The Evolution of CX in the Age of AI — with Bill Price

We've hit an invisible barrier. 

Brands are saturated, customers are hungry for more and innovation seems to be running on empty. 

So, what sets companies apart in this competitive business landscape? 

A stellar and memorable customer experience! 

This is what Bill Price asserts on the latest episode of the CX-WISE podcast with our host Nathan Bennett. Bill, the president of Driva Solutions, fellow CX expert, Amazon's first global VP of customer service and distinguished author, joins the podcast to give us insights into: 

The state of customer service today, best practices for success and how generative AI can be used to course correct. 

So, let's dive right in! 

The state of CX in 2024 

Customer experiences today are wonky at best, according to Bill.  

While we see the occasional diamond in the rough, of people going above and beyond to help, for the most part we hear a lot about being put on hold for hours while trying to dispute a minor credit card charge.  

Organizational priorities are not the same, says Bill. An imbalance in goals and vision can affect the brand’s tone of voice and its customer experience.  

Enterprises with multiple channels have varying priorities across the board: 

• Product teams focus on pushing out innovations 
• Finance teams focus on saving valuable dollars  
• Web developers focus on improving site usability 
• Operations are just trying to keep everything chugging along 

A Harvard Business Review study says that only 10% of organizations are successful at aligning their strategy with the overall goals. A lack of organizational alignment can not only render an organization less effective but can essentially fragment the overall customer experience.  

When teams are siloed, and goals don’t hit the bullseye, it's time for organizations to step up and align every team toward the same target. 

Making CX great again  

Nancy Meyers’s movie ‘The Intern’ has a pivotal scene that defines the protagonist as a CEO who truly cares about her customers. Anne Hathaway, in the movie's first scene, starts her day by taking customer calls and understanding the problems her customers face.  

“You see why I take customer calls? You get to learn so much” she says.  

Likewise, a recipe that Bill emphasizes to achieve the perfect CX package: 

“Listen! Listen! Listen!” 
 
 As an advocate of the consumer, Bill emphasizes the need for organizations to truly zero in on their conversations with customers. Whether its sitting in on customer calls or taking a moment to listen to pivotal recordings, hearing the problems straight from the horse’s mouth can work wonders in streamlining organizational policies geared toward customers. “If you can, have your CX level executives and other senior team members listen to customer calls, read customer reviews, sit down next to the service agents, and listen to what those conversations are all about,” he says.   

In a market where every customer has unique and specific wants, brands must understand each of their customers' needs and core values to provide a better experience. Listening to their problems and implementing a targeted crisis communication plan can help retain customers and, eventually, build a more loyal and devoted user base. 

Findings from a recent McKinsey report reveal that brands need to acquire three new customers to compensate for the value of one lost customer.  

As you can see, it's more important than ever to take care of every customer of yours.  

The prodigal son of CX — Gen AI  

The state of customer service today has taken a turn for the better with the advent of Gen AI. 

Bill highlights two significant ways in which this feature is revolutionizing the CX industry: 

1. Providing companies with detailed problem diagnosis. Reading through millions of lines of data and an inhuman number of numbers, AI can figure out why customers are unhappy, what makes them hesitate to contact the business and what the point of no return is in customer service. 
2. Helping “short stop” customer issues and freeing up agent time for more pressing issues. 

Many organizations are turning to AI-powered conversational chatbots to streamline customer issues and eventually solve most problems with a few simple clicks. According to a Gartner survey, 54% of customer support teams use some form of chatbot or other conversational AI platform for customer-facing applications. And it projects that by 2027, chatbots will become the primary customer service channel for roughly a quarter of organizations.  

Domino's is a key example. By deploying a chatbot on its website, it has streamlined delivery services, helping customers track their orders and issuing refunds and assisting with vouchers and refunds when a delivery takes longer than usual. What used to be a frustrating hour-long phone call with an executive to cancel a pizza is now done in a fraction of that time without any sort of agent intervention.

Finally, with AI's help, brands can create bespoke customer experiences with the power of personalization. Personalization today has gone above and beyond slapping someone's name on a generic email. It's all about providing the right type of product/service based on a customer's likes and dislikes and understanding what makes them tick. 

According to Bill, "AI needs to remember you." 

Just as the barista at your favorite coffee shop is familiar with your usual order, AI too needs to provide that level of familiarity, thereby creating a customer experience worthy of coming back to again and again. 

While AI is prevalent across every industry, a few organizations have truly hit the nail on the head, making their CX (powered by AI) something to strive toward. 

Brands nailing the AI-powered CX game  

Amazon, the pioneer of personalized AI-powered experiences, immediately comes to mind. Bill, one of their first global VPs of service, takes us back to 1999 — the Y2K era. 

Even then, Amazon championed what they called "customer ecstasy," a step beyond traditional customer success. Data-driven analytics was their secret weapon. In December 1999, on the brink of their meteoric rise, Amazon conducted a revealing experiment. They mined their email backlog for messages containing "Christmas," "ruined," and "Santa." 

This data extraction created a pathway to pinpoint customer pain points. They armed their customer agents with these insights to clear the backlog efficiently. 

Long before "AI" became a buzzword, Amazon was already parsing millions of emails, extracting data and decoding customer issues to resolve them swiftly. 

Today with AI on their side, Amazon has built an ecosystem rooted in personalized customer experiences. Retailers can autogenerate listings complete with detailed product descriptions built to resonate with consumers, buyers have a home page tailored toward their every like, built from the knowledge of their past purchases. Conversational AI has been revolutionized with Alexa and services, including Amazon Pay and Prime, have been tailored to suit the needs of every individual customer.  

They are, of course, not the only players in this field. Another brand Bill holds in high regard as the pioneer of experiences is Tesla.  

Bill recalls a time when he was on vacation and Tesla sent him a notification informing him about the car's battery charge being under 5%. The anticipation, the soft and nonintrusive delivery of the notification is just the tip of the iceberg.  

The AI even remembers driver preferences, adjusting settings (including seat adjustments, air conditioning preferences and steering wheel angle) automatically based on who's driving. The dedicated mobile app has features like Summon and remote diagnostics to enhance the ownership experience. Besides, the app’s virtual assistant ensures that customers never have to go through a two-hour waiting period to get their vehicle checked or serviced.  

Conclusion 

As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of customer experience, it becomes clear that AI is not just a tool, but an essential component of customer support. It has redefined how businesses interact with their customers.  

By harnessing the power of AI to truly understand and anticipate customer needs, you can create experiences that don't just satisfy, but delight customers. As Bill emphasizes, it's about focusing on individual experiences.  

In this AI-driven future, the businesses that will continue to thrive are those that learn to harness this technology to create a symphony of efficiency and empathy at every customer touchpoint. 

The bottom line? The future of CX is here, and it's powered by AI. Are you ready to listen, adapt and transform?

If something in this podcast episode caught your attention, share it on your preferred social media platform using the hashtag #CXWISE for a chance to win a free copy of Bill’s book, “The Frictionless Organization."

Listen to the full podcast below.