There is an old saying that customer service happens when the customer experience goes wrong. I’m not 100% in alignment with that—mostly because I believe customer service happens at every interaction a customer has with a company or brand. However, I think if we change one word in the saying it would be accurate. Change the word service to support and you come up with this: Customer support happens when the customer experience goes wrong.
Customer support—be it one person at a small company or teams of people at multiple locations throughout the world representing a larger brand—is where “judgment day” occurs. A customer could be doing business with a company for years. Then, one day, something goes wrong and the customer is forced to contact the company for support. If handled well, this is the moment that confirms the customer made the right decision to do business with the company. If not, the company risks losing the customer.
This takes us to an Amazing Business Radio interview I had with Jonathan Rosenberg, the CTO and head of AI at Five9, a provider of cloud contact center software and the Intelligent CX Platform. We discussed how any contact center or customer support team can create an experience that builds relationships and increases revenue. Below are several of the highlights from our interview with my take on Rosenberg’s comments:
Old Technology Destroys the Experience: While many contact centers are getting it right, there are still laggards using outdated technology, creating a horrible experience. (Our CX research found that in 2024, 43% of customers would rather clean a toilet than call customer support.) Customers are forced to wait on hold for unreasonable periods of time, deal with chatbots fueled by outdated technology, and when the customer finally does talk to a live customer support agent, the agent doesn’t have the necessary information about the customer, their problem and their history with the company to create a smooth and easy experience. But this is rapidly changing. First, the cost of the new technology is a fraction of what it was just a few years ago. Second, the new technology will give an agent the information and data they need to create a personalized experience that nurtures the relationship. Rosenberg says, “The biggest barriers to doing this have been the complexity of integrating up-to-date customer data across channels, gaining the required insight from that data and then making that data available in a way that enables seamless handoffs between AI and human agents. Generative AI is enabling us to overcome these barriers.”
The Benefits of AI: Rosenberg offered up several benefits to using generative AI:
● The customer doesn’t have to start over: AI can quickly provide real-time summaries of customer interactions, giving an agent a full understanding of the customer’s journey prior to connecting with the agent. Rosenberg said, “Generative AI can summarize the customer’s interaction history, including sentiment, in a way that human agents can quickly and easily understand, allowing them to immediately pick up exactly where the conversation with a bot left off.
● AI creates efficiency: AI will handle simple and repetitive tasks, while human agents can focus on more complex, empathy-driven interactions.
● AI helps create highly personalized experiences: Personalization is important, and it continues to improve. It used to mean segmenting customers into groups or “personas.” But with AI, you can take personalization much further. According to Rosenberg, “AI analyzes vast amounts of data, from purchase history to emotional cues, to tailor interactions in real time, providing hyper-personalized customer experiences.” This experience endears the customer to the company and deepens the relationship.
● AI empowers agents by giving them the information they need to create the best experience possible for the customer: They will better understand the customer’s history and buying habits. They will be given summaries of the customer’s current and past questions and issues. All of this makes the agent experience better, and when done the right way, means the customer experience will be better.
● AI can help turn customer support into a revenue generator: AI can identify sales opportunities with existing customers. When an agent is working with a customer, it makes sense to feed information to the agent to suggest upgrading existing products or purchasing new ones. When data makes the case for a customer to spend more money, it’s a much easier sell than simply adding a traditional upsell line like, “Would you like fries with that burger?”
The Future of Contact Centers and AI: According to Rosenberg, the industry will shift to an AI-driven conversational model that integrates digital and human support. He says, “This will dramatically improve customer satisfaction and create new business opportunities.” Many questions and problems will be handled with technology. If the customer does have to talk to a customer support representative, the rep’s new responsibility will be not just taking care of the customer’s issue but also deepening the relationship and recognizing opportunities for more business. “Support calls” will be longer and more rewarding for customers and the company as a live agent focuses on three areas: the reason a customer called (a question or complaint), relationship management and revenue generation with ethical upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
Final Words: Rosenberg is passionate about this topic. I asked if he had anything else to add, and he enthusiastically said, “The gauntlet has been thrown down to the feet of those serving the customer. It’s a challenge. Deliver an experience that people actually love. It’s a call to action for companies to make an investment that dramatically improves customer experience. It’s time to make it better!”