Customer engagement solutions vendor LivePerson has added new enhancements to its Conversational AI capabilities to help brands improve conversations with their customers.
"As we head into 2023, brands are looking to do more with less. AI and automation will only become more important as they seek to increase customer loyalty while reducing operational costs. Our latest research shows that 98% of brands say AI is important to their customer engagement strategy, but only 28% say they're realizing its full potential. With the capabilities we're announcing today, they can start leveraging automation and AI faster than ever to provide even better digital experiences," said Rob LoCascio, Founder and CEO of LivePerson.
The new features
The four new AI-powered features include AI Search, On-Demand Recommendations, "Small Talk" NLU, and Repeat Intent Rate measurement.
AI Search
AI Search provides the most accurate answers to customer questions, only requiring knowledge base content to work. Using deep learning to understand customer intent, the context of the query, and specific phrasing, AI Search delivers the best answers directly to the customer through a self-service bot or to agents via recommended answers.
LivePerson says the solution "vastly increases" time to value, reducing the time spent on data science and taxonomy efforts. Instead, brands can add their content, then turn on AI Search to substantially increase how often and well they answer customer questions.
On-Demand Recommendations
To streamline the search for bots and content, On-Demand Recommendations enable agents to type in a question or phrase, drop the bot, knowledge base answer, or predefined content that surfaces in the search results directly into customer conversations.
Then, On-Demand Recommendations boost LivePerson's existing recommendation engine by making it possible to look up bots and content that do not depend on what the customer says. This way, agents have more flexibility to find the best resources to do their jobs.
"Small Talk"
The "Small Talk" feature allows bots to respond to conversational messages with natural, comfortable responses, including greetings, goodbyes, and confirmations.
For example, if a customer starts a conversation with "Hi, are you a bot?" or says, "Thank you!" the bot can politely respond before proceeding with addressing the customer's intent rather than get confused by the casual interjection.
Small Talk NLU models and content can make automated experiences feel more natural, allowing brands to customize responses to fit their unique voices.Repeat Intent Rate (RIR)
Introduced by LivePerson, Repeat Intent Rate is a metric that measures how and when a customer follows up on a previously stated intent. Repeat intents are typically negative when it comes to customer care and indicate that an issue has not been resolved. However, they can also signal positive steps toward conversion in terms of making a sale.
Simply put, RIR enables brands to discern whether repeat interactions are positive or negative and then optimize or automate accordingly.
For example, if a customer keeps coming back to ask about their password, looking at RIR could help a brand identify a problem in its password system and how to address it. In the sales context, if a customer has ordered the same meal from a brand multiple times per month, RIR can help the brand determine whether this customer would like to receive proactive messages about promotions and rewards.
