The 9 Best AI Tools for Customer Service in 2024

In customer service, challenges are aplenty. From lengthy wait times to repetitive inquiries, businesses encounter hurdles in satisfying customer needs. Yet, AI tools for customer service emerge as a beacon of hope. These cutting-edge solutions streamline processes, deliver swift resolutions and tailor interactions. 

As businesses adopt AI, the shift to more responsive and intuitive service becomes evident. AI is the backbone that keeps the customer service engine running smoothly, adapting to needs with smart, prompt action. And AI software simply seems to be an answer to contemporary customer service dilemmas.

In this blog, we will look at top AI customer service software for you to choose from and how you can evaluate your options to find the best fit. Let’s begin.

What are AI tools in customer service?  

AI tools in customer service are a suite of software solutions that use artificial intelligence to automate and enhance customer service interactions by boosting speed, efficiency and personalization. 

AI tools like chatbots and voice bots offer instant assistance, backed by Natural Language Processing for human-like conversations. Predictive analytics and personalization engines work behind the scenes, anticipating needs and tailoring experiences. Automated systems efficiently manage inquiries, while voice recognition and sentiment analysis add layers of convenience and understanding. This suite of tools not only accelerates customer response times but also ensures each customer interaction is informed, personalized and empathetic, setting a new standard in customer service. 

Why use AI customer service solutions

Integrating AI into customer service empowers teams to work more efficiently, akin to having a smart assistant streamlining daily tasks. It's about transforming the service dynamic, making every interaction smarter and more intuitive.  

AI elevates the customer experience by instantly accessing and utilizing consumer insights to craft cohesive and memorable support experiences.  

AI also simplifies customer service operations, guiding customers and even proactively addressing potential escalations by offering solutions upfront. Moreover, it enhances agent well-being by removing monotonous tasks like case summarizing and after-call work, allowing them to engage in more meaningful problem-solving. 

How does AI customer service software work? 

AI customer service software can simplify many of your everyday tasks effortlessly. Here are a few ways AI works in customer service software.  

1. Tailored support experiences: Customer service software enriched with generative AI hyper-personalizes every interaction with laser-sharp relevance, solid tonality and high accuracy.

Read More: 7 Ways to Use Generative AI in Customer Service 

2. Performance visualization: AI evaluates and visualizes agent performance data, surfacing gaps and success points for strategy refinement and individualized coaching.

3. Automated post-call workflow: Streamlines case summaries and dispositions, availing agents with key points from conversations at their fingertips. 

4. Self-service enablement: Guides customers to resolve queries via conversational bots and a well-organized knowledge base, reducing direct inquiry volume.

Check Out: What is AI Self-Service? 

5. Strategic insights: Delivers deep analytics for informed decision-making, improving customer experiences and customer service strategies. 

6. Operational and agent efficiency: Enhances service quality with AI-powered quality checks and optimizes workforce management for a seamless customer service experience. 

Top 9 AI customer service software tools   

Based on 2024 research, here’s a list of the top 9 AI customer service software tools any business can prefer. 

 Sprinklr AI+

Sprinklr’s latest capability, Sprinklr AI+, blends the brand’s industry-best AI, Google Cloud's Vertex AI and OpenAI's GPT models to build a powerhouse of generative AI capabilities that helps businesses optimize their customer service management.  Designed to supercharge your front office, Sprinklr AI+ not only enhances team productivity and decision-making but also ensures over 90% accuracy in delivering seamless service experiences.  

Top features 

• Agent assistance: Sprinklr empowers agents to elevate their service game by: 

• Optimizing each response for tone, relevance and accuracy  

• Tapping into an extensive Knowledge Base to surface information agents need during calls 

• Quick summarizing and closing of cases 

This multipronged approach not only speeds up query resolution but also improves the accuracy and personalization of each interaction, boosting productivity and customer satisfaction in one fell swoop. 

• Conversational AI+ bots: Sprinklr's AI+ platform is a powerhouse with over 750 AI models across 60+ industry verticals, making it quick and efficient to deploy. This not only speeds up the time to value but ensures services are finely tuned to specific niches. It's also designed to evolve, using feedback loops and analytics to improve its offerings constantly.
  
  Cost efficiency is a standout benefit. With a one-time integration, these AI models can be repurposed across multiple touchpoints, eliminating the need for multiple solutions and ensuring customers get prompt, seamless assistance. Sprinklr AI+ doesn’t just meet customer expectations — it redefines them, leading the way in exceptional service delivery. 

• AI-driven quality insights: Sprinklr automates quality monitoring, using customized AI scoring to evaluate interaction quality across customer touchpoints.
  
  It doesn’t stop there — the system also offers actionable insights and recommendations for improvement at agent, team and organizational levels based on deep customer interaction analytics. This enables a more effective training regime for agents and fosters a cycle of continuous improvement, leading to better customer experiences and more informed decision-making within your team.  

Verdict: Sprinklr AI+ is a great choice for brands looking to explore the utility of generative AI in its full glory in customer service — as it extracts complete utility from genAI by integrating with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and OpenAI’s GPT models. One platform. One AI. One brand.  

As a Sprinklr user, you won’t need special coding needs and can fit effortlessly into the larger tech stack of your team. For brands conscious about maintaining data integrity, Sprinklr AI+ can be a great choice. Calling it “Responsible AI,” Sprinklr AI+ masks any and all sensitive information while ensuring utmost data governance through a sophisticated Trust Center.  

Price: $249 (1 seat/month-billed annually). Check full pricing.  

Free trial: Sprinklr Service offers a 30-day free trial 

Freddy AI

Freshdesk integrates AI to redefine customer service, featuring Freddy AI, its central chatbot tool designed for efficiency in customer interactions. Freddy, embedded within Freshdesk's ecosystem, tackles queries through chat and email, leveraging past ticket data to refine its response accuracy over time.  

Top features: 

• Sentiment analysis: Freddy AI prioritizes and categorizes tickets using sentiment analysis, simplifying ticket management. 

• Real-time action: Offers real-time customer engagement with instant responses and support through AI chatbots that perform actions like order lookups. 

• Intelligent routing: Automatically assigns tickets and chats to appropriate agents or teams, enhancing efficiency in query handling. 

• Omnichannel customer service: Freddy AI extends across multiple messaging platforms, ensuring accessible support on customers' preferred channels. 

Verdict: Freddy AI seems to be a generally reliable AI chatbot to use for your customer service interactions with fast and comparatively reliable action. Many small businesses lean towards Freshdesk for its user-friendly features, although there are occasional mentions of bugs and minor disruptions. It's worth checking how well Freshdesk meshes with your existing software and systems, as compatibility can differ. On the whole, Freshdesk often proves to be a valuable tool for enhancing customer service, provided it fits well with your current setup.  

Pricing: Offers a free plan. The most popular is the Pro plan - $48.99/per agent/month - billed annually  

Free trial: Available for 14 days   

Custify

Custify is built to help customer success teams efficiently use customer interaction data for growth, focusing on SaaS businesses. It consolidates customer data from multiple sources into one platform, analyzing it to reveal insights on customer satisfaction, lifecycle, upsell opportunities, and churn risk  

Top features: 

• Real-time health scoring: Keep a pulse on customer health with immediate scoring for actionable progress insights. 

• Proactive operations oversight: Use automated playbooks for task assignments and alerts, optimizing customer engagement and internal workflows. 

• Unified customer insights: Centralize interactions for real-time product adoption insights, facilitating effective team hand-offs and actionable analytics. 

Verdict: Custify's health scores make a difference, helping your team zoom in on who needs you most for targeted, valuable advice. Users often laud the support from Custify's team for its responsiveness and high expertise. There's a bit of a learning curve, and navigating the CRM can feel like a maze at times. Some may find the UI clunky. But when it comes down to it, the good overshadows these quirks, making Custify a solid pick for boosting customer success efforts.  

Price: Need to reach out to the team on the website for a quote  

Zendesk AI

Zendesk stands at the forefront of customer service solutions, offering a suite designed to centralize and simplify support tasks. Its Advanced AI add-on introduces a suite of artificial intelligence tools specifically crafted to enrich the customer service experience across the board. This integration aims to expedite the benefits of AI for businesses, ensuring quicker, more effective support strategies and enhancing the overall service journey.  

Top features 

• Intelligent triage: Analyzes incoming requests by detecting intent, language and sentiment, optimizing and managing team workflows with these insights. 

• Contextual intelligence: Provides agents with AI-driven insights and macro suggestions in the Agent Workspace, enhancing issue resolution. 

• AI-defined intents: Assigns specific intents to bot responses, improving time efficiency and bot response accuracy in customer interactions. 

Verdict: Zendesk AI offers an excellent suite to improve agent productivity, and it is its dominant capability at the moment. For the ones considering, note that Zendesk is emerging as a strong contender in the support software arena, known for its ease of use and expanding reach into digital channels. As it transitions and grows, occasional performance tweaks, such as variable loading speeds and support consistency, remain a part of its development journey.   

Pricing: Basic plan at $55 per agent/month. Offers multiple plans.  

Free trial: Available for 14 days 

Learn More: Sprinklr vs. Zendesk — A Utility Showdown 

Kustomer IQ

Kustomer IQ, an AI-powered extension of the Kustomer CRM platform, transforms customer service by automating routine tasks and fielding straightforward questions. It gives agents a full view of customer interactions, improving how they help customers across different channels. This add-on sharpens customer service by speeding up customer responses with AI and cutting down on manual work.  

Top features 

• Chatbot creation: Design and launch advanced chatbot workflows using a straightforward visual interface and ready-made templates, with no coding required. 

• Deflection via self-service: Knowledge base articles suggested via email or forms reduce direct queries, focusing agents on more complex issues. 

• AI-enabled summaries: Provides agents with concise, AI-crafted conversation overviews, enabling faster issue resolution. 

Verdict: Kustomer IQ shines as a customer interaction platform, and it is celebrated for its theme personalization, chat shortcuts, and intuitive navigation. Users appreciate its customizable interface, quick access to conversations and pre-made email macros. Real-time updates and customer surveys enhance its appeal. However, minor drawbacks include occasional issues with tracking outbound calls and infrequent system lags.  

Price: Enterprise at $89/month/user and Ultimate at $139/month/use   

Zoho Zia

Zoho Desk integrates Zia, an AI assistant, to elevate its customer service software, providing a fluid interaction experience. Zia equips teams with analytical insights, simplifies repetitive duties, enriches customer connections, and streamlines operations. It reduces agent workloads, fields standard inquiries through its bot, and even assists in lead qualification and scheduling.  

Top features 

• Note organization: Suggests tags for notes and identifies the optimal notebook, enabling voice commands for note management and sharing. 

• Personalized shopping recommendations: Zia analyzes sales and visitor data to recommend related items in your online store, enhancing customer shopping experiences. 

• Quicker support ticket responses: Before agents view support tickets, Zia proposes answers from the knowledge base, streamlining response drafting with a single click. 

Verdict: Zoho is not a new name in the customer service software industry. With its new AI capability, Zia lives up to the goodwill and solid reputation of the brand. Zia excels in interpreting and responding to user commands through its advanced natural language processing. It integrates well within the Zoho ecosystem, though customization options and handling of complex queries could be improved.   

While Zia offers comprehensive insights and automates tasks, its integration with external platforms and flexibility in customization present areas for development.   

Learn More: How Does NLP Elevate Your Customer Service?   

Pricing: Offers multiple plans. Standard starts at $14/month.  

Free trial: Available for 15 days 

Intercom Fin

Intercom introduces Fin, a cutting-edge AI chatbot, leveraging the power of OpenAI's GPT-4 alongside its own technologies. Fin sets a new standard in support solutions by promising to autonomously resolve half of all customer queries, combining the reliability of human support with the efficiency of AI. This platform positions itself as a unique blend of human insight and AI precision, aiming to deliver trusted and accurate support responses directly from existing content.  

To leverage the full scale of generative AI, your vendor should ideally have a 360-degree comprehension of LLM models. Sprinklr AI+ not only integrated with Open AI, but with Google Cloud's Vertex AI to ensure your GenAI system is deployed quickly and is largely reliable.   

Top features 

• Customizable AI responses: Decide between LLM-generated answers or predefined dialogs, tailoring Intercom's GPT product to fit your support strategy. 

• Continuous optimization: Track and refine Fin's responses directly in the inbox, enhancing accuracy and efficiency with customized Snippets. 

• Multilingual capabilities: Fin identifies and engages with customers in their language, offering support in 43 languages for broader accessibility. 

Verdict: Intercom shines with its intuitive design and the flexibility to switch between light and dark modes, making it a breeze for teams to manage conversations and campaigns. Its standout, the AI chatbot Fin, claims to impress with a 70% query resolution rate and is adept at tackling frequent, similar questions. Ideal for streamlining routine support, Fin is a powerhouse for businesses swamped with standard inquiries. Yet, for those grappling with unique customer challenges, carefully consider Fin's role to ensure it complements rather than complicates your customer service strategy.  

Sprinklr AI+ follows a holistic GenAI model   

Pricing: Starts at $74 per month (2 seats)  

Free trial: Available for 14 days    

Yuma AI

Yuma AI works to revamp shopping experiences and customer support with intelligent automation.  It proficiently manages order-related questions, including edits cancellations and navigates customers through returns or exchanges, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty. Yuma's comprehensive support spans the customer journey, from pre-sale questions to post-purchase care, reinforcing customer relationships.  

Top features 

• E-commerce expertise: Yuma comes pre-trained in e-commerce operations, quickly recognizing and responding to customer inquiries with accuracy. 

• AI-powered business logic: Utilizes generative AI to understand customer questions, responding in your brand’s voice for personalized, natural-sounding answers. 

• Independent customer interaction: Auto-Pilot feature allows Yuma to independently manage customer interactions, executing tasks such as order modifications and subscription adjustments. 

Verdict: Yuma AI brings a swift and savvy touch to customer service, fluently juggling inquiries in 15 languages and diving deep into complex questions. It smartly directs cases to the most qualified experts through intelligent routing. Plus, Yuma’s ability to adapt to varied writing styles promises personalized interactions. However, as it continues to evolve, occasional inaccuracies in responses suggest a need for oversight.   

Price: Multiple plans, beginning with Starter+ at $239/month, billed annually 

Free Trial: 7-day trial available  

Tidio

Tidio merges customer service essentials — live chat, chatbots and email marketing—into a cohesive platform tailored for small to medium-sized enterprises. At the heart of its AI capabilities is Lyro, a conversational bot that harnesses natural language processing for engaging, human-like dialogs. By drawing from the website’s knowledge base, Lyro efficiently resolves frequent customer queries, embodying Tidio's commitment to seamless, real-time customer support.  

Top features: 

• Streamlined FAQ creation: FAQ Wizard intuitively predicts customer questions, suggesting automated flows for frequent inquiries and streamlining support efforts. 

• Professional responses with Reply Assistant: Employs GPT 3.5 to refine agent replies, maintaining brand consistency and elevating communication quality. 

• Smart Views for urgency: Analyzes and sorts conversations by urgency, enabling swift action on critical customer issues and improving satisfaction. 

Verdict: Tidio stands out for its easy-to-use templates and smart AI, Lyro, that escalates tricky questions to real people. It builds a helpful knowledge base from your site content, easing setup worries. Yet, if you're after deep customization, you might hit some limits. Newcomers might also need a moment to get used to the interface, but once over that hump, integrating Tidio with your site is smooth sailing.  

Price: Multiple plans for different products, Lyro AI chatbot starts at $39/month 

Free Trial: Free version of Lyro available, a 7-day free trial for advanced AI

How to evaluate the best AI customer service vendor

Selecting the top AI customer service vendor demands a keen eye for both innovation and practicality. You don’t want to just deploy the latest AI technology, you want to find a solution that aligns with your company's ethos, enhances your team's efficiency and betters the customer experience. Here’s how to sift through the options: 

1. Accuracy and performance: Investigate the AI's track record in understanding and responding to customer queries accurately. Here are a few things to look for: 

• Query resolution accuracy: Request data on the percentage of queries resolved accurately on the first attempt. 

• Response time metrics: Look for average response times and compare them against industry benchmarks. 

• Improvement metrics: Inquire about the system's learning curve and how performance metrics have improved over time with real-world examples. 

2. Compliance and governance: Ensure the AI tool adheres to industry standards and regulations. Ask how the AI manages and safeguards user data and what its process is for auditing and compliance checks. 

• Compliance: Verify compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other relevant regulations. 

• Audit trails: Check if the tool provides comprehensive audit trails for data access and changes. 

• User consent management: Explore mechanisms for obtaining and managing user consent. 

3. Data security: Confirm robust security measures are in place to protect the integrity of stored data. 

• Encryption standards: Confirm that the tool uses industry-standard encryption for data at rest and in transit. 

• Breach response: Inquire about the vendor's history of data breaches and their response strategies. 

4. Integration ease: Look for platforms that blend seamlessly with your existing tech stack, avoiding disruptions. 

• API compatibility: Ensure the tool's APIs are compatible with your software ecosystem. 

• Customization scope: Assess the extent to which the tool can be customized to fit your workflows. 

• Implementation support: Evaluate the level of technical support provided during the setup process. 

5. Scalability: Choose a vendor that grows with your business and is capable of handling increased interactions as you expand. 

• Load handling: Understand the tool's capability to handle peak load scenarios without degradation in performance. 

• Feature expansion: Discuss the roadmap for new features and how they align with your growth projections. 

• Cross-platform support: Ensure the tool supports all platforms where your customers are active. 

6. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Clarify all costs involved to understand the long-term financial impact. 

• Breakdown of costs: Request a detailed breakdown of all costs, including any potential hidden fees. 

• ROI projections: Ask for case studies or projections on return on investment based on actual client data. 

• Upgrade/scale costs: Understand the cost implications of scaling up or accessing additional features. 

7. Customization flexibility: Ensure the tool can adapt to your unique brand voice and customer service approach. 

• Visual customization: Check the extent of visual customization available to match your brand aesthetics. 

• Workflow customization: Assess how the tool can adapt to your unique customer service workflows. 

8. Track record: Research the vendor's history with AI technology and other factors like: 

• Client portfolio: Review the list of current and past clients, especially those in your industry. 

• Vendor longevity and stability: Consider how long the vendor has been in the market and their financial stability. 

• Innovation and updates: Evaluate the vendor's commitment to innovation through their update and new feature release history. 

8 types of AI tools for customer service

1. AI chatbots: Real-time digital conversationalists, ready to tackle FAQs, walk users through steps, or aid in picking the right product. 

• Ideal for: Businesses with high volumes of customer inquiries but limited support staff. Perfect for handling straightforward questions or guiding users through standard processes, such as account setup or basic troubleshooting. 

• When to buy: When you need to scale your customer service without exponentially increasing your team size or during peak shopping seasons, especially if you have a clear set of frequently asked questions (FAQs).  

2. Virtual assistants: A step up from chatbots, these savvy helpers grasp complex questions, sync with your systems, and tailor replies to users. 

• Ideal for: Service-oriented businesses with complex scheduling or account management needs, such as healthcare or banking, where personalized, context-aware interactions highly impact customer satisfaction. 

• When to buy: When customer service demands exceed basic FAQs, requiring deep integration with customer databases for personalized assistance. 

3. Predictive analytics: Smart algorithms that sift through customer interactions to predict future queries or issues, setting the stage for preemptive support. 

• Ideal for: Subscription services or products with a lifecycle, enabling companies to anticipate renewal concerns or upgrade opportunities. Also ideal for brands in fast-paced or volatile industries to help them stay a step ahead. 

• When to buy: Prior to product renewal cycles or major releases, use historical data to forecast customer needs and optimize support strategies. 

4. Automated ticketing: Intelligent systems that sort, rank, and direct customer questions to the right help desk queue without breaking a sweat. 

• Ideal for: Companies with varied support questions, where quick, accurate sorting is key to effective resolution. 

• When to buy: As ticket volume becomes unmanageable manually, smart sorting is required to maintain service standards. 

5. Dynamic knowledge bases: Always learning, these databases ensure customers find the freshest, most relevant self-help content with minimal fuss. 

• Ideal for: SaaS providers and tech brands, where continuous updates demand evolving support content, ensuring users find current info. 

• When to buy: When product complexity calls for an adaptable, real-time self-help option. 

6. Voice recognition: These systems lend an ear to voice commands, making over-the-phone support smoother by understanding and directing customer calls. 

• Ideal For: Utilities, emergency services, and financial institutions where rapid, precise call routing and caller identification are crucial. 

• When to Buy: When facing a high volume of diverse calls requiring quick, accurate handling or when enhancing security measures for customer verification is a priority. 

7. Streamlined workflows: AI takes over mundane tasks like entering customer info or ticket logging, speeding things up and trimming down errors. 

• Ideal for: Telecom, banking, and online retail. Simplifies account updates, loan queries and return processes. 

• When to Buy: When current systems lag under inquiry load or when faster, error-free service is essential. 

8. AI writing assistants: Thanks to advancements in AI like GPT-4, these tools are revolutionizing customer communication by refining text, translating languages and crafting initial responses, all while keeping your team's voice consistent.  

• Ideal for: Companies entering multilingual markets, ensuring consistent communication quality and brand voice across languages. Also, it is ideal for delivering omnichannel customer service. 

• When to buy: Expanding into new language markets or scaling support, requiring uniform quality and voice in customer communication. 

2024 trends for AI customer service platforms

Let’s look at the top AI trends we are seeing on the rise in AI customer service platforms today in 2024.  

1. Generative AI is becoming a thing of today

The buzz around generative AI in customer service is real, with 89% of decision-makers on board, according to Forrester’s latest. This isn't the stiff AI of yesterday. Generative AI is switching up the game — making chatbots quicker to train and conversations more human-like. Its application in customer service ensures customers get what they need in less time and with fewer headaches. As this tech takes off, the trick for businesses is to blend it smoothly into their customer service without losing sight of the human touch.  

2. Tightening security with AI  

The push towards AI in data security is becoming a necessity. With 47% of IT security leaders bogged down by manual, slow processes and 40% juggling fragmented security measures, it's clear the old ways aren't cutting it. Meanwhile, a whopping 71% see the value in turning to automated risk assessments.   

With tighter security, AI is only getting better at smarter, faster protection that keeps pace with evolving threats. It is especially handy to critically assess online action around the brand to detect anomalies and to help customer teams get into action in time.  

3. AI-powered knowledge bases 

 AI is taking knowledge bases to the next level, making them smarter and more helpful. They learn from every question and update themselves to keep the info fresh and relevant. Agents can ask questions in plain language and get back spot-on answers fast, making it easier than ever to help customers.  

Read all about AI-powered knowledge bases and get a head start today!   

Final thoughts  

Do you see the many ways AI can influence and upgrade your customer service?  

Well, in this hypermarket, the pulse of contact centers is quickening — and shaking hands with AI is the only way ahead.

Sprinklr AI+ brings you the clarity and direction your AI-first contact center needs today — not only to make every single experience more convenient for customers, but also a lot easier on your busy teams. 

Maybe a 30-day free trial can give you a hint of what the smartest contact center automation looks like today 👇