Customer support is one of the places where AI saves the most time and where it does damage fastest. The rule is to automate the questions that repeat and have a fixed answer (opening hours, how to do something, where to find it) and never those involving money, complaints, safety or a decision. In between, AI prepares the reply and a person sends it.
Start by measuring, not by buying
| 1 |
List the twenty questions you get most. Look at your latest e-mails, messages and calls. Half an hour is enough.
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| 2 |
Sort them into three groups: fixed answer (automate), answer that depends on the case (draft for a person), and sensitive matters (always a person).
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| 3 |
Write the first group’s answers once, properly. A frequently asked questions page is the best first step and needs no AI. AI comes afterwards, to help the visitor find the right answer.
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What to automate and what not
| Type of request |
Automate? |
How |
| Where do I see my invoice, how do I change my password |
Yes |
A fixed answer with a link to the right page. |
| The status of an order or a service |
Only with the customer identified by the system |
The AI must never accept a name or number typed in the chat as proof of identity. |
| Prices, deadlines and conditions |
Only by reading them from the source |
A number the machine “remembers” is an invented number. Send the visitor to the page. |
| Complaints, refunds, cancellations |
No |
They always go to a person. An automatic reply to a complaint makes it worse. |
| Technical problems |
Triage yes, solution with care |
The AI can ask what is missing and tidy the ticket; instructions for the customer’s own system should be reviewed. |
| Health, safety, legal matters |
No |
Refer on. |
Then measure what changed: how many requests reach a person, how many conversations ended without a useful answer, and what customers say. Do not measure only how many questions the machine “resolved”: an ignored question counts as resolved when the customer gives up.
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Do not leave anyone without a way out. Every automatic reply should have a clear route to a person. Someone stuck with a machine that does not understand them remembers that much longer than the wait.
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Interweb follows these rules in its own AI: on support requests, billing matters, refunds and complaints get no automatic reply, they go to a person. See what Interweb AI does and what it does not. Read the conversations every week: it is what teaches you most.
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