Delivering More Customer Delight, Not More AI Hype
Today we’re announcing two brand new AI features from Help Scout: AI drafts and AI answers. We’re so excited for you to try them, but it’s also important for us to keep it real about what they’ll change and what they won’t.
We’ve seen a troubling trend emerge in support software: Companies are rushing to market with AI features and bold claims. Homepages and press releases everywhere are using terms like AI-first, AI-powered, and AI-led, with marketing campaigns promising a whole new way of delivering customer support. The future is here, and it’s AI as far as the eye can see.
So far, however, the customer feedback and reviews aren’t living up to the hype. It seems that some businesses are more focused on being "first movers" in AI technology than meeting customer needs. As a result, teams who truly take pride in their customers’ experience are slow to adopt these features, or adopt them but stop using them soon after.
From day one, we’ve avoided boarding that hype train. We know AI isn’t a magic wand for good customer service.
The future is still customer-first
Even in an AI-obsessed world, Help Scout’s mission hasn’t changed: We build tools for the world’s most customer-centric businesses, helping people who talk to customers every day do their best work. Exploring and integrating new technology is essential, of course, but our focus has always been on the customer experience first. Full stop.
On its own, AI is not a customer service strategy. It’s one of many tools that empower your team to help more customers in less time, and it works best in concert with your in-house experts.
We know it because we’ve lived it: Our own support team finds that AI has the biggest impact when it comes to speeding up repetitive tasks, answering FAQs, and pulling in relevant info from documentation to get up to speed quickly. AI supercharges support teams; it doesn’t replace them. It frees up more time for humans to handle complicated issues and customer interactions that require a personal touch.
Features that help you help them
The last thing we want to do is churn out rushed AI features that savvy support teams will end up abandoning. Instead, we’ve put in the time and the work to find the most impactful ways to add AI into your existing work streams — and we’re improving every day. As our own toughest critics, we don’t release new features that our team hasn’t tested extensively and used to support our own customers.
In addition to Help Scout’s existing AI tools, AI summarize and AI assist, our newest features are designed to ensure your team has more time to do what they do best: build relationships.
Here’s a quick look at what we’re releasing:
AI drafts: Draft a reply to any email in one click. AI learns from your help articles and past conversations to generate on-brand responses that are ready to review, revise, and send.
AI answers (coming soon!): A 24/7 self-service assistant that taps into your help content to provide your customers with instant answers to common questions. Join the waitlist here and be the first to know when it's available!
Brand new beginnings, same old values
The landscape of customer support is changing rapidly, making it more important than ever to choose tech partners whose values align with your own.
We’re excited about the journey ahead, but we’re staying laser-focused on what matters most: our customers and their experience using our product. We’ll keep building features that make it easier for you to help more customers.
You’ll hear much more about this topic from us throughout the coming weeks, including in a live conversation on Wednesday, June 12th, about the future of AI and its impact on customer-first teams. Tune in for a closer look at our latest AI features and our thoughts on how to adopt AI without compromising customer experience.
Sign up here. Hope to see you there!
Kristen Bryant Smith
Kristen Bryant Smith is the VP of Marketing at Help Scout. She’s a lover of sports, movies, and wine and an advocate for equity and inclusion.
