Every repeated delivery question takes time your team could spend resolving a billing dispute or helping a frustrated customer. AI for customer service can handle routine, high-volume inquiries and assist employees with more demanding or sensitive requests.
Choosing what to automate takes a working understanding of the technology.
Stratford Career Institute, established in 1991, offers at-home education for adults. Our introductory AI for Business course can help you explore practical applications and responsible use before deciding where AI belongs in your business.
Read on to learn more about the benefits of AI chatbots for customer service and the best AI for customer service.
Why Use AI Tools for Customer Support and Service?
AI can help businesses answer routine questions faster and reduce the time employees spend on repetitive work. It may be useful when your team faces these challenges:
- Customers wait too long for simple answers. AI can answer common questions about shipping, returns, or business hours without leaving customers waiting for an employee to become available. It can also help staff find information and draft replies when a request needs personal attention.
- Questions arrive after closing. Automated support can provide basic information at night or on weekends and collect requests that need follow-up during business hours.
- High volume of requests. AI can handle multiple routine conversations at once, helping businesses keep up during sales, seasonal rushes, or other busy periods. It can continue answering questions after closing and collect details for requests that employees need to address later.
- Repetitive tasks increase support costs. Automating basic replies may reduce staff time spent on routine requests. Compare those savings with software and maintenance costs.
- High support costs. Automating routine responses can reduce the time employees spend handling each inquiry. To assess potential savings, compare the value of that time with software costs and the work needed to keep the system accurate.
Using conversational AI for customer service also lets customers describe their needs in everyday language and ask follow-up questions. For issues the system cannot resolve, customers should have a clear way to reach an employee.
What Is the Best AI for Customer Service?
The best AI tools for customer support are those that handle common customer requests, fit your budget, and integrate with your existing software. These AI tools for customer support are worth comparing:
- Zendesk AI. Zendesk’s AI agents answer customer questions directly, while its separate Copilot feature helps employees draft replies and decide what to do next. Consider Zendesk for automated customer support and staff assistance on the same platform.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft’s tool can help employees summarize long customer email threads and draft replies in Outlook. It may suit teams that already use Microsoft apps and want help preparing responses for employees to review and send.
- Intercom Fin. Fin uses your company’s policies and help articles to answer customer questions, such as explaining how to return a purchase or troubleshoot a product. It can handle routine conversations and pass unresolved questions to employees, giving your team more time to focus on problems that need personal attention.
- HubSpot Customer Agent. This tool answers customer questions through chat or email, such as explaining a refund policy or guiding someone through a password reset. It can also draft replies for employees to review, reducing the time your support team spends on routine questions.
Before committing, ask for a demonstration using the questions your team regularly receives. Compare setup and ongoing costs, check the answers for accuracy, and test how easily customers can reach a person.
How Do You Introduce AI into Your Workflow?
Learning how to use AI for customer service starts with a controlled pilot. Give the system a defined task, reliable information, and clear limits before expanding its responsibilities.
Start with One Repeatable Task
Review recent customer messages and identify a recurring question, such as whether an item qualifies for a return. Set up the AI tool to answer those questions using your company’s return policy.
For example, it could explain the return deadline and any requirements for the item’s condition. Check whether it gives accurate answers and saves employees time before adding other tasks.
Organize and Connect Reliable Information
Give the AI tool your company’s current policies, product instructions, and steps for solving common problems. Assign someone to keep these materials up to date and remove incorrect or conflicting information.
To answer questions about a specific order, the tool also needs secure access to your order records. For example, your shipping policy can explain how long delivery usually takes, but the AI needs current tracking information to tell a customer where their package is.
Protect Data and Limit Permissions
Use business-approved software and check how the provider stores, retains, and uses customer information. Share only the data needed for the task, and avoid pasting sensitive records into unapproved tools.
Require appropriate authorization before an AI system changes accounts, issues refunds, or takes other consequential actions.
Design the Human Handoff
Tell customers when they are interacting with AI, and provide an accessible way to reach a person. Define escalation triggers, including repeated failed answers, disputed charges, and requests outside company policy.
Pass along the conversation and relevant details when performing the handoff so customers do not have to explain everything again.
Test Before Expanding
Have employees test the tool with misspelled questions, missing details, and requests for exceptions to company policies. Check that it gives accurate answers, refuses requests for another customer’s private information, and passes questions it cannot resolve to an employee.
Then let it handle a small number of customer conversations while employees review its replies. Show your team how to spot and report mistakes, and fix recurring problems before letting AI handle more requests.
Build the Knowledge Behind Better Service Decisions
Using AI for customer service effectively means deciding where speed helps and where judgment matters. A useful starting point is understanding the technology before giving it responsibility for customer conversations.
Stratford Career Institute’s AI for Business course includes four modules and 16 lessons addressing topics such as responsible AI use, prompting, and workflow integration. Students receive guided independent study with instructor support available.
While we are not an accredited educational institution and our course does not provide professional certification, it offers a way to build foundational knowledge as you evaluate AI’s role in your business.
Explore our AI for Business course or request information to learn more about the curriculum. Contact us today or enroll online.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced the following resources during the content development process:
- Zendesk. “AI assistance for every role behind every resolution.”
- Hubspot. “Understand the customer agent.” (Last updated August 2026).
- intercom, “Fin AI Agent explained.” (Last updated July 2026).
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