AI is Transforming the World of CX - Brands Need to Lean In or Fall Behind

Written by Sophie

Google’s CEO Sundar Pi-chai recently said, "AI has the potential to be more transformative than electricity or fire.” And he’s not alone in his thinking, with Marc Beni-off co-founder of Salesforce, declaring that “Artificial Intelligence and generative AI may be the most important technology of any lifetime.”

One of the areas it is impacting most rapidly, is customer experience. Big brands like Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify are leading the way, using AI not just to enhance experiences, but to completely reset what customers expect from every interaction.

Highly-personalised recommendations, seamless omnichannel experiences and 24/7 support are now hygiene factors. This is all happening at an unprecedented rate, with Gartner predicting that AI will autonomously resolve 80 percent of common customer service issues without human intervention by 2029.

Brands that don’t lean into this new world, will fall behind and, at worst, could disappear altogether.

So what are some of the ways in which brands can harness AI to transform customer engagement?

Firstly, website and in-app search are changing thanks to the rise of LLMs. Brands now need to deliver conversational search experiences that interpret a customer’s words and deliver what they’re looking for in a natural and intuitive way.

Smoother customer journeys are also becoming the norm thanks to real-time sentiment analysis, which enables businesses to identify and resolve customer issues in the moment. This same technology is being used to power highly-personalised content and recommendations that dynamically adapt, creating seamless experiences that drive meaningful business growth.

And finally, we’re starting to see a rise in the use of agentic AIs. While chatbots were once considered a last resort for customer support, today's AI agents are emerging as reliable, proactive communication channels, enhancing accuracy, responsiveness, and resolution rates.

We’re only just scratching the surface of what’s possible, with ongoing innovation set to transform the way businesses and customers connect forever.

The right solution will be different for every sector and every brand. But solutions all start in the same place - with insight.

While AI is brilliant at extracting patterns and sentiment from the reams of data we’re feeding it, it can’t always tell you why someone feels a certain way, or what matters most to them in their own words. Right now, that depth of understanding still relies on human insight and that’s where Canvas comes in. Canvas enables businesses to put real-time feedback from their customers at the heart of their business, driving clients’ strategies for success in this rapidly evolving AI-driven landscape.

To find out more, go to www.watermelonresearch.com/canvas