Using Conversational Analytics to Grow Your Business

Conversational analytics and intelligence represents a category of tools that address the age-old question of how to create a better customer experience. If you’ve ever interacted with a chatbot on a company’s website or received an email asking to rate your interaction with a company rep, there’s a good chance you were engaging with part of a company’s conversational intelligence strategy. 

While these tools may not be appropriate for all industries, there are certainly use cases for retail and service-based businesses. Conversational intelligence can improve your current customer experience strategy and create opportunities for business growth that you might not be able to access otherwise.

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What is conversational intelligence?

Conversational intelligence is a method of turning human conversations into actionable data. People who work in sales, marketing, and customer service roles have always been able to review their own customer interactions to find ways to improve their personal performance. Now, new age technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing, and machine learning are able to turn this subjective approach into one that’s based on objective evidence.

Conversational intelligence software collects data from a wide range of customer interaction channels including phone, email, SMS, live chat, and social media. Then, it analyzes the data to measure customer sentiment, identify common customer inquiries, and predict possible solutions that address the issue the customer is having. 

Related: Natural Language Processing Will Make Business Intelligence Apps More Accessible

Challenges of of conversational intelligence

As with most artificial intelligence applications, it can take some time for a conversational analytics tool to develop sophistication and refinement. Human conversations are extremely idiosyncratic, and this is one area where these types of platforms present a challenge. It can be difficult for any type of AI technology to correctly interpret sarcasm or subtle nuances that can change the meaning of a conversation, so it doesn’t always gauge a customer interaction correctly.

It can take time for conversational analytics to accurately reflect the sentiment and outcome of any given interaction. Once you begin capturing data, though, you can establish a foundation for future data-driven decisions. AI constantly seeks feedback and adjusts its projections to be more precise. Over time, a conversational intelligence platform can help your customer-facing employees improve their day-to-day interactions and create a runway for long-term growth.

How conversational analytics can benefit your business

The ability to glean actionable insights from customer interactions is an invaluable asset to the broader goals of your business. Your customer-facing teams will be able to do their jobs more effectively, thereby improving your customer experience and driving overall revenue targets.

Customer support

In the context of customer support, conversational analytics will help resolve customer inquiries more quickly and effectively. Some software solutions offer a chatbot that can integrate with your website and handle simple questions or concerns. This acts as a kind of triage strategy and allows your customer service team to focus their time and attention on more complex issues. In effect, your customers will get the answers and solutions they need more efficiently.

Related: Are Chatbots Right for Your Business?

Sales

From a sales perspective, conversational intelligence helps prevent customer attrition and identify opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell. It combines historical data with real-time analysis to indicate whether an individual customer is likely to end their relationship with you or if they would be open to expanding their account. Similar to the customer service benefits, this helps account executives prioritize the customers with the highest risk and highest potential.

Marketing

For marketing professionals, a conversational analytics platform can provide concrete data to support the customer lifecycle. This is valuable for building a long-term growth strategy and understanding what motivates a customer to engage your business. When you can predict a current or prospective customer’s behavior based on patterns and trends, it’s much easier to strategize new business opportunities and propel your overall growth.

Finding a conversational intelligence tool

Conversational intelligence tools come in a variety of forms. Start by identifying the channels you currently use to engage your customers. This could include email, SMS, live chat, social media, VoIP, or video conferencing. Not all conversational intelligence platforms support all channels, so look for one that will integrate with the systems you’re already using.

Possible solutions include LivePerson, Jiminny, Gong.io, and Chorus.ai. Depending on the number and types of channels you use, some options will be better suited to your needs than others. In any case, conversational intelligence translates customer interactions into actionable data that can help you drive your revenue goals and grow your business.

Related: 7 AI Technology Benefits for Small Businesses

Kaiti Norton
Kaiti Norton
Kaiti Norton is the editor of Small Business Computing. She is passionate about creating relatable, research-based content that helps small businesses thrive.

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