Businesses can achieve 360-degree customer view using AI

Businesses can achieve 360-degree customer view using AI

Knowledge is power: The more intelligence a business has about its customers, the better it can customize and personalize engagements with them, resulting in higher CX ratings.

The competitive edge that businesses glean from earning top customer ratings is driving many to design 360-degree customer views using AI. Various software applications and cloud-based services using AI can develop a complete picture of each customer.

The information contained in a 360-degree view also supports customer health scores, which 43.6% of organizations now calculate, according the Nemertes Research’s “Intelligent Customer Engagement 2019-20” study of 518 organizations.

Customer health score

Customer health scores are numeric scores — 1 to 10 or a traditional 100% grading system — or letter grades (A, B, C, D, F) that indicate problems or opportunities with customers. Companies can focus on a few key metrics or use machine learning to track and evaluate hundreds of them. The goal is to show — through component or roll-up scores — whether customers are about to leave, whether they may be ready for a purchase or whether they are satisfied with a company, among other details.

Achieving accuracy in those scores depends on a well-thought-out set of metrics and associated scores, accurate data collection, and insightful analysis. Depending on the size of a company, AI and automation may be the only way such scores can happen due to the volume of customer activities. Data gathered for the 360-degree customer view using AI can feed into the customer health score and also help agents know where to focus during interactions.

360-degree view defined

Customer data helps agents deliver a better interaction. It also helps CX leaders analyzing broader customer trends, feedback and characteristics to shift messaging, product development or go-to-market strategies. However, the more practical, day-to-day use of 360-degree customer data resides with contact center agents.

Organizations may have a single definition of their 360-degree customer view that they use companywide, or they may customize each view, depending on products, global regions or type of service they’re addressing.

Here are some typical components to the 360-degree view:

Customer history. Using CRM tools — and some supporting apps, such as support ticket apps and loyalty program management apps — agents can view all outreach to customers and notes from actual interactions. For example, this data provides context when a customer is aggravated at calling for the fifth time with no resolution to the same problem. Or, it can show something as simple as the customer’s credit limit prior to suggesting they buy a new product line.

Customer feedback. This is a large part of the 360-degree customer view and the customer health score. Companies use survey tools, customer engagement apps, natural language processing (NLP) and analytics tools to gather and interpret structured and unstructured feedback. After any customer interaction, 67.6% of organizations send out surveys that include net promoter scores, customer effort scores and internally developed surveys. Businesses may also ask for open-ended comments.

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