AI Hype Versus Real CX

Jeannie Walters 0:00

I've seen a lot of AI directives. I've seen a lot of AI aspirations. But very few organizations are thinking about how this technology is actually impacting the customer experience. Now, this could be a mindset thing. If you are thinking about customer experience as a cost center or as just something that you kind of have on the side, of course it's not going to get the attention it deserves. But a lot of organizations think they're doing this right because they're applying AI in that same way. They're saying, well, if we can apply AI for scale and speed and cost cutting, great. But if we're not really thinking about what is this doing for the experience our customers are having, we are missing huge opportunities to actually scale and become more sustainable about the best things that we deliver to customers.

From Tech Choice To Experience Choice

Jeannie Walters 0:55

We have to move from thinking of these things as a technology decision to an experience decision. So right now, every organization that we're working with, that I'm speaking to, that we're delivering training to, they are telling us they are on their own AI journey. Even here at Experience Investigators, we are doing a lot with AI. We're learning about it. We are using it. We're getting in there and experimenting. And that's really, really important. But the key here is making sure that we are continually going back to understand what is the experience that we want to deliver, that intentional leadership that we talk about, that intentional success definition through something like our CX success blueprint, we want to make sure that we are continually touching back to that. Because otherwise, what happens is we create a tech stack for the sake of a tech stack instead of looking at what is actually happening with the experience.

Why Customers Think AI Means Chatbots

Jeannie Walters 1:59

52% of business decision makers say that improving support efficiency is their top AI priority. Now that sounds very good, but we have to make sure that that efficiency is not at the sake of customers. Because right now we have found that the data about how customers feel about AI is kind of all over the place. They will tell you they don't like it. A lot of the numbers showing this are talking about customers who are equating AI with the terrible chatbot experience that they had. They don't necessarily understand that AI is also delivering answers to their questions within an app or providing things proactively when they're shopping. If they can get the job done, if a customer can achieve their goal, feel a certain way, and doing it in a way that is meaningful and contextual to their lives, they will appreciate what AI can do. But guess what? They don't really care how it's done. The problem is right now we have a little bit of an impression problem. A lot of AI was rolled out too quickly, the chatbots didn't work, and we didn't give customers a clear path to get what they needed. That has left an impression with many customers that AI is not the answer. However, if we can intentionally lead and design, proactively think about and deliver a customer journey that makes sense to the customer and weave AI through that to actually make it faster, easier, more accessible to them, then guess what? They're going to love it because it's all about what they're trying to

Trust Is Down So Design First

Jeannie Walters 3:47

do. Customer trust in AI has actually been declining since 2023. It was at an all-time high when we all started experimenting with generative AI through Chat GPT and all of that that happened. By 2025, customers were telling us that they found AI highly untrustworthy. And that number had doubled from 5% to 12%, more than doubled. So what that tells us is that we have to make sure that when they are experiencing anything with our brand, that the focus is still on the customer. What are they trying to do? We have to make sure we're not just rolling things out for the sake of efficiency or cost cutting. We have to make sure that it makes sense to the customer in that moment. If investment in AI is going up and trust in AI is going down, what does that actually tell us? The answer is we have to make sure that we are intentionally designing before deployment. Technology without experience is not intentional. We have to make sure the technology fits into the overall experience. This is really a time for customer experience leaders to lead because there is no good or bad here. There are a lot of places that we can actually use AI to better deliver to the customer. But the problem is right now the customers don't trust that happening because of the experiences they've had. In 2026, Clavio reported that 55% of customers said that there was one moment, they've had at least one moment, where AI genuinely impressed them. It suggested something for them. It gave them information that they couldn't find on their own, something to help them achieve their goal. So AI, just like humans, just like our processes, it can earn trust by delivering what the customer needs in the moment that they need it. But it can also destroy that trust if we are not looking at this as part of the customer experience and only as an internal process to improve efficiency or cost cutting. We have to lead the difference here. We have to make sure that as we have these big conversations around AI, which I know all of us are having right now, that we continually look at what is it doing for the customer and how does it actually deliver for them in that moment.

Three Questions To Guide AI

Jeannie Walters 6:15

So I'm going to give you three questions to ask this week. Number one, we want to shift from not asking how are we using AI or even are we using AI to what is working for the customer. If we find areas in the journey that aren't working for the customer, that might be a really good opportunity to pilot AI to see if we can actually deliver for them better. Now, if there are complex situations, highly nuanced, then of course we need to keep humans in the loop. So the first question: if you hear somebody say, are we using AI or how are we using AI, think about the moment in the customer journey where that's being used and actually ask that question, is it working for the customer? Question number two, what should this moment feel like? Because as we know, we are emotional creatures, our customers are emotional creatures. If we are not considering their emotions in that moment, we might be highly transactional and give them exactly what they need, but miss the connection point that could be created. Question number two, how should this moment feel for the customer? This is so important because if we don't think about this, we are missing opportunities to create emotional connections in moments that might feel highly transactional or robotic otherwise. With AI, we can personalize things, we can warm them up, and customers respond to that and appreciate it. There's also an idea between matching the response of the support to the task at hand. If we have something that's easy and customers are expecting it, we can lean into that automation a little bit more. Most of us have had the experience of forgetting a password. We know the drill now, we go through the process. We don't expect to call somebody or have somebody walk us through it. We all understand that. But if we have something complex and nuanced, we want somebody to talk to. It's very, very important that we think about what are the stakes, what are the emotions, and how should somebody feel in this moment, instead of just saying deploy AI. Question number three.

Match Automation To Emotional Stakes

Jeannie Walters 8:37

Instead of asking how do we scale or how can we scale this, I want us to ask, how can we always connect a human? The number one thing we hear from customers about the chatbot experience that can be so frustrating is that it can feel circular. They're asking the same questions. We can't get out. There's no option to talk to anyone. We have to look at every interaction and decide where is the escape hatch for customers? What if this isn't what they want? What if they are asking a question that is being misinterpreted by the AI? Or they might be getting information that they know is not correct. We need to give humans a way to talk to other humans, at least have a way that they can reach out and say, this is not working for me. Because actually providing that escape hatch is actually a signal of trust. We've got you. We will be prepared to help you. We're not just abandoning you with the robots. And then one non-negotiable here, we have to be transparent. People want to know who they're talking to. They want to know, are you real or not? We are getting into a world where there are so many ways to be deceived, frankly, that people want authentic connections. That means if they are talking to AI, we need to disclose that. If they are talking to a human, we need to give them an opportunity to know that as well. So as we move through this together, we will all be learning these different signals that imply trust or maybe deter us from trusting a brand. So your task this week is to ask those three questions. Is it working for the customer? What should this moment feel like for the customer? And can they always reach a human? If you can look at your AI strategies, the way you're implementing it, and answer those questions confidently, you will be able to provide a much better, more sustainable customer experience with AI. This isn't an either or. This is the world we're living in. And I want you to be as prepared as possible

Human Escape Hatches And Transparency

Jeannie Walters 10:47

for it. If you enjoyed this conversation and you want to dig in more, one of the best ways to do that is through our Customer Experience Investigators Membership. That's our community of practitioners and leaders just like you, who have access to all sorts of tool kits and coursework, as well as live events with me and even some coaching. I encourage you to check it out at cximembership.com. And of course, we love hearing from you. Please go ahead and rate and review this podcast if you enjoyed it. Share it with your network, and I hope to see you next week. Thanks for all the great work you're doing as the human that you are. If you're ready to turn insights into action, join CXI Membership, our community for customer experience investigators just like you. Get the tools, support, and inspiration to move from ideas to true impact. And don't miss my book, Experience is Everything: Making Every Moment Count in the Age of Customer Expectations. Available wherever you order books. Until next time, keep asking questions, keep improving, and keep leading with experience.