Customer experience trends like generative AI, proactive outreach and agent assist can all help organizations ensure they can attract and keep customers.

The customer journey is evolving rapidly, driven by advancements in technology and heightened expectations for seamless, personalized experiences.

Savvy CX leaders use technology to revamp operational processes to help address company problems or opportunities. In its “Customer Experience Optimization 2024-25” global study of 544 companies, Metrigy identified technology trends that will shape customer experience. From harnessing generative AI (GenAI) to integrating augmented reality, explore seven transformative trends to evaluate during strategic planning.

1. Voice of the customer using AI insights

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Gaining competitive advantage requires careful focus and action. Foremost, you have to know the baseline and topline is for any business measurement. That’s where benchmarking comes in, but many companies either don’t do it—or they don’t do it properly.

Benchmarking has become a vital practice for successful companies in their adoption and application of customer-facing technologies. By evaluating what successful companies are doing, they can adjust their own strategies to continually raise the bar for a better customer experience.

During this webinar, we’ll discuss the benefits of benchmarking and how to avoid the pitfalls. We’ll also show a real-world tool to help you benchmark your CX strategy against those demonstrating the highest measurable improvements. We will address these questions:

Why Contact Center Benchmarking Matters: Benefits and Pitfalls of Comparisons

Presented by: Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst, Metrigy
Justin Robbins, Chief Evangelist, 8×8

Date: June 26, 2024
Time: 11:00 am ET

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Customer Sentiment and Business Success Define Award Program

April 24, 2024 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy announced winners of its 2024 Customer Experience MetriStar program in 12 key technology areas that drive successful customer interactions.

CX, IT, and business leaders rated their vendors’ performance and provided associated business success across the CX technologies, resulting in 51 MetriStar Top Provider Awards.

Metrigy determines these results based solely on insights from 1,566 CX, IT, and business leaders with decision-making, operational, and/or procurement responsibilities for specific technologies in our Customer Experience MetriCast 2024 global research study. The MetriStar Award’s value is that it is based on customer ratings of providers, as well as quantitative metrics correlating the use of a vendor’s products and services with measurable business success.

“MetriStar winners have performed where it matters—with their customers,” says Robin Gareiss, Metrigy CEO and principal analyst. “Metrigy conducts extensive, primary research to determine customer satisfaction, as well as business success derived from using select vendors. We gather and scrutinize customer feedback to ensure the best possible data set.”

Metrigy’s MetriStar reports cover the following CX technology areas:

Each report features three recognitions, as follows:

Customer sentiment analysis: Using a 1-to-10 scale, research participants rate providers on a variety of key performance indicators, including technical features, response time to problems or questions, reliability, security, AI capabilities, value, innovation, and more. Those with an overall mean score that is at or above average achieved “Top Customer Sentiment.”

Business success analysis: Study participants provide data on changes to their business metrics, such as revenue, average handle time, agent attrition, and customer satisfaction, among others, resulting from the specified technology initiatives. Metrigy then calculates the average of each providers’ customers that were at or better than average for each area. Vendors with at- or higher-than-average percentage of their customers with successful metrics achieved “Top Business Success.”

Those providers that are top in both of the metrics are awarded a MetriStar Top Provider Award. For more details, please see our MetriSight podcast announcing the results.

This year’s MetriStar Top Provider winners (in alphabetical order) are as follows:

Another 61 vendors won awards for either customer sentiment or business success.

Metrigy’s MetriStar Top Provider reports help companies choose the best provider for each respective category. Metrigy clients have access to the reports, and they are available for purchase on our website at www.metrigy.com.

Metrigy Releases Customer Experience Optimization 2023-24 Research Study

This study evaluates how successful companies are optimizing their customer experience from both their own experience–and that of their end customers.

October 5, 2023 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its Customer Experience Optimization 2023-24 research study, revealing CX adoption, strategy, and technology directions for 641 companies globally. Additionally, in a companion study, Metrigy surveyed 500 consumers to understand what they like and dislike about the technology they use to interact with businesses.

“CX and IT leaders continue to evolve their companies’ CX strategies, focusing on three core areas: worker-focused programs, such as workforce optimization; the addition and improvement of applications and channels, including generative AI; and foundational projects, such as platform integration. Consumers are taking notice, with nearly 48% noting that technology is starting to have a positive impact on their engagements with customer service, ” says Robin Gareiss, Metrigy CEO and Principal Analyst.

This study covers the following areas:

Metrigy has a webinar series on this research study available on its BrightTALK channel. The episodes, available on demand, are:

This report, as well the related consumer study, are available for purchase on our website at:

Metrigy Releases Customer Experience Optimization: 2023-24 Consumer Perspective Research Study

This study, conducted in May 2023, features responses from 502 consumers in the U.S.

October 5, 2023 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its Customer Experience Optimization: 2023-24 Consumer Perspective research study. Metrigy conducted research with 502 consumers in the U.S. to understand what they like and dislike about the technology they use to interact with businesses.

“Consumers today have high expectations regarding customer service—and little patience when they’re disappointed in the experience. On average, they’ll give a company three chances, and then take their business elsewhere. Companies can’t afford not to understand what’s working and what’s not as part of their CX strategies,” says Matt Craig, Metrigy Chief Data Scientist.

Metrigy conducted this consumer research in conjunction with a benchmark study of 641 companies on their CX adoption, technology, and strategy directions. With a never-ending set of technology options for interacting with customers, CX and IT leaders are continuously evaluating and changing their applications, services, and operational processes. In this study with CX and IT leaders, Metrigy evaluated how successful companies are optimizing the use of their CX technologies, and explored the gaps between companies and consumers on CX.

The consumer-facing CX Optimization study covers the following areas:

Some key findings in this study include:

This study is available for purchase on our website here.

AI reduces need for new hires, boosts revenue, improves CSAT, and more…

This is the first of a three-part series examining how companies are transforming their customer experience strategies through the use of technology.

Artificial intelligence is fast becoming must-have technology for any successful customer engagement strategy. As our research shows, the documented improvements derived from the different types of AI (as shown in the following graph) are dramatically transforming how efficiently companies serve their customers.

Already, companies have AI-enabled 28 applications used for customer experience (CX), with plans to reach 72 applications by 2025, according to Metrigy’s Customer Experience Optimization 2023-24 global research study of 641 companies. AI is involved with resolving an average of 44.5% of customer interactions, which Metrigy projects will increase to 60.9% by 2025. Agent assist (software that leverages various types of AI to provide agents in-the-moment advice, information, and context to improve customer service or sales) is the most widely adopted use of AI so far (39.4%)—and with good reason. It reduces Average Handle Time (AHT) by 27.2%.

When used in customer engagement initiatives, the results are clear: AI is driving measurable success across several metrics, according to the study.

General use of AI in CX initiatives improves revenue by 19.6%, increases customer ratings by 20.5%, and boosts agent efficiency by 12.7%. Our research success group—those companies with higher-than-average success in multiple advanced CX technologies—shows even more impressive results, including 38% revenue increase, 45.8% customer ratings improvement, 5.6% operational cost decline, and 36% efficiency boost.

CX Transformation Takes Off

Figures like those are truly transformative. Indeed, in 2023 we have seen a huge jump in the number of companies transforming their customer experience: 82.7% of companies have completed, are in the process of completing, or planning a CX transformation project, up from only 53% in 2022.

By definition, CX transformation is the innovative application of new or existing technologies to improve the customer and/or agent experience to drive measurable business value.

AI is serving as a catalyst for change. Though some projects are foundational, such as platform integration or adding management tools, others involve new applications and channels. For example, 41.2% say their project involves adding or improving virtual assistants and chatbots, and 41.0% cite generative AI as their project. (More on generative AI in the next post in this series.)

AI’s Effect on Staffing

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With automated customer surveys, organizations can get data in real time to improve their marketing, sales and customer service strategies. And AI’s role is still growing.

Over 40% of companies run formal voice of the customer programs to obtain feedback, context and insights directly from customers. The results aim to improve everything from agent performance to customer satisfaction to revenue.

CX leaders gather customer insights through various methods, including focus groups, one-to-one discussions, website statistics, social media and surveys. While nearly half of companies use standard surveys, one third use AI-enabled surveys to gather feedback, according to Metrigy’s “Customer Insights and Analytics: 2023-24” global research study.

To automate the delivery of post-interaction surveys, organizations typically use communications platform as a service. Still, AI plays a role in a few ways. It can track when trends emerge from responses in real time and automatically add new branching questions that determine the cause. AI can also read through open-ended responses and draw conclusions.

The role of customer satisfaction surveys in contact centers

Not every contact center uses surveys, but the most successful ones do. They send surveys broadly and after each interaction to gauge feedback on products, services, branding, marketing programs, etc. — anything the company wants.

Contact center leaders evaluate all the responses, and over 60% of those who gather customer feedback act upon it. Most leaders then share feedback with employees. Other actions that leaders take include the following:

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