Can AI Help With Customer Retention?

By Carter Harkins and Taylor Hill, Co-Owners, FutureNow Marketing (formerly Spark Marketer)

This question is like asking if a chainsaw can help with cutting down a tree. Let me explain.

Several years ago one of the biggest trees in my backyard got hit by lightning and split the top part in half and I ended up with a big tree that looked like a Y. Since it was in my backyard I decided to cut it down. However, I didn’t have the time to tackle this myself so my wife got on the phone and started calling tree companies to see how much it would cost to get it cut down and taken away.

We both thought this was an easy question. Big tree, how much? Simple, right? Well, we found out real quick it wasn’t that simple. We had to take pictures, measurements, guestimates, etc. until we got some estimated prices. When they broke down the cutting the tree down and the hauling it off, we decided not to have it hauled off. At the time it didn’t fit our budget and I could do it later.

Since this was a huge tree it took more than one saw. They brought four different saws for four different types of cuts. Let’s just say I know a lot more about modern tree cutting than I did before. What I knew was what I had experienced on my grandfather’s ranch. You grabbed a saw and a rope and worked until you got it done. One or eight hours it didn’t matter.

So what does this have to do with Artificial Intelligence?

If you look at AI alone you will find there are a lot of “tools” that have been created with AI or the help of AI to get very specific things done. Which tool you choose will depend on the goal of the end user, much like knowing what tree you are cutting down and what you plan to do with it once it’s cut will dictate what kinds of tools and saws you will need to properly get the job done.

So when we talk about AI and whether it can help with customer retention, the answer to the question is both yes and no, at the same time. The answer depends on what needs to be done to retain your customers in the first place. Is consistent additional nurturing enough to keep them coming back? Do you need specials and offers to entice? Are you overcoming previous poor customer service experiences with your company?

Another thing that gets confused with AI is automation. That’s not to say there are not some uses for AI within automation but for now, AI is not an “agent” capable of deciding and then taking a course of action on its own to achieve a goal. Very often it can create the strategy or the content or the gameplan, but cannot then build the system, or handle the distribution, or the repetitive task automation that is needed for customer retention.

AI fits nicely into bigger systems and processes that have a lot of moving pieces or complexity. It doesn’t solve every problem or handle every task, and it rarely is able to function as a standalone worker or solution. But in the places where it can be utilized, it is a bigger time saver than we have ever seen when it comes to automation for customer retention, missed calls, estimate follow-up, review gathering, and more.

People forget that customer retention starts at the beginning of the relationship with your customer and AI can help there as well. One of the things we have seen is there are a lot of people who do research for products and services and are online and searching from 8 PM to 2 AM. If you can use AI to help them book an appointment or leave their information so someone can call the next day to book them, that’s a great way to start a conversation and relationship with a prospective customer.

Using AI from there to intelligently manage conversations, follow-up, etc. with thoughtful automation can go a long way to nurture the relationship. When people feel they are important to your business, they tend to come back and be fans. Those people are the ones who leave reviews and stand up for your brand online. You probably have been automated or assisted by AI in a positive business interaction and not even realized it.

AI helps to plug your bucket

There are a lot of analogies that can be used but the old plug-your-bucket analogy fits when it comes to AI and automation in relationship to retained business. One thing we have seen a lot in home service businesses is the amount of time and money spent to get new customers and how little time and money are spent retaining the customers you already have. This is not to say don’t go after new customers. Just don’t bring in customers through the front door to push them out the back door once the season is over, especially when it’s easier and less expensive than ever before to retain them.

There must be a catch because there always is… You are right. There is a catch. There has to be at least one person in your office who spends the time to learn what he or she will need to do. Someone has to take ownership of what needs to be done. Someone needs to oversee the work of the AI. The great thing is that one person can do it. We have seen over and over again that if one person learns what to do they can easily manage AI and automation, no matter which tool you choose to use.

The real question is, are you ready to get on board the train or get left behind? Because it’s moving fast, and gaining more and more momentum every day. Look at the tools that have been created with AI, not necessarily AI itself, to see which ones can help you get to where you want to go with customer retention as well as customer acquisition and all the steps in between. We are here to answer any questions you may have so let us know how we can help you. ■