Customer support has always been this balancing act between speed, accuracy, and clarity.
You’ve got three things on your mind when it comes to getting customers good advice – get the answers out quick, get them right, and explain it in a way that actually makes sense. The trouble is no matter how many question-and-answer guides, explainer vids, or exhaustive resources you put out there, there’s always something – be it outdated, unclear, or just plain broken – that’s gonna need a fix.
As a result, teams end up stuck in a vicious cycle of rewriting common answers, nitpicking tiny issues, and trying to figure out what to tackle next.
AI: The Game Changer
Well, AI has been a real breath of fresh air for support teams, turning tasks that used to take hours into minutes & allowing writers, editors, & product pros to get their work done all in one go.
But more than that – it frees those teams from that constant whirlwind of firefighting, so they can focus on creating content that actually adds value to customers.
The thing to keep in mind is that AI doesn’t replace the humans – it just makes them better. It makes support docs more accurate & easier to understand & easier to fix when they go wrong.
Here’s the lowdown : using AI the right way can really help you cut down on workload & make customers’ lives a whole lot easier. Here’s how to use AI to improve your support content, reduce the workload, and create a smoother experience for every customer.
Start With the Data You Already Have
Most people seem to think that AI works a lot better when you start with a clean slate. Actually, it’s the opposite.
AI actually performs best when it gets to learn from real conversations – actual tickets and customer phrasing that customers throw at you, common problems, and the same old pain points that keep coming up time and time again.
So if you’re looking to give your help centre or knowledge base a bit of a boost, start by looking at what people are already asking – what customers are asking for help with. AI can go through thousands of messages in one hit and spot patterns that you’d never catch yourself if you were going through them one by one.
On the other hand, it’s probably no surprise that onboarding keeps tripping people up because one of the steps isn’t explained quite clearly – or that customers get confused because the language we use isn’t the same as the language they use when they’re asking for help. But when you let AI cluster those questions together, and highlight the issues that keep popping up time and time again, and flag the topics that need to be followed up on – suddenly you’re not just guessing what needs to be updated.
You’re actually writing content based on what people are actually asking for – content that’s relevant, timely and actually helpful.
Use AI as a Writing Assistant – Not a Decision Maker
A lot of people get AI’s strength when it comes to writing down the first draft right. But – it shouldn’t be the one calling the shots.
Think of it like this: AI is great at laying out the groundwork – doing the basic legwork for you:
- Phenomenally useful at summarising complicated bits\
- Good at turning a jumble of notes into a coherent article\
- Handy at rewriting paragraphs that are hard to make sense of\
- Can even help suggest alternative ways of phrasing things
It even helps when you’re creating a support site for the first time by structuring information in a way that’s easy to understand and navigate.
Then you take over. You’re the one who refines the tone, makes sure the content’s got some real product nuance, adds in some real-world examples and makes sure it’s clear and empathetic.
AI gives you speed – speed that lets you write lots more content.
You give the content some real substance.