AI just raised the CX stakes (again)
How can marketers stay in the game?
AI is making us expect more from humans. Warning – simple, audience segment-based personalization is no longer enough to meet customers’ fast-changing needs.
It’s the latest chapter in the AI revolution – AI is prompting humans now. Its reliability trumps our inconsistency. The more we interact with it – via gen AI tools, virtual assistants, customer service bots, autonomous vehicles – the less tolerance we have for human messiness or unpredictability in the form of bad customer experience (CX).
And, let’s face it, we’re all short on time these days and are increasingly overwhelmed by choice, which ultimately makes us less patient with experiences that feel inefficient or misaligned with our preferences.
What does this mean for CX, and, by default, for personalization today?
AI - leading, not replacing humans
AI isn’t just a tool. It’s the one in charge, causing humans to simply respond, refine and adapt. And so AI doesn’t just redefine how we interact with technology – it forces us to question what we value most in our human connections. For marketers, that means that the human touch has got to really add value.
In this sense, CoreMedia’s co-founder and chief executive officer Sören Stamer says: “Customer experience isn’t about asking what your customers want anymore. It’s about predicting and delivering what they’ll love. With this depth of insight, you’re not just meeting needs, you’re anticipating desires before customers even realize them.”
“Customer experience isn’t about asking what your customers want anymore. It’s about predicting and delivering what they’ll love.”
The new CX battleground
And the stakes are high. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of consumers expect stellar CX in the form of personalized interactions these days. If they don’t get it? Thirty percent will take their custom elsewhere. And if they do? They’ll respond with higher customer satisfaction rates and deliver up to a 20% increase in sales.
However, despite the years of industry conversation, there’s still a gap between consumer expectations and the reality of their brand experience. A massive 95% of senior marketers say they’ve nailed their personalization strategies. But the majority of consumers beg to differ: 64% think companies neglect the human aspect of the online customer experience, according to global research from CoreMedia.
Tech precision with the human touch
When it comes to the winning CX strategies for 2025 and beyond, Stamer says: “The real question isn’t whether AI can lead. It’s whether we’re brave enough to follow.”
So, what does that look like for marketers? It looks like hyper-personalization – going beyond basic personalization to deliver real-time, AI-driven experiences that feel smooth and proactive, and that are balanced with the warmth, empathy and spontaneity of the human touch.
Nearly one in two consumers (45%) say that being able to initiate a direct conversation with a human advisor is essential for a satisfactory shopping experience. Think the travel company who serves up AI-powered holiday recommendations but also gives customers the option to connect to a human advisor who can share personal experiences. Or the chatbot which seamlessly hands over to a human agent for empathy and reassurance if it detects frustration or confusion from the customer.
These days, it can be tempting to hand everything over to the seamless efficiency, scale and precision of AI. But, says Stamer, “there’s no denying the emotional impact of human interactions in the digital space. They enrich the digital customer experience and make personalized marketing more authentic and valuable.”
“The real question isn’t whether AI can lead. It’s whether we’re brave enough to follow.”
One size fits none - ditch the demographics
At the core of these enriched customer experiences is the ability to truly understand each customer. And, for that, forget traditional segmentation that’s based on shared characteristics like demographics or interests. Today’s hyper-personalization demands real-time insights into individual behaviors, preferences, and interactions. That’s why savvy marketers are instead embracing AI-driven customer profiles as the backbone of their CX strategy.
These customer profiles consolidate data such as customers’ web interactions, purchase history, social media activity and direct feedback into one single, dynamic view. This enables businesses to deliver laser-focused messaging, pinpoint product recommendations, and serve up timely offers that resonate.
Done right, AI-driven profiles don’t just boost engagement; they continuously refine the customer experience, turning every interaction into a meaningful connection which boosts conversions. They’re not just about data, they’re about the customer.
Take, for example, Spanish telco company MásMóvil’s use of visitor profiles which drove a 20% uplift in conversion rates. MásMóvil works with CoreMedia to unify its online and offline call data, giving call center agents real-time access to visitors’ profiles. This means that agents are able to interact with customers on a much more personal basis, which boosts customer satisfaction and, in turn, sales.
Three steps to better hyper-personalization now
