The food and beverage industry is ever changing as we are experiencing the global pandemic and it has now looking to wear a new mask in order to better fit itself to the ever changing buyer habits.

Consumers are looking for a more convenient and effective ways to reach out to brands. Brands that are not providing with an easy and updated ways to their customers will not survive the post pandemic era.

How does consumers buying habits are going to change?

We can clearly see that buyers are now looking to buy from brands they know and love. But how will this change in the post pandemic era? How will consumers change their buying habits in the Food & Beverage industry?

The answer is quit simple. Brands must stand in one line with the buyers demands. Hence, providing with multiple ways of communications!

WhatsApp for business 

With WhatsApp for Business brands can finally provide state of the art customer service and increase sales using. All communications done through one smart inbox, providing seamless and instantaneous responses by harnessing the power of AI powered chatbot for WhatsApp!

Brands can send and receive files, get customer current location, validate customer identity, send invoices, receive secure payments, and much more!

Social media messaging

Utilize the power of social messaging to serve more customers on the media they prefer. From Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter brands must provide swift and relevant service using their social media accounts.

Implementing a social media strategy in your customer service model will give you a chance to communicate with consumers at a level that ensures they feel part of your story, and encourages them to recommend your brand to others.

Chatbots & Automation

Chatbots are programmed to sift chunks of data to provide you with quick answers in nanoseconds. Hence, they are great for repetitive jobs that demand simple tasks and questions. The game-changer, consequently, is the rare ability to be in a continuous phase of work and availing businesses the advantage of efficiency and productivity. In a customer interaction platform, for example, chatbots eliminate redundancy without pleading for a raise.

What should brands Expect in the post-pandemic era

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we live and work fundamentally. Many of these changes will be temporary, but some are likely here to stay. For example, working from home will almost certainly become much more common in the post-pandemic world. Why? Because companies have now experienced its benefits first hand. What companies don’t want to save on office rent space, have happier and more productive employees, and save on operational costs? Not many.

But what about the other impacts the pandemic has had on us, our buying habits, and the places we work? One of the primary ways the pandemic has impacted us is in the way we communicate. You can bet that social scientists will be investigating the social impact of the virus for many decades to come. Let’s break down some of the social effects of the pandemic:

• People have become used to social distancing. While in the past, we might have expected a hug from every acquaintance we bump into, most of us would now hesitate to accept such a gesture.
• We’re more familiar with tech communications. Before the pandemic, we might have wandered into a store if we had an issue with a product. Today, we handle everything online or over the phone. Video calls have become a ubiquitous form of communication, mostly replacing face to face meetings in work settings.

Self service at your help

How can self-service make you appear more human? Because it gives your customers autonomy over their actions. Sometimes, customers don’t want to talk to an agent or even a chatbot. They have a simple problem and want to fix it themselves; they just need to know how. When you add customer knowledge bases and customer-focused content on your website, you’re letting your customers know that you understand their everyday wants and concerns. You’re letting them take control of the situation if they want to. You’re not locking your solution away behind a phone call or interaction with an agent. Is there anything more human than treating a person as a full person with their own preferences and need for autonomy?

Final words

Whilst the expense of AI might look like a huge risk initially and break your normal budgeting process, in the long run there are a huge number of benefits. There are also businesses who simply aren’t equipped with the knowledge to start deploying new technology at pace and it will take some time before they fully engage with AI. However, as digital preferences continue to edge towards messaging apps, even the smallest of businesses will have to review how they operate.

These are just some of the key benefits to using AI in customer service. In truth there are many more such as improved conversion, better retention, quality scores and precision. There are probably lots of things that we don’t even know AI is capable of yet.

Customer service is going through a period of change for the better all thanks to AI especially during the post-pandemic era.