The conversations around artificial intelligence (AI) and customer experience (CX) are increasing as the algorithms around automation are becoming more and more sophisticated. AI and machine learning (ML) are hot topics, especially among marketers, as they can aid in the creation of highly personalized customer experiences that can cost significantly less than traditional high-dollar campaigns. Not only can AI help with personalization in the moment, but it helps ensure you are optimizing for future interactions as well.
With that said – there is sometimes pushback to the adoption of AI and ML, fearing that robots will be able to automate processes and functions, allowing for the elimination of jobs for CX professionals.
On a recent webinar, I spoke with Carmen, a Corporate Visions Company, to answer the question “Could a robot create your content?”. We discussed ways the industry can strike a balance between AI and the human element in content and CX.
During the webinar, we touched on a variety of ways that AI is being used and how to make the shift from AI to IA – artificial intelligence to intelligent augmentation. In today’s world, we don’t want to dismiss robots or algorithms, but rather take advantage of these tools to extend our marketing reach. While AI can assist in delivering personalization or creating content, there are still things such as demand generation and emotional appeal that will always belong to the marketer, which was clearly a top-of-mind challenge for our audience as well.
The topic of robots creating content is an interesting one because content is truly the heart of the customer experience. Determining how to balance AI/ML and the human element is important to ensuring you are delivering experiences that create human connections between your brand and your customers.
Here are some key takeaways from the webinar and how to strike that CX balance:
Humanize data
When it comes to algorithms, machine learning and AI are great tools for aggregating and analyzing large data sets. That being said, robots can’t put your data in context of the customer experience. It’s important to have a human approach so you can align performance data to business goals and really make the connection to your brand’s customer journey. This will help identify friction points, and enable you to evolve your CX roadmap and identify short-term and long-term action items.
Don’t sacrifice quality for scale
Carmen touched on several examples of high-quality content that has been created by machines. It’s exciting to think about the opportunities this presents for content-driven businesses, especially for personalization. But it’s also important to ensure you still have that “human” element of creativity and emotion in your content. After all, you know your customers and prospects better than the machine.
When it comes to using robots for content and CX, make sure you are not just leveraging AI/ML for the sake of being up on the trend. Build a solid pool of high-quality content before scaling up significantly – and then continuously validate what the machines are doing.
Empathize with your customers
Empathy was a consistent theme throughout the webinar and I don’t think it can be overstated. When it comes to CX, machines do a great job of handling the delivery but as mentioned above, humans help bring in the emotion needed to create long-lasting connections. Sure, a machine can infer a customer’s needs based on previous data points and behavior, but it can’t think beyond your site.
When it comes to CX, it’s important to continuously check what experiences you are delivering, while factoring in external elements such as market trends, world events, etc. Making adjustments to your content and customer experiences will smooth out any unanticipated bumps in the road.
