By Simon Glass

Let’s face it—despite all the lip service from companies that the customer is always right or that they are committed to providing the ultimate customer experience, this is not always the reality. Is it because no one cares? Doubtful. Maybe it is a matter of resources or the inability to truly understand and fulfill their needs and desires. 

Whatever the reason, companies need to recalibrate their thinking when it comes to how they interact with and serve their customers. There’s just one rule to follow and despite its simplicity, I suspect half of organizations will forget to follow it. The unbreakable rule that organizations repeatedly ignore is keeping the customer at the center of their business.

How can they do this? Generative artificial intelligence (AI) may be the answer. The advent of generative AI has given businesses of all sizes one of the greatest game changers since the Internet itself was invented. By now, you’ve probably heard all the buzz around applications like ChatGPT, DALL-E and Bard that are taking the business world by storm, promising to replace more mundane daily tasks and help companies and their employees become more efficient. 

In my line of work in the market research industry, we are seeing an increased focus on improving the customer experience and creating brand loyalty. Customer buying habits and attitudes are changing at a rapid pace, and companies need to pay attention. Leading brands are doubling down on understanding customer perspectives and market research is a key tool in knowing the pulse of the customer’s feelings, desires, and frustrations. 

Truly understanding this at a deeper level at scale, though, means bringing much more structure and guidance in the journey of talking with target audiences and determining key insights across all those conversations. 

Generative AI technology has very real potential to facilitate this process by enabling brands to identify service-related themes more quickly, as well as help bring better information and guidance to team members that are engaging with customers which will lead to solving issues faster and driving long-term loyalty.

So how can generative AI help your business not only survive but thrive? Let’s take a look. 

Personalizing the Customer Experience

Using machine learning, generative AI can analyze customer data and behavior and use that information to create more personalized products and services. As we all know, acquiring a new customer is more time consuming and cost intensive than retaining an existing customer. So, knowing and providing for your existing customer’s specific needs can pay dividends. Taking a more targeted approach can increase customer satisfaction and lead to repeat business and increased revenue. 

Reducing Labor Costs

No one wants to be consumed with busy work. It is also a huge drain on company resources, yet it needs to get done. By automating some tasks such as data entry, invoicing, and customer service, businesses can reduce the need for manual labor and save money. Generative AI won’t replace humans, but it can be a force multiplier by taking on more trivial, repetitive tasks and giving workers the opportunity to do more strategic and impactful work. In the end, having more meaningful work can also lead to providing better customer support.

Opening New Opportunities

There is a gold mine in the mounds of data being generated by today’s businesses. Analyzing this data can be daunting and oftentimes it isn’t utilized to its full potential due to a lack of resources. However generative AI can automate the analysis of both structured and unstructured data and more quickly identify patterns that can provide valuable business insights. In addition, it may produce connections between the data that would have otherwise gone unnoticed by a human. With these insights in hand, businesses can make more informed decisions and more effectively engage with customers to stay ahead of the competition. 

While generative AI is relatively in its infancy, the global AI market is forecast to see rapid growth in the coming years, reaching more than half a trillion dollars by 2023. The ability to automate business processes will shift the landscape of every company, helping them gain a competitive edge by delivering a better customer experience and increasing the efficiency of their day-to-day workflow.

If you’re not paying attention to these new innovations, you are missing the boat. Just like every other business decision, leaders need to look closely at their bottom line and find ways to reach their goals and objectives in the most efficient manner possible.  

While businesses continue to face new challenges, they must remember to keep the customer at the center of their business and arm themselves with the best tools and services to successfully navigate them. It is not just a strategy for keeping your business afloat but should be a best practice all the time.

About the author

Simon Glass is the CEO of Discuss.