We have seen a rapid boom in AI technologies, and surveys show an increased adoption of these tools in CX. But how is AI actually impacting CX in 2024?
The rapid boom of AI technologies in 2023 brought forth a transformative era in CX, unleashing a completely new approach. From anticipating needs to fostering personal connections, AI empowers businesses, offering unparalleled experiences.
For instance, a digital agency can now offer tailored solutions through AI-driven insights, creating seamless, empathetic experiences that resonate with customers and set new standards for engagement.
However, navigating the intricacies of AI’s implementation while addressing the challenges will determine the extent to which these technological advancements truly elevate CX and drive long-term success.
In this context, how is AI actually impacting CX in 2024? Continue reading to discover the answer.
The AI revolution is on its way, and CX experts are welcoming it
AI technology has quickly caught the attention of businesses. In 2023, this sector showed one of the highest adoption rates, giving a warm welcome to AI technology. According to the CMSWire portal, AI customer experience statistics reveal 96% of executives see generative AI as an accelerator, not a disruptor.
And CX experts have good reason to be excited. Customer behaviors have changed in recent times. Today, consumers have an increased interest in personalized services and higher expectations. And this is where CX experts found an invaluable ally in AI-powered tools. According to Garner, customer satisfaction was expected to grow by 25% in 2023 in organizations that use AI.
The CX landscape in 2023 seems to have set the stage for increased application or, at the very least, evaluation of AI-powered solutions by CX experts in 2024. As adoption increases, these experts find themselves with the opportunity to take a glance at the benefits, consequences, and implications of AI technology implementation in customer experience.
AI´s evolving role in shaping CX in 2024
Personalized customer experiences
According to a survey conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) 57% of consulted businesses who have adopted AI technology indicated responding to customer demands for more personalized experiences as being one of their top reasons for adoption.
AI-powered solutions can quickly access massive amounts of data, including client’s historical data. This functionality allows CX experts to provide more personalized customer service to clients, thereby responding to the new standards in personalization.
According to CoreMedia report, 84% of consumers are interested in personalized products. What’s more, 60% of consumers indicated they’ve become repeat customers after a personalized shopping experience.
In addition, AI tools allow for multilingual CX support. This technology has the capability to be fine-tuned to work in various languages or even dialects, making CX communication easier than ever in a globalized world and adding a new layer to CX personalization.
Immediate action upon complaints
AI tools can be trained to recognize and respond to common customer complaints. This allows solutions to be provided quickly, and in real-time. According to the previously mentioned CoreMedia report, in 2024, robotic process automation is projected to grow by 57%.
A quick response to complaints not only puts at ease an annoyed customer but further reduces the likelihood of negative reviews and improves the company’s overall reputation.
In fact, the IBV survey reported maintaining customer-centric reputations as the second reason for AI adoption.
AI Chatbots: 24/7 immediate response
Generative AI technology has the capability of automating chat responses and performing simple tasks. AI-powered chatbots will definitely have a great impact on CX in 2024. The CoreMedia report shows that 74% of CX professionals believe conversational AI chatbots positively impact customer satisfaction.
And why is it so? These tools can provide customer support 24/7, further increasing the CX efforts beyond business hours. In fact, these are the most commonly used AI technology in business, according to Forbes.
This is a crucial factor in CX, as evidenced by a Hubspot survey indicating that 90% of customers expect “immediate” responses when asking a customer service question. Furthermore, this survey also showed that 81% of customers prefer using a self-service option before contacting a customer service representative.
The importance of a solid data foundation for CX in 2024
As businesses continue to integrate advanced technologies and AI-driven solutions to enhance CX, data serves as the bedrock upon which these improvements are built.
As we’ve seen, AI has the capability to analyze enormous amounts of data, including interactions, purchases, behaviors and customer preferences. We’d even go as far to say that, in 2024, CX will be all about data.
Unprecedented data access
AI technology is redefining CX in 2024 big time by providing the ability to be trained on a massive database and process enormous amounts of data, giving businesses more information than ever before.
This previously unaccessed data provides businesses with a competitive advantage, gaining valuable insights. A solid data foundation enables businesses to understand their customers, and thereby meet their client’s increased expectations.
The high degree of insights brought about by AI allows CX experts to provide a more personalized approach, inaugurating a big opportunity for customer attraction and retention. This further leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, as customers feel understood and valued.
Let’s take a look at an example.A company using an AI-powered chatbot can gain access to a customer’s past experiences, preferences and behaviors. By knowing all this, the company can address the customer’s needs more efficiently and use their profile to immediately provide a solution or an answer tailored to that specific customer’s profile. Good, right?
Data-driven automation
AI technology and data can also help automate repetitive tasks to free up human agents to handle more complex tasks. CX experts can now automate procedures like making an appointment, answering frequently asked questions and providing instructions for common issues.
This, in turn, can result in quicker resolution time and an overall cost reduction. Automation leads the way in handling a high volume of simultaneous customer interactions, reducing the waste of resources in checking multiple sources and insights. This, in turn, further presents CX experts with the opportunity for scalability.
AI transformation is on its way but not yet completed: the issues of hiring data specialists in CX in 2024
Although we witnessed increased adoption of AI technology in CX in 2023, there are still capability gaps to be breached in 2024. Not everything has evolved at the same pace AI tech has.
The main problem for CX in 2024 continues to be hiring specialists. If you thought AI was entirely replacing human beings, you were wrong. The enormous amount of data AI tech can provide, and even its management still relies heavily on a human being specialized in this area to oversee the AI’s implementations and make sure all integrations are functioning properly.
While human assistance and support are still necessary, there emerges the need for AI-data experts for the successful management and implementation of these new technologies. Otherwise, businesses could overestimate the ability of their organization’s CX efforts and fail to provide high-quality service.
That said, career development did not meet AI technology’s rapid transformation. Statistics still show a great interest in the implementation of AI-enhanced CX among customer experience experts. In fact, according to IBV’s survey, 70% of consulted CX executives believed their industry was ready to adopt AI. But there is the danger of their enthusiasm going beyond their capabilities.
There is no doubt AI has come to make a big change in the CX world, but CX experts may be overlooking capability issues while being pushed by the influence of AI possibilities. This is another hurdle the CX sector should not overlook in 2024.
Companies implementing CX in 2024 need to take into account their scalability and overall structure for data to become a precious gem of automated, sorted data and insights.
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AI Implementation: The balance between innovation and capacity for successful CX in 2024
It is clear that CX experts are turning to AI-powered technologies more and more every day. To maintain a successful approach to CX in 2024, it is essential to thoroughly analyze the implications and capabilities needed to set a strong base to bring to life the revolution that AI can unveil. This does not go against adoption, but rather to what could just be a transitory adaptation of AI to the CX world.
Taking into account the fact that by 2025 AI is expected to power 95% of customer interactions, according to AI business, the subtle balance needed for effective implementation strongly relies on having a clear understanding of the benefits and possibilities, as well as its pain points and requirements.
Otherwise, businesses can end up rushing into adoption without having the necessary structure to put forward or manage such AI technology implementation. The future of the CX sector beyond 2024 will strongly depend on businesses’ capabilities to identify the best way to add AI solutions to effectively and efficiently provide superb customer experience.
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