Dive Brief:
- Three in five CX leaders strongly agree that AI has the potential to enhance emotional connections in customer experience, according to a survey of 800 C-level leaders released by WSJ Intelligence and Code and Theory last week.
- However, just over 2 in 5 respondents report having expert or advanced understanding of AI’s emotional potential.
- For companies that admit they are failing at creating emotional digital connections, that number falls to just over one-quarter.
Dive Insight:
AI can help companies connect to customers by enhancing their existing CX efforts, according to Terra Higginson, a principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
“I see companies using AI to create better connections with customers by simply executing long-standing strategies more quickly,” Higginson said in an email. “Things like understanding your buyers, their pain points, and their needs. It’s about deeply understanding who they are, what keeps them up at night, and where they find joy.”
AI can help teams map customer journeys and create buyer personas, according to Higginson. It is also well suited for dividing audience segments for better personalization at scale, and can even allow for personalized experiences on a one-to-one basis using tools like geofencing.
“AI can create these really beautiful experiences that connect across all channels,” Higgins said. “That kind of AI can also understand channel affinity and deliver messages on the right platform.”
While possibilities exist, they have yet to match reality — nine in 10 leaders say they believe the promise of AI-driven personalization has yet to be realized, according to the survey.
Even if AI-driven personalization is beyond a company’s capabilities, it can still help them deliver better CX, according to Higgins.
“Even at a more basic level, just understanding buyers and delivering customized content is all accelerated by AI,” Higgins said. “The days of generic ‘this doesn’t apply to me’ messaging can end if companies embrace the technology.”
