GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Earlier this year, we surveyed more than 1,000 consumers in the U.S. for our 2024 State of Customer Service and Customer Experience (CX) Study. We asked about the importance of a personalized experience. We found that 81% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience, and 70% say a personalized experience in which the employee knows who they are and their history with the company (past purchases, buying patterns, support calls and more) is important. They also want the experience to go beyond people and include the platforms where they prefer to do business.

For a recent episode of Amazing Business Radio, I talked with Elizabeth Tobey, head of Marketing, Digital & AI of NICE, which helps companies apply AI to manage customer experience. The focus of the discussion was personalization. Here are some of the highlights from the interview:

1. Channel of Choice: This is where the modern-day concept of personalization begins. Tobey said, “In a world where people carry computers in their pockets (also known as mobile phones), it’s important to meet your customers when and where they want to be met.” Customers used to have two main choices when communicating with a brand. They could either walk into a store or call on the phone. Today, there are multiple channels and platforms. They can still visit in person or call, but they can also go to a website with self-service options, visit a social channel like Facebook, conduct business using an app, communicate with a brand’s chatbot and more. Customers want convenience, and part of that is being able to connect with a brand the way they want to connect. Some companies and brands do that better than others. The ones that get it right have educated customers on what they should expect, in effect raising the bar for all others who haven’t yet recognized the importance of communication.

2. Communicate on the Customer’s Terms: Tobey shared a frustrating personal experience that illustrated how some customers like to communicate but a brand falls short. Tobey was getting home late from an event. She contacted a company through its support channel on its website and was communicating with a customer support agent via chat. It was late, and she said, “I have to go to sleep,” expecting she could continue the chat the next morning with another agent. But, when she went to resume the conversation, she was forced to restart the process. She logged back into the website and repeated the authentication process, which was expected, but what she didn’t expect was having to start over with a new agent, repeating her conversation from the beginning as if she had never called before. Tobey made a case for technology that allows for asynchronous conversations on the customer’s timeline, eliminating the need for “over-authentication” and forcing the customer to start over, wasting time and creating an experience marred with friction.

3. Eliminate Friction: How could an interview with an executive at a technology company like NICE not bring up the topic of AI? In the story Tobey told about having to start over with a new agent, going through the authentication process again and repeating her issue, there is a clear message, which is to eliminate unnecessary steps. I shared an experience about visiting a doctor’s office where I had to fill out numerous forms with repeat information: name, address, date of birth, etc. Why should any patient have to fill in the same information more than once? The answer to the question, according to Tobey, is AI. She says, “Take all data that’s coming in from a customer journey and feed it into our AI so that the engine is continuously learning, growing and getting smarter. That means for every customer interaction, the automation and self-service can evolve.” In other words, once AI has the customer’s information, it should be used appropriately to eliminate needless steps (also known as friction) to give the customer the easiest and most convenient experience.

4. It’s Not Just About the Customer: In addition to AI supporting the customer’s self-service and automated experience, any data that is picked up in the customer’s journey can be fed to customer support agents, supervisors and CX leaders, changing how they work and making them more agile with the ability to make decisions faster. Agents get information about the customer, enabling them to provide the personalized experience customers desire. Tobey says, “Agents get a co-pilot or collaborator who listens to every interaction, offers them the best information they need and gives them suggestions.” For supervisors and CX leaders, they get information that makes them more agile and helps them make decisions faster.

5. Knowledge Management: To wrap up our interview, Tobey said, “AI management is knowledge management. Your AI is only as good as your data and knowledge. If you put garbage in, you might get garbage out.” AI should constantly learn and communicate the best information and data, allowing customers, agents and CX leaders to access the right information quickly and create a better and more efficient experience for all.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Unsplash

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