How are you using AI to enhance your customer experience?

Broadly, AI can help in three areas: Interface, insights, and infrastructure. And all of them are to do with enhancing – not eliminating – the human touch.

Let’s look at that with an analogy of the old-style deli owner, who knew everybody who came into their shop. I knew somebody like that, way back when I was a kid.

1. Interface

I would sometimes go to the deli after school, and the owner knew me. He remembered what I liked, asked me how school was, and sometimes suggested something new. It felt personal and warm – and it was also good business. He ran his business well by knowing his customers, managing his stock, and responding to what was happening around him.

Now, AI can help us do the same – on a bigger scale. You can use AI first at the customer interface – through your website, contact centre, app, and in person.

If you think I’m talking about chatbots, you’re right. It’s the fastest way to add AI. The earliest chatbots were very basic – only able to respond with simple scripts. But they are now much better, and can hold reasonable conversations with people – both with written text and voice.

AI chatbots also help human customer service agents. A customer might be speaking to a person, and behind the scenes, that person uses AI to pull up the customer history, past issues they have faced, business policies to help the customer, and so on.

2. Insights

The deli owner from my youth wasn’t just able to recognise me and talk to me when I walked into the deli. Based on what he knew about me, he could also recommend things that I might be interested in in the future.

In the same way, AI helps you understand your customers by analysing their past behaviour – and the behaviour of others just like them. It draws on everything from individual purchase history to wider behavioural trends, letting you personalise messages, offers, and interactions.

We know this when interacting with platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify – who have been doing this for years. The result is more precise targeting and better recommendations. Instead of making generic offers, AI uses real data to be more relevant, more helpful, and more likely to connect in a meaningful way.

3. Infrastructure

A business is only as good as its back-end infrastructure. This isn’t as visible to customers, but it still affects them. For example, the deli owner knew to stock up on ice cream in summer and hot pies in winter!

AI can do the same – and in even more sophisticated ways. It can help manage inventory by forecasting demand, adjusting stock levels, or even suggesting product placement based on customer flow. It can also help you adapt to external factors like seasons, weather, or local events.

You can also apply AI to workforce management – like rostering staff based on expected foot traffic, customer demand, or past patterns. Or use it to optimise delivery routes, monitor supply chains, or improve internal systems. A better infrastructure supports a better customer experience.

How are you managing these three areas with AI?

If you’re getting started with AI, explore opportunities in each of these three aareas. You don’t need to do everything at once. But even starting in one of these areas can make a big difference.

For more, download my free report, "AI-Powered Customer Experience":

https://swiy.co/go-human-touch-ai-brain

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