Saks Fifth Avenue has partnered with the NLX AI platform and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer voice-first, generative AI-powered conversational support experiences for the luxury retailer’s customers. Using the NLX multimodal Voice+ technology integrated on Amazon Connect, Saks customers calling to inquire about an order or return will be able to engage with AI in ways similar to a human agent: they can speak to and hear the AI, exchange texts and walk through steps on a screen that both the customer and AI can “see.”
The new technology already has decreased agent call volume for Saks, with approximately 20% of callers opting into the visual voice-guided Interactive Voice Response (IVR) experience. With NLX’s proprietary no-code platform and the help of AWS Professional Services, Saks Fifth Avenue was able to build, test and analyze these conversations in a matter of weeks without needing to tap into IT resources.
Saks also uses generative AI, through Amazon Connect and Amazon Bedrock on AWS, to provide customer support agents with data to help them make more informed decisions and deliver an elevated experience. The AI solution can monitor customer sentiment, access real-time and historical metrics, summarize a 20-minute customer conversation into a few sentences and reduce after-call workload by 15 seconds per interaction.
“At its core, luxury is personal,” said Jessica Bengtzen, VP, Service Centers at Saks Global, Saks Fifth Avenue’s parent company, in a statement. “By thoughtfully integrating advanced technology like NLX, we are not replacing the human touch, we are enhancing it. This allows us to work smarter to elevate every customer interaction, ensuring our teams are empowered to deliver exceptional, high-touch service across all facets of the customer journey.”