Best Buy Uses AI to Stop Passing Customers Around

Customers seeking assistance with malfunctioning laptops at Best Buy used to have to explain their issues multiple times when transferred between departments. This not only frustrated customers but also added costs for the retailer every time a handoff occurred. To address this, Best Buy employed artificial intelligence to minimize these transfers.

According to a case study published by Google Cloud, the AI system reduced transfer rates by 1.5% to 2%, and the number of calls resolved without human intervention increased by more than 50%. The solution involved connecting customer records to the knowledge databases agents use, including policies, troubleshooting articles, and repair data.

This allowed the AI to understand the caller's needs and either resolve the issue or direct the call to the appropriate person on the first try. Best Buy's AI assistant, powered by Google's Gemini Flash voice model, quickly diagnoses the problem and guides customers through potential repairs if possible. Google Cloud's Generative Knowledge Assist further enhances the process by displaying relevant troubleshooting documents while customers speak with agents.

Maureen Spence, Best Buy's senior director of product, explained that the goal is to bring the personalized service of their physical stores to digital and voice channels by fundamentally changing their innovation approach. The company achieved these improvements through a prompt-driven architecture, compressing traditional development timelines from 18 months to just three to six weeks.

This data-driven approach not only improved customer experience but also reduced call-volume expenses. Best Buy's CEO, Corie Barry, has been emphasizing these results on earnings calls for over a year. While the AI system is not intended to replace human staff, Barry noted that Geek Squad agents will continue to be available as the AI expands, offering customers multiple support options tailored to their preferences.

Barry will step down as CEO on October 31, and Jason Bonfig, the company's chief customer, product, and fulfillment officer, will take over the leadership role.