Enhancing Customer Experience with AI: The Siena AI Approach
Merchants strive to provide their customers with exceptional experiences, but issues like delayed deliveries or incorrect orders often necessitate customer service intervention for resolution. The integration of artificial intelligence into customer service systems has empowered merchants to utilize chatbots and other technologies to efficiently handle simple inquiries. However, these chatbots frequently adhere to scripts, which can result in frustrating interactions before customers opt to speak with a human representative.
Co-founders Andrei Negrau and Lisa Popovici of Siena AI envision a solution that marries the efficiency of AI with the empathy of human agents. With eight years in the e-commerce sector, including developing software for Shopify merchants, they understand the nuances of customer engagement. “We've seen the backlash against traditional chatbots while exploring the customer experience,” Negrau stated. “When we launched Siena, we aimed to create a solution that could automate customer service tasks as seamlessly as a human agent would.”
Siena AI has developed an innovative customer support solution that, while powered by advanced machine learning, conveys understanding and empathy akin to human interaction. The use of conversational AI in customer service isn’t new; companies like Ada, 8Flow.ai, and Neuron7 have also introduced ways to enhance customer service for businesses and their clients. However, Negrau and Popovici emphasize that Siena differentiates itself in three distinct ways:
1. AI Personas: This feature allows merchants to craft a unique persona that embodies their brand voice for social media interactions, while presenting a more formal persona for email communications. “Merchants are concerned about maintaining their brand voice, which takes years to establish,” Popovici noted.
2. Multi-tasking Capability: Siena's AI can handle various tasks within a single interaction. It can retrieve order details, request product images, update shipping addresses, and issue replacement items—all simultaneously.
3. Cognitive Reasoning Engine (CORE): This advanced engine assesses the most effective resolution path for complex customer service inquiries, making it a robust tool for problem-solving.
Since its inception six months ago, Siena has attracted 65 customers, including notable brands like Kitsch, Simple Modern, and Everyday Dose. While Popovici mentioned that the company has met important revenue milestones, she refrained from disclosing specific figures. Siena also manages up to 80% of customer interactions across over 100 languages, utilizing various communication channels such as email, text messaging, social media DMs, and comments.
Investors are recognizing Siena's potential as well. Recently, a consortium that includes Sierra Ventures, Pari Passu Ventures, Spacestation Investments, Village Global, The Council, and OpenSky Ventures invested $4.7 million in seed funding. The co-founders intend to allocate these funds towards hiring, enhancing go-to-market strategies, and advancing technology development, aiming to evolve their solution into a fully autonomous customer service agent within the next year. Additionally, Siena plans to launch the Siena AI Academy, which will help clients seamlessly incorporate AI into their customer service processes.
“Our flagship product, the autonomous agent, will be poised for success by the second quarter of next year,” Negrau remarked. “We’ve identified the shortcomings in current solutions and are focused on steering our clients toward effective practices that truly work.”
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