How autonomous AI agents are solving retail contact center challenges
Solving the stickiest challenges in retail contact centers
Autonomous AI agents are poised to change the way contact centers operate. Where traditional bots can handle only simple interactions, the current class of generative AI agents can navigate nuanced conversations and take action to resolve a wide range of customer issues independently. Those capabilities will make AI agents a permanent fixture in contact centers in every industry very soon.
But retailers just might have the most to gain from incorporating AI agents into their customer service operations. The inherent qualities of generative and agentic AI make them uniquely qualified to solve some of the stickiest challenges in retail contact centers.
What can these AI agents do in retail?
The baseline of AI agent capabilities is rising rapidly. But they can already handle a multitude of tasks that are common in retail customer service. Pre-sale, they can answer nuanced questions about your products and policies, offer guidance on product selection, apply discounts, and help customers complete their orders. Post-sale, they can assist with returns and exchanges, help a customer modify an order after it’s placed, resolve shipping issues, and assist with loyalty program inquiries.
In short, the best AI agents can already handle many of the common interactions your human agents handle today. That includes interactions that require complex reasoning and multiple steps to resolve. These are no mere bots. They are fully capable agents that can provide efficient service in a way that customers appreciate.
For retail customer service leaders, AI agents offer expanded capacity without compromising customer satisfaction.
3 retail customer service challenges AI agents can solve
All contact centers face many of the same challenges. But a few of those challenges loom even larger in retail. And AI agents can help you tackle them.
Scale effortlessly when demand fluctuates
Many retail contact centers staff up for seasonal surges. Whether that additional staffing is in-house or contracted out to a BPO, you’re incurring the costs to onboard new agents. And new agents are always less productive and efficient than the seasoned employees who know your brand and policies well. That means your customers are more likely to have a disappointing experience.
AI agents scale instantly to handle additional volume, both predictable seasonal increases or unexpected sudden spikes. When customers call or start a chat, they get a responsive AI agent right away – no waiting on hold. Your customers get what they need with less effort, your agents don’t get overwhelmed, and you don’t have the additional hassle and cost of staffing up.
Deliver a more consistent customer experience
Most brands offer customers both automated self-service and the ability to talk with a human agent. Let’s be honest – those two options do not offer the same customer experience. Traditional bots are limited and too often leave customers frustrated. Even for simple questions the bot can answer, the process can feel mechanical and satisfying for the customer.
Brand new human agents can also deliver a disappointing experience. They don’t yet know your products and processes well enough to serve customers confidently and efficiently. So, if you’re dealing with high turnover and regularly backfilling empty seats, the experience your customers get can be inconsistent.
AI agents can deliver a high-quality customer experience – day in and day out. They never get tired or bored. They never have a bad day or call in sick. And once they are grounded on your policies and internal documentation, they never forget that information. AI agents deliver a more consistent experience that you and your customers can count on.
Reduce operating costs
Because AI agents can handle a significant portion of customer interactions independently, you can reduce your reliance on large agent teams, including contracts with BPOs. That doesn't mean the AI will replace human agents altogether. But it will enable you to use your humans more strategically. With the bulk of your routine interactions contained by the AI agent, you can focus your human talent on higher-value, more complex issues.
This shift not only lowers labor costs but also improves agent retention, as employees are more likely to stay when their work is engaging and impactful.
The less obvious benefits of AI agents
The biggest returns on an investment in autonomous AI agents are clear – they offer customers more convenient service, free up your human agents for higher-value work, and expand your contact center capacity. But some AI agent solutions offer additional benefits that might not be so obvious.
Improved intent detection
Understanding why customers contact you is essential for effective customer service. Your IVR and intent bots can capture that information based on the intent categories you create. But typical solutions lack the flexibility to adapt to changing customer behavior on their own. They require additional work from your team to identify new intents and populate the list those solutions rely on.
A good human agent can also determine a customer’s intent quickly at the beginning of the interaction. But what happens with that information after the call or chat ends? If the agent is diligent about tagging the intent correctly with every interaction, you’ve got the necessary data to see the big picture. But agents get busy. They forget. They make mistakes.
A fully generative AI agent will capture intent with every interaction it handles, even in nuanced conversations about multiple customer issues. And because generative AI is flexible and responsive, it can automatically adapt to changes in customer behavior to identify and document new intents as they arise. This timely aggregate data drives analytics to help your team spot trends and anomalies more quickly. And that equips your team with the information they need for continuous monitoring and improvement.
Structured data capture
Post-interaction wrap-up eats a lot of your agents’ time. It can easily take several minutes to summarize the conversation and apply labels for intent, resolution, and other data you want to collect. Without that data, your contact center leaders lack visibility into what’s working, what’s trending, and where your greatest opportunities for improvement lie.
An AI agent that documents its actions in a readily available audit log offers a comprehensive data stream on every customer conversation. It’s a more complete and consistent record with structured data for downstream analysis and automation. And because the AI agent never forgets or gets too busy to create the documentation, you get a more holistic view of both the AI agent’s performance and customer behavior.
No more flows to manage manually
In recent years, many contact centers have expanded the range of use cases their traditional bots can handle. That takes a little of the pressure off of their agents. But it creates a massive headache for the teams that create and manage the bot flows. The more use cases your bots take on, the larger and more complex your bot flow management problem becomes.
Every time there’s a change in your products or processes that requires modifying flows, it takes more time to untangle the growing mess. If your business has a large and varied product line or serves multiple geographic regions where policies vary, updating flows requires great care.
A fully generative AI agent doesn’t follow prebuilt flows. Based on the customer’s intent, it determines which tasks it needs to perform, much like a human agent does. That means you can completely let go of the flow management burden.
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What to look for in an autonomous AI agent
Retail contact centers are fast-paced and ever-changing. So, you’ll need to find an AI agent solution that can change and grow with your customer service operation. If you're considering deploying an autonomous AI agent in your contact center, here are a few capabilities you’ll want to prioritize:
- True end-to-end automation: Make sure it can fully resolve customer issues—not just answer basic questions or process simple transactions.
- Multi-channel support: Voice and chat are both essential in retail customer support. Your AI agent should handle both channels with equal proficiency.
- Human-in-the-loop escalation: This ensures smooth handoffs and reduces customer frustration when the AI encounters a roadblock. A solution that can consult a human to get the information or guidance it needs, and then continue handling the interaction itself is even better.
- Fast deployment and easy integration: Look for solutions that plug into your existing CX platform and other relevant systems (CRMs, order platforms, ticketing tools) and go live quickly.
- Data security and compliance: Especially in retail, where payment and personal data are involved, you need airtight security protocols.
- Robust AI safety: Your AI agent will be the voice of your brand for customers who need service. Be sure it will represent your brand safely. Look for a solution with comprehensive safety mechanisms that prevent jailbreaking, mitigate hallucinations, and keep the AI agent on task and within scope.
AI agents are a perfect fit for retail customer service
When your customers can get the support they need, quickly and efficiently, whenever they want, they’re more satisfied with the experience. And when they know they can count on the same level of service every time, they’re more likely to remain loyal to your brand.
In an industry where brand loyalty is often built (or broken) with a customer experience, autonomous AI isn’t just a smart investment. It’s the future of retail customer service.