AI is everywhere. But what kind of impact can companies really expect from this technology, and most importantly, how can they leverage it to achieve tangible results?
With its intrinsically human nature and expansive datasets, one of the most promising and readily applicable areas for AI is customer service, which is a critical component of the overall customer experience (CX).
CX has become a top priority for businesses, and for good reason: delivering superior CX can boost revenue by 80%. And now with AI, companies are empowered to shift their CX focus from cost-cutting to building truly exceptional, end-to-end digital experiences that are ready for the demands of today and beyond.
Simply understanding the potential of AI isn’t enough, however. Companies need a strategic approach to thrive in the evolving CX landscape. A comprehensive AI experience strategy is now essential to deliver true value by understanding each customer’s individual needs.
To achieve this, companies must move beyond simply adding AI features to existing tools. Instead, a unified approach is needed to create a seamless, connected experience.
Let’s explore three ways AI is transforming the end-to-end digital CX journey, driving customer loyalty and revenue through enhanced self-service, Agentic AI, and the unification of the experience.
One, Empowering Self-Service
Self-service is no longer just about cost savings; it’s about delivering personalized experiences that empower customers.
According to Gartner, 73% of customers use self-service at some point in their journey, and 89% of companies now compete primarily on CX. This confirms that a digital-first service strategy is essential, and it better be effective and personalized, or customers will quickly seek alternatives.
A comprehensive AI experience strategy is now essential to deliver true value by understanding each customer's individual needs.
In today’s landscape, simply offering self-service isn’t enough. To truly succeed, companies need an AI-powered experience strategy that unifies and connects the entire customer journey, starting with the ability to effectively self-serve with personalized guidance.
When customers fully resolve their issues using self-service, three things tend to be true: they understand the information, they trust the source of information, and they can confirm this is the best thing to solve their problem. In other words, customers feel confident.
Two, Enabling Agentic AI
AI-integrated chatbots are common for most service journeys, offering 24/7 support. Generative AI (GenAI) enhances them with more natural conversations and smarter routing.
But the real opportunity lies in Agentic AI. It is AI that is built on a reasoning engine with the ability to make decisions and take actions without the need of complicated workflows.
Agentic AI has the potential to transform the end-to-end CX, both in self-service and assisted support. Its ability to detect the customer’s intent and take the right action to resolve issues or guide the agent through the resolution process is at the heart of the CX transformation.
But the success of Agentic AI hinges on a robust data and content management strategy. These reasoning engines require accurate data to make informed decisions and identify the most relevant information to answer questions and resolve issues. Without this, the experience will fall short of customer expectations.
Think of AI as a personal guide for each customer...
To make these choices and identifications necessitates a shift towards a broader, corporate-wide knowledge management program. One that encompasses all teams contributing to enterprise content (R&D, Product Management, Marketing, Customer Success, Professional Services, etc.).
The goal is to document the entire customer journey, enabling Agentic AI to deliver complete, personalized answers to all customer situations. Cross-functional collaboration is also crucial for managing customer data, ensuring every experience is tailored to the individual user.
For companies considering Agentic AI, whether in self-service or assisted support, investing in these capabilities is paramount. The payoff is a proactive, personalized experience that anticipates customer needs and resolves issues with unprecedented efficiency.
Three, Experience Unification and Personalization
With 81% of customers preferring companies that offer a tailored experience, personalization is no longer a luxury; it’s an expectation. AI offers a powerful solution by enhancing both search and omnichannel experiences, delivering unprecedented levels of personalization and convenience.
Think of AI as a personal guide for each customer, instantly providing relevant answers and tailored recommendations based on their real-time behavior and past interactions. Only AI can connect the dots and unify the experience across the entire customer journey, regardless of channel.
...AI-powered omnichannel support provides real-time assistance and fosters two-way conversations...
AI does this by analyzing vast customer data to identify patterns in behavior, preferences, and history. These insights enable highly personalized experiences across all channels, delivering the tailored support customers expect.
This data-driven approach enables companies to deliver more relevant and personalized experiences. For example, by combining GenAI with advanced search, companies can leverage their data and AI toolsets to better anticipate customer needs and deliver answers.
So, imagine a search experience that not only retrieves relevant results but also anticipates the customer’s next question, offering tailored recommendations and support before they even ask.
Furthermore, the rise of omnichannel customer service, amplified by AI, enables a new level of personalized engagement. This creates a fluid, continuous experience across all touchpoints.
So, instead of forcing customers to jump between different devices and service channels, AI-powered omnichannel support provides real-time assistance and fosters two-way conversations within the customer’s preferred apps and channels. This unified approach ensures consistent and personalized support: regardless of how the customer chooses to interact.
Xero-ing Improved self-service
Here is an example of how AI-powered CX can help businesses.
Xero is a global small business platform that has produced rich, contextualized content over the years. But to unlock this vast knowledge and content for its 4.2 million subscribers, it needed a new, different, and scalable way to deliver accurate, rapid answers to millions of questions every month.
Xero turned to Coveo in 2023 to provide generative answering on Xero Central, its global customer learning and support site. The company first began with a simple test to provide proof-of-concept and proof-of-technology, but this rapidly evolved into a full-scale integration with its platform.
Xero and Coveo, working together, meticulously optimized the content delivery to ensure customers receive the right information, at the right time, thereby streamlining its business operations.
Now, when a customer asks a question on Xero Central, they don’t just receive a list of suggested links and help pages. Instead, they get an accurate, contextual, and generated answer tailored to their exact needs, with articles referenced for further clarification if needed.
As a result, Xero increased customer self-service resolution by 20% and reduced average search times by 40%. This generative answering capability enables 96% of customers and users to successfully self-serve by accessing existing information in a new way.
“The results have exceeded our expectations,” says Nigel Piper, Executive General Manager, Customer Experience at Xero. “We’re now expanding to other channels and experiences.”
The Next Phase of CX
Customer service is undergoing a rapid transformation. Consumers are no longer just looking for answers; they expect real-time, personalized advice. This shift requires a proactive and strategic approach to CX.
By leveraging AI for efficient data capture and storage across channels, companies can create the personalized continuity customers now expect.
This investment will not only lead to more satisfied customers but also to streamlined technical processes for CX teams, and to futureproofing their operations for the evolving demands of the CX landscape.