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With inputs from Vikrant Deshmukh, Senior Solution Engineer

Even if the first impression is not the last one, there is no denying that it creates an impact. Personalisation, from the very beginning, can be a differentiator between winning a loyal customer and losing a lead. 

However, a lot goes behind delivering personalised experiences, such as connecting different touchpoints and functions or building a comprehensive and complete customer view. From marketing to service, businesses are constantly innovating and strategising to improve multi-channel engagement, customer profiling, and personalised service. 

The most frequently asked question is — what can be done to personalise interactions that can take customers further on their brand journey?

Streamlining and personalising customer experience using AI-powered recommendations

When it comes to nurturing customers, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tools can help any business function or team know what the next best actions are to deliver personalised experiences.

AI can help you capture large amounts of data such as customer interaction history, location, preferences, and case history, and derive accurate and actionable insights from it. You can use this information to determine what your customer wants to do next or the next logical step for them.

Withthe help of a virtual task force, you can simplify processes, improve access to information, and suggest the next ideal steps for your business. This helps marketers, sales reps, service agents, and management teams to make informed decisions that ‘wow’ customers.

Salesforce Einstein is our integrated AI engine that can increase team productivity, and improve customer experience at every stage of the customer journey. Einstein’s Next Best Action helps with:

  • Discovering hidden insights
  • Predicting future outcomes
  • Recommending the next logical step 

This feature assists users by delivering the right information at the right time based on a predictive model. Imagine seeing a pop-up on your dashboard that suggests products a customer may like. With the click of a button, you can compile them into a personalised message and send it on their preferred channel. Tailored recommendations can be sent to the customer at impactful moments without delay or errors.

If you're resolving a case related to on-premises services, you will know exactly what actions you can ask your customer to take while waiting for the field agent to arrive.

 

What’s your next best action?

Learn how you can improve customer experience using Salesforce Einstein.
Here’s how Einstein and Einstein Next Best Action can simplify your decision-making process and help you take the right actions:

Einstein for marketing

Ask marketers what the most important aspect of a successful campaign is, and you’ll get various answers. What goes behind a successful campaign is knowing the right time and channels to reach your customers with the right messaging. When designing a marketing campaign or customer journey, Einstein can suggest the ideal channels and instances to interact with customers at different stages of their journey. 

With Einstein Marketing Cloud, recommendations based on customer preferences or intent can help you create personalised messages and content. This helps you understand your customers better to implement contextual marketing campaigns.

Einstein Next Best Action for sales

Once the customer is convinced they want to engage with your brand, closing the deal presents a new set of challenges. A salesperson should know the offers or products that have attracted the customer. For instance, customers are unlikely to be interested in a previously purchased product. Instead,a recommendation based on supporting products can help with upselling. 

Salesforce Einstein allows users to fetch information regarding purchase history from the customer profile with just a click. This makes upselling and cross-selling much easier. 

Imagine this scenario — a customer has seen a certain product and added it to their cart. However, they don’t checkout and the cart is abandoned. An AI-enabled recommendation pops up on the salesperson’s dashboard. These recommendations could look like:

  • Send a custom offer that bundles the product in a cart with another ideal product for their customer segment. 
  • Send them a reminder that their cart is waiting.
  • Send them more information regarding the product and the support you can promise if they complete the purchase.

Einstein Next Best Action for service

Once a customer has purchased from a business, the best way to ensure loyalty is by providing services that stand out. This can be done by letting your customer know you care and providing them with a seamless service. Instilling a feeling of familiarity by using their name, not making them repeat grievances they have already shared, and following up on feedback they’ve given show you value their association with the brand. All of this can be greatly improved with a 360-degree view of the customer.

AI recommendations with a holistic view of the customer can enable service agents to:

  • Send informational content that solves customer issues with ease 
  • Send quick replies that keep the customer engaged while a solution is being fetched 
  • Conduct relevant surveys to ensure satisfaction
  • Remind customers to renew subscriptions or contracts to build long-standing relationships with your brand
  • Send loyalty rewards or offers to customers close to attrition
  • Upsell and cross-sell relevant products

Salesforce Einstein for customer-centric businesses

Now, if we revisit the question posed earlier — What action will be most effective in moving a customer ahead in their journey with the brand? 

Einstein can tell you exactly that. It can tell users if:

  • Campaigns are effective 
  • Sales goals are achieved
  • Customers are enjoying their interactions with the brand

Then, it makes recommendations that can help any team take the next best steps to deliver more relevant and consistent customer experiences across channels.

 

To learn more about creating connected customer experiences, download our The Secret to Seamless Service: Connected Channels ebook.


This post originally appeared on the Salesforce India blog.