6 Ways AI is Transforming Customer Experience According to Experts

Businesses are continually seeking innovative ways to enhance customer experiences. One of the most significant game-changers in this quest is Artificial Intelligence (AI). As Cristina Fonseca, Zendesk’s Head of AI aptly puts it: “The most interesting aspect of this AI revolution is the democratization of AI. Until now, only companies with big budgets, time, and either in-house expertise or the ability to hire outside experts were able to deploy and implement AI”.

We’ve gathered insights from CX experts to explore how AI is transforming and improving customer experience. Here is what we found:

Increasing Personalization

AI analyzes vast amounts of customer data, from past interactions to browsing history, purchase behavior, and even social media activity. It uses this information to create a nuanced understanding of each customer’s preferences, needs, and expectations. With this deep insight, AI can deliver personalized experiences that go beyond generic interactions.

For example, AI can suggest products, services, or content based on an individual’s interests and past behavior. This level of personalization not only enhances customer satisfaction but also boosts sales. When customers feel understood and catered to, they are more likely to return for future purchases.

Every company wants to keep growing, and AI can help achieve that by generating efficiency and reducing costs. Additionally, AI can help maintain the human element by providing personalized recommendations and enhancing communication channels.

Sarita Besada

CX Director | Support & Services

Providing Real-time Insights and Recommendations

AI’s ability to process, analyze, and act on customer experience data in real time provides businesses with timely insights and recommendations. This not only enhances the customer experience but also enables businesses to be agile and responsive in meeting customer needs and expectations. As AI technology continues to advance, the potential for real-time customer insights and recommendations will only grow, further elevating the customer experience.

By providing real-time insights into agent performance and customer interactions. AI-driven metrics like CSAT and response times enable immediate identification of areas for improvement. This helps maintain high-quality service levels even in a distributed workforce.

I envision the ability to connect external feedback with how our employees and internal stakeholders feel, allowing us to make necessary changes, provide training and coaching, and drive improvements.

Taylor Cannon

Director of Customer Advocacy

In the CX world, AI and machine learning also have the potential to automate processes and workflows, freeing us up for more meaningful work. They come in handy for tracking trends within ticketing systems and resolving basic problems that customers don’t want to interact over.

Kiki Chocklett

CX Transformation Specialist

Enhancing Human Interaction

Most CX experts agree that the biggest potential of AI lies in augmenting rather than replacing human agents. AI can handle repetitive tasks, reducing the burden on human representatives. This allows agents to focus on more complex and meaningful interactions, ultimately deepening the human touch in customer service.

To better serve customers, businesses need to find the right balance between technology and humanity. AI should be used to enhance, not replace, the human experience. As AI tools become more integrated into CX processes, it’s essential to ensure they contribute to meaningful connections and co-creation rather than diminishing them.

There are still companies that utilize AI as a shortcut to cut costs, resulting in bad customer experiences. Instead of merely trying to deflect tickets, it is better to utilize this technology to enhance agent performance.

Reagan Helms

Director of Customer Experience

Understanding Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is everywhere scattered across a multitude of channels, from social media and online reviews to emails and customer service interactions. This vast and often unstructured feedback can be overwhelming for businesses to collect, analyze, and extract meaningful insights from, especially as traditional survey response rates continue to decline.

This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerges as a crucial ally. AI can be harnessed to better collect, predict, and ultimately understand the significance of this mix of structured and unstructured data. In essence, AI transforms the challenge of managing scattered feedback into a strategic advantage for businesses aiming to stay in tune with their customers.

Traditional structured channels like surveys and customer interviews are becoming less effective. Instead, we need to tap into the unstructured customer feedback available in the world. With AI, we can combine unstructured data with structured data, enabling us to gain a more intelligent and holistic view of our customers’ thoughts and feelings. This comprehensive understanding empowers CX professionals to make a real difference in customers’ lives, enhancing their experience, and fostering loyalty.

Nate Brown

Co-founder of CX Accelerator

Providing Stellar Customer Service

When customers seek assistance, AI can access their historical data to provide context-aware support. This means agents have access to a customer’s previous interactions and can offer more informed and personalized solutions.

AI-powered chatbots, for instance, can handle common queries and provide immediate responses 24/7, ensuring customers receive timely assistance. This efficiency leads to faster issue resolution and improved customer satisfaction.

AI elevates customer service by combining efficiency with personalization, creating a seamless and satisfying customer experience.

Technology makes my job easier by providing real-time insights into how agents are performing. While we don’t use invasive technologies like screen capture, we focus on metrics such as customer satisfaction (CSAT), average handle time, first response time for chats, and overall interaction duration. These numbers help us identify areas for improvement and understand customer interactions more deeply.

Andrea Penta

Quality Program Lead

Anticipating Customer Needs

AI can predict what a customer might need before they even realize it. For example, it can anticipate a recurring order or recommend complementary products, creating a sense of convenience and foresight that customers appreciate.

By analyzing historical data and customer behavior patterns, AI algorithms can identify trends, preferences, and buying habits to proactively offer personalized recommendations and suggestions in real time. In this way, AI enables businesses to not only meet but exceed customer expectations by anticipating their needs and providing relevant solutions even before customers express them.

This enables businesses to prepare and adjust their strategies accordingly, ensuring they are always one step ahead.

AI can predict business trends, such as the types of queries we receive and what works at certain times of the year. This could help us improve our product by making us understand what we need to be doing or looking at to make something better. Predictive analysis can help us see how changes we make will affect customer satisfaction. For example, if we add a new feature, how will it affect our NPS score?

Melanie Diamond

VoC Manager

These examples underscore the transformative impact of AI in customer experience management, helping businesses deliver efficient, personalized, and consistent support while gaining valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. As AI technology continues to evolve, these advantages will become even more pronounced, driving improvements in customer satisfaction and loyalty.