.
Customer Relationship Management Systems
A customer relationship management system (CRM) helps businesses manage and analyze customer data as they interact with the company through conversations, purchases and returns. With AI integration, this system provides invaluable insights into customer behavior for marketing purposes.
With this data, businesses can cater to individuals instead of a broad buyer persona that may or may not fit customer descriptions. In this way, companies are better able to create a unique experience to acquire new customers and target existing consumer habits to drive repeat business and, ultimately, more sales.
Predictive Analytics
Another benefit of implementing AI into the customer service process is its ability to rapidly scale large sums of data instantaneously to provide helpful insights into how to acquire future sales based on historical data.
Predictive analysis is another facet of AI that can be applied to several business flows to improve customer experience. For example, based on past inquiries, the model can anticipate user issues before they even arise, giving businesses a chance to be proactive in their responses. Another example includes demand forecasting, helping companies anticipate inventory lows so customers never go without.
Sentiment Analysis
Another way AI can improve customer experience is through sentiment analysis, otherwise known as opinion mining. Sentiment analysis tools help uncover customer attitudes toward your brand and products through reviews, comments, feedback and social media posts. This software uses a mixture of natural language processing, text analysis, biometrics, statistics and computational linguistics to divulge the sentiment behind the text as positive, negative or neutral.
Marketers can use this information to more quickly understand customer feedback, develop their products and services, personalize interactions, influence marketing strategies and improve the overall customer experience.
Dynamic Pricing
AI is a powerful tool that can anticipate and adapt prices based on market trends, past purchasing behavior, location, real-time and future market demand and competitor rates. With all that information convalescing in one place and an artificial brain to analyze and act, prices fluctuate to maximize profits and customer satisfaction.
Everyone loves a good deal, and studies have proven that running a sale increases the likelihood of a conversion. A 2021 Deals & Coupons Report relays that 57% of shoppers claim a good deal influences their purchasing decisions. With these models, you can provide customers with the best pricing options and offers in the current market, attracting new customers, solidifying existing relationships and ultimately driving more conversions.
Customized Marketing Campaigns
In fact, according to Forbes, 81% of customers prefer to shop at companies that offer a personalized experience. With the help of AI, companies are now able to interpret the vast amounts of consumer data being collected for years. That means tailoring promotional material that is more likely to engage and convert. Whether utilizing email campaigns, social media posts, advertisements or landing pages, each marketing tactic can be specially geared to create a more individualized shopping experience.