Artificial intelligence comprises eight out of the 10 top trends influencing customer experience in 2024, according to new data from& CX Network, which also found that while AI features several times in the top-10 list, it is also an enabler of other trends, such as automation and self-service.
Respondents were asked to select the three trends having the greatest influence on their roles at present. The most selected responses included AI-powered technologies for operations, automation, generative AI chatbots and virtual assistants, conversational AI chatbots and virtual assistants, and generative AI for marketing/hyper-personalization.
Only two of the top 10 trends, namely employee engagement and customer loyalty, were not directly linked to AI.
The findings highlight the pivotal role AI-powered technologies play in revolutionizing customer interactions and operational efficiency, CX Network said in its report.
"Artificial intelligence is critical to meeting customers' demands for friction-free and convenient support and is increasingly being recognized as a driver of both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. With a new generation of tools in the marketplace, CX practitioners are equipping and upskilling their teams to meet more customer demands than ever before without increasing headcount," said Melanie Mingas, editor-in-chief of CX Network, in a statement.
"However, our research also found customers want transparency around how AI is being used for CX, and failure to deliver on this could impact loyalty in the longer term. This means organizations must begin their AI journey to be fully transparent about how they collect and use customer data, train AI models, and deal with bias and hallucinations," Mingas added.
"We couldn't be more hopeful for the state of CX than we are now. Generative AI is going to transform all aspects of CX and help businesses forge genuine connections with their customers, fostering loyalty, advocacy and mutual growth," said Pedro Andrade, vice president of AI at Talkdesk, in a statement. "With generative AI, CX becomes not just a strategy but a transformative force where every interaction leaves a lasting, positive imprint on both customer and brand alike."