Feature
The Gist
- AI in business. The surge of interest in generative AI shows its critical role in shaping customer experience in business.
- Tailored strategies. Chief customer officers emphasize the need for trial-and-error approaches in AI implementation.
- Balanced approach. Companies are carefully weighing the pros and cons of AI to serve customers best.
The surge of interest in artificial intelligence is undeniable — especially generative AI. Many organizations are dipping their toes into the water of this new and potentially disruptive technology while some leading organizations have fully taken the plunge into AI in business. Convinced of its benefits, these frontrunners see AI as critical in enhancing customer experience.
Trial-and-Error Approaches
Exactly how and where any organization should use AI in its customer experience (CX) strategy is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Instead, chief customer officers say it typically requires some trial-and-error approaches tied to the organization’s mission and culture.
That has been the case at Customer.io, a customer engagement platform, which uses ChatGPT as a thought starter for recommending ideas and actions on broad topics. While the results are “usually decent, we do a considerable amount of customization — greater than 60% — once we get the ideas or text,” explained Natalie (Nat) Onions, vice president of customer experience at the firm.
Researching the Best Applications for AI in Business
This spring the company launched an internal program to research the best applications for AI in business and determine its likely specific use cases. A new role was created to be responsible for this research and implementation, in order to develop the right AI strategies for the firm and highlight opportunities for low-risk adoption. Alongside this program, the company launched its AI Helper Bot to assist in testing this technology internally before implementing something similar with customers.
“Our primary focus is to identify the best practices for AI and determine where to implement them within the company and for our customers. This is the first step towards creating an AI motion and rolling out its use, and we are taking our time with it,” Onions said.
Related Article: How to Pick the Right Flavor of Generative AI
Balancing the Pressure to Implement AI in Business With Serving Customers
While the company believes there are many potentially powerful applications for AI in business, Customer.io wants to be deliberate and careful with its approach, Onions stressed. Above all, customers come first, and the company wants to balance the pressure to implement new AI functionalities with its commitment to serve them in the best possible ways with these new technologies.
While most of the concepts, writings and text that are helpful with customer engagement strategies can be found through a regular browser search, AI does make the search much easier and more comprehensive, acknowledges David Sandal, chief customer officer and vice president of customer success at UnaliWear, a medical alerts products company. The biggest payoff is in keeping content fresh and always finding the latest information, he said.
Using Customer Satisfaction as the Driver for AI Investments
Interest in artificial intelligence came early for Customer.io, Onions said, driven by a combination of factors.
“As a SaaS company, we are naturally in an environment where AI is presented to us every day via tools in our own stack and through conversations with customers and prospects,” Onions said. “It is an exciting and rapidly advancing technology, and so the motivation to explore and invest has been coming at us from many angles.”
Related Article: Marketing, Customer Care Top List of Generative AI Use Cases
Ensuring an Intentional Application of AI in Business
While it’s important for the company to consider competitive advantage, its priority is customers’ satisfaction and their experience with the company’s products, Onions said. This means striking the right balance between moving quickly into AI technology to stay competitive, while also making sure the company is intentional with its application so as not to deplete the trust that it has worked hard to build with customers.
Related Article: Marketing, Customer Care Top List of Generative AI Use Cases
AI That Is Worth the Wait
“As part of this commitment, we are motivated to invest in AI research to explore potential applications in the near future,” Onions explained. “While we are still in the early stages, we are dedicating resources to this research and development. I have confidence that by taking our time to implement and invest in AI rather than racing to get ahead right out of the gate, we will deliver an experience that gives us a competitive edge and something worth the wait.”
Companies that do not invest in AI in some capacity will likely fall behind and lose their competitive advantage, which Onions said the company keeps top of mind. That said, the company is taking a deliberate but cautious approach.
Obtaining Support From Top Management to Pursue an AI-Driven Strategy
Significant investments in AI can have a significant impact on an organization’s systems, business processes and even culture. Because of that, chief customer officers need to solicit leadership support at the outset.
The executive team at Customer.io has been the driving force behind the company’s decision to invest in AI research and development, Onions explained.
“For us, the rationale is simple: we believe that AI has the potential to enhance our efficiency, directly impact our ROI, and improve our customer’s experiences,” Onions said. “We are committed to conducting the proper research to understand where these applications could be utilized.”
Getting executive buy-in is always easiest when the chief customer officer can point to relevant metrics and expected ROI.
“Support costs are some of the metrics I keep in mind when referencing the benefits of AI investment,” Onions said. “We currently rely on people-powered support through a variety of interactions and channels. AI could potentially be used to improve operational efficiency, save money through automation, and result in better quality service for our customers.”
Related Article: AI in Customer Experience: 5 Companies' Tangible Results
Showing How AI Can Help
Equally important is showing how AI investments can better engage customers and enhance their loyalty, Sandal noted.
“Building a customer-powered culture is central to everything we do,” Sandal stressed. “Many organizations focus on product-led growth, where we focus on customer-led growth. When we create an experience that builds trust and loyalty, customers are much more likely to become advocates and champions. This is a system that builds on itself and not only increases customer retention and expansion, but leads to considerably higher customer lifetime value.”
Some Tasks Are Great, Others Not so Much for AI in Business
Many organizations are now eager to adopt artificial intelligence tools, including generative AI. An important lesson to understand is that some tasks and processes related to customer service and engagement work well with AI investments, while some others don’t.
“The key differentiator between a task that works well with AI investment and a task that doesn't, all comes down to one thing: Is there a single right answer to the question being asked?” Onions said.
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To apply this sentiment to a real-world example, Onions outlined two different scenarios for using AI in the creation of an email message.
Using AI to write liquid syntax for personalization based on available data will likely yield a great outcome, Onions explained. There is a single correct syntax that will render in the email, and so this is not subjective or an AI command that you will need to keep cycling through iterations of.
“However, if you were to use an AI ‘design generator’ and rely on it to write HTML that makes your email look the way you want it to, there are a lot of variables to consider,” Onions said. “What is ‘good?’ How is AI determining what you are trying to do? If you like the result but your brand manager hates it, how does that impact your AI experience?”
Real-Word AI in Business Experience
As AI in business develops and practitioners become more adept at defining inputs to create the best chance of accuracy and satisfaction, Onions said she expects these subjective tasks will become easier to fulfill.
“But my real-world experience so far — and the stance I am taking for our product — is that questions with a clear correct answer are where the best AI experiences are delivered,” Onions said. “I would trust AI to send my customers the correct link to a help doc that answers their question. But if they are asking for a strategic opinion on which messaging plan to implement, I would be more confident in the work of my CX experts.”
