How machine learning is ushering in a new age of customer service

While machine learning itself is nothing new, the speed at which data can now be processed, analyzed and actioned has completely changed the machine-learning game. Readily affordable computing power, the quantity of data available, and algorithms we never thought we could use are now possible.

Though the fundamental concept remains the same, machine-learning is now far more sophisticated, efficient and easily deployable – and the potential it offers to revolutionize customer experience is truly exciting.

Harnessing machine learning allows businesses to revolutionize the way we all engage with their store or use their service. Forget product recommendations as we know them today, this takes us far beyond that, into the realms of much more hyper-personal and sophisticated experiences.

Not only can machine learning automatically process vast quantities of data to understand customer behavior and identify where the opportunity lies, we can now action these findings as well.

Machine learning might identify that a Swiss travel company has high traffic from the UK, with people looking at ski trips near the end of the season, but lower conversion than expected. Concerns from this segment about the level of snow at the end of the season could be addressed by showing the local weather report or a snow tracker.

Alternatively, an online retailer can identify that people are browsing through party dresses on a Thursday or Friday night, but not clicking further to make a purchase.Concerns from these shoppers around whether it will arrive in time for an event on the weekend can be mitigated by moving the delivery proposition onto that page to showcase same day or next day delivery options. Identifying customer segments and creating personalized propositions in this way is an opportunity to banish meaningless customer experiences forever.

This is important because we live in a world where delivering customers the content they are looking for in the very first couple of seconds is critical. If you don’t, the chances are they are going to get bored, distracted, and leave. Tinder’s ‘swipe-right, swipe-left’ mentality is driving change across all sectors.

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