See what AI can do (already)
I'm headed to Vegas Tuesday for CCW, the largest customer contact and CX event in the world.
I'm moderating two sessions on AI and ROI and also interviewing attendees about what they're excited (and scared) about right now.
One of the things that excites ME is this nifty new AI roadside assistance demo from Replicant that shows how far empathetic voice AI has already come.
Go here and click "start call".
Pretend your car is broken down (or similar). Prepare to be amazed. This is very similar to the tools Replicant has already built for AAA.
Most remarkably, this is NOT hard to build. If you'll be in Vegas for CCW next week, join me at Replicant's workshop 6/10 at 3:3o: AI Agent Lab: Build, Test, and Deploy Your Own Contact Center Bot.
SO MANY opportunities!
I got a sneak peek of Intuit Mailchimp's super useful report: The New E-Commerce Calendar.
I’ve never seen research like this. It’s practical, tactical, and utterly useful.
There are SIX distinct types of occasions, including Advocacy Moments, Sales Moments, and of course, Holiday Moments.
If you send promotional messages to customers via email, text, or anything else, you should grab this research.
It’s beautifully designed, and is destined (IMHO) to be one of those signature reports that EVERY marketer refers to again and again.
Today's Burning Question:
I LOVED your thoughtful answers to last edition's questions about what skill would you ask a genie to grant you, with a wish?
Winner is Henny Maltby, who has a daughter with a mental health condition, and would choose to master psychology, to better understand what she's going through.
Henny, you win tequila and a book. Email me your address please.
Keeping it simple for this next one:
"What's your favorite fast food item, and why?"
Go!
5 Customer Experience Consequences of AI
Mere hours ago, I delivered a keynote presentation in Portugal for Otis Elevator global leaders, about the implications of AI on customer experience.
As some of you know, I started in the Internet business way back when domain names were still free. I have literally seen the entire history of "digital" first-hand.
And NOTHING compares to what AI is doing, and will do.
Usually, when we think of AI today, we think of "generative" AI - the ability to create an essay, computer code, or a comparison table quickly and easily.
Indeed, that's all amazing. But, the real implication for AI isn't what it can create, but the fundamental changes it causes.
Here are the 5 customer experience consequences of AI I told Otis about this morning. (If you're interested in having me talk about this, or similar, please contact my agent, Michelle Joyce)
Escalation of customer expectations
When customers experience instantaneous, predictive, and perfectly personalized interactions, they will come to expect it - from every business.
Advice: Build teams and processes in your organization to continue leveling up experiences...forever. Experience optimization now has no end date.
Redefining the role of brand
80% of company to customer interactions will be handled on one or both sides by an AI agent, by 2029.
When consumers send out an agent to comparison shop, that bot will return info on specifications, pricing, and other data. But already, most AI makes recommendations for purchase, not just factual comparisons. Your company's brand strength becomes the tie-breaker for AI, and thus for customers.
Advice: Enhance your internal focus on brand-building and create as many publicly accessible "trust assets" as possible, such as media coverage, awards, and customer testimonials.
Use of passive and predictive feedback
The era of customer surveys and satisfaction scores will end. Already, AI can predict customer satisfaction by monitoring customer behaviors and commentary.
The new frontier - already in use in larger companies - is creating digital twin of customer (DTOC) programs, whereby AI builds a replica of a key account (or all your key accounts, in aggregate), and when considering a feature rollout or price change, you just ask the DTOC how it feels about it, and use that info to guide rollout to the "real" customers.
Advice: Create an internal group to study and implement new, real-time feedback tools and how to build their findings into your offerings FAST.
Valuation of excess capacity
Nearly every business is going to implement AI eventually. It simply will not be a choice, because to NOT use AI will put your business at a massive efficiency disadvantage.
Accepting that fact, the REAL question becomes this: "if you and all your competitors eventually have 25% more efficiency, what do you DO with that 25%? Do you keep the money? Do you enter new markets? Do you provide new, concierge-class service?"
The new winners in business will be those that most wisely utilize the 25% excess capacity that AI will deliver.
Advice: Begin thinking now about what you would do with 25% more time, and how you might use that capacity to outperform competitors.
Revised organization chart
88% of hiring managers say AI will result in layoffs for recent college graduates. And it's already happening.
But, if companies dramatically scale back entry-level hires because that's the work that's easiest for AI to do, who are the manager in five years? Who are the directors in 10 years? Who are the execs in 20 years?
AI threatens to hollow out our organizations eventually.
Advice: Redesign entry-level roles and their function and create new career progression paths based more on mastered skills and less on years spent in the industry.
There are, of course, more AI consequences than these, including the very notion of higher education and its necessity.
But for now, these are the five I'm talking about onstage, complete with funny stories (AI dating apps!) and a hopeful message that the REAL difference maker remains our humanity and our empathy.
The Books Report
Delighted to recommend Let's Retire Retirement: How to Enjoy Life to the Fullest - Now and Later to you, and not just because my story of turning my tequila hobby into a revenue stream is a case study inside.
My pal Derek Coburn is a legendary financial planner and investment advisor, and in this important book (released yesterday, co-written with Sara Stibitz) he redefines what it means to be "done" and provides a terrific scaffolding for living a life of purpose.
Seth Godin says: "A generous, actionable, and useful book―a chance to find connection and meaning by producing value, even as others retire and retreat."
Jay's Faves
I can't believe I haven't suggested FLIGHTY for you already.
It's the ultimate travel app. Tracks every flight, seat, mile, gate connection, and more. It is super easy to use and has save me MUCH flying aggravation.
Plane delayed? Flighty will let you know minutes before you get the notice from the airline itself. That extra time can be crucial.
If you fly more than a little, FLIGHTY is a requirement, in my estimation! It's in the app stores.
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