How to choose an AI tool for ecommerce customer service

77% of U.S. consumers believe good customer service is critical for business loyalty and business. You need a tool that can deliver fast, reliable, and personalized responses to deliver exceptional ecommerce customer service.

The problem? Finding the right AI tool that can help you meet a modern customer’s expectations isn’t exactly easy. In this guide, we help you understand how to choose an AI-powered ecommerce customer service tool that meets your needs, things to consider, and features to look for.

Let’s dive in.

Step-by-step guide to choosing an AI tool for ecommerce customer service

Below is a step-by-step process that will help you narrow your choice down to a handful of tools.

‍

Look for a reliable LLM

For an AI tool to deliver personalized experiences at scale, it must be backed by a reliable LLM. The LLM is responsible for an AI tool’s response-generating capabilities. Choosing a reliable LLM is critical — In 2023, 85% of execs said in an IBM survey that generative AI will interact directly with customers in the next two years. Here are some basic parameters you can use to evaluate an LLM:

Type of LLM: Look for the large language model (LLM) it uses — models like GPT 4o, LaMDA, Turing NLG, and RoBERTa are considered reliable. Generative AI enables the tool to generate content like text, images, music, or code based on the data it’s trained on. It’s what enables your AI customer service tool to generate responses based on things learned from training data, which may include your knowledge base, FAQs, and more.

‍

Review the feature set

Review the AI’s feature set to see if it aligns with your needs. Here are some important features you should look for:

Integrations

Integrations simplify data logistics, which in turn simplifies workflow automation. It can also help the AI software take action.

For example, suppose a customer asked for the size of the shirt in their last order. They realize they ordered the incorrect size and would like to initiate an exchange. The AI tool can deliver this information, initiate the exchange for the customer, and update your internal records, including inventory and invoices.

Analytics and reporting

Analytics and reporting features tell you how effective your customer service is. It collects data to calculate KPIs like first contact resolution rate (FCR) and customer satisfaction score (CSAT).

The built-in reporting tools might also present critical data visually to make it easier and faster to understand that data. It also gives you data about channel distribution, intent recognition accuracy, and trends. Of course, the specific data that each AI tool provides is different.

Multilingual support

If you ship internationally, offer multilingual customer service. You’ll be surprised at how big of an impact speaking in your customer’s language has — 70% of customers feel more loyal to companies that offer support in their native language, and 29% report having lost customers because they don’t offer multilingual support.

Security and compliance

A data breach can cost your business a ton of money. An IBM report suggests that the average cost of a data breach can be as high as $4.45 million. That’s not all — 80% of customers worldwide are unlikely to do business with companies that become victims of a cyber attack.

Look for an AI tool that complies with data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA, encrypts your data, and has PCI-DSS and SOC 2 certifications. These tools are your best bet to ensure the security of your and your customer’s data.

A user-friendly interface

The best software is one your team can use. Complex software tends to have a low buy-in and requires you to spend money on training. Sign up for a trial or demo before you settle on a tool to assess its ease of use.

‍

Learn about support quality (critical)

What do you do when the AI tool hallucinates or you need help using the tool for a new use case? You can’t put business on hold or make customers wait while you get help from support. That’s why you need quick and effective support.

AI tech is evolving at an unbelievable speed, so you need a support team that can act as consultants whenever you need help. Look for faster support channels like phone and live chat. Email and a community forum are great options but only for non-urgent issues.

A previous user’s experience with the support team can provide great, first-hand insights into support quality. Alternatively, consider testing support quality yourself by interacting with the support team via a free plan if it’s available.

‍

Assess scalability

As business grows, your needs will grow, and you’ll have a larger customer base to offer service to. Make sure the AI tool you choose is up to the task. Here’s how you can assess a tool’s scalability: 

• API availability: Robust and well-documented APIs enable you to integrate the AI tool with other systems for which the vendor doesn’t offer an out-of-the-box integration. APIs ensure that you rarely have to move information manually.
• Role-based access control: As your team grows, more members may need access to the AI tool’s dashboard. But you also need access control to ensure team members can only view the information they need to get their job done.
• Cost structure: Some tools limit the number of users based on the pricing plan you’re on. As you add more members to your team, you’ll need to keep upgrading. Depending on how you plan to structure your team, the costs can shoot up significantly.

‍

Consider the costs and benefits

Filter the list of tools you have based on your budget. But remember, the cheapest options are not guaranteed to save you money, and expensive tools aren’t necessarily the best ones. Look for value instead of thinking about the price alone. If this sounds a bit tricky, here’s what you can do:

• Value the benefits: Let’s assume the AI tool will handle roughly 400 queries every month. Currently, you need two support agents to handle that number of queries and you pay them $5,000 a month each. This means you could save $10,000 a month right off the bat using an AI-powered customer service tool for your ecommerce store. Value all the benefits the same way — calculate the costs you'll stop incurring once you implement the software.

Case Study: Clove Achieved 3x ROI, 40% AI Automation, and 25% Cost Savings in Just 3 Months with Yuma AI

• Subtract the costs: The price you pay is one of the many costs you incur. Depending on the vendor you choose, the total cost of using the software may be significantly higher. Think about add-ons for example. If the feature you need is only available as an add-on, you’ll need to add that to the cost of using the software. Similarly, if the vendor charges extra to help you implement the software or to train your team, that’s going to push your costs higher too.

If the benefits outweigh the costs, it indicates that your investment is likely going to be ROI-positive.

‍

Make your customer service future-ready with Yuma AI

Our team is committed to helping you deliver exceptional customer service while emphasizing the security of your and your customer’s data.

In fact, Yuma AI has a solid track record of success with ecommerce brands. Our technology automates up to 50% of CX tasks, including order management, shipping, and post-sale troubleshooting, allowing your team to focus on more strategic parts of their job.

If that sounds interesting, get in touch today, and we’ll help you understand how Yuma AI can become your company’s competitive edge.

‍