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The majority of customers (73%) now say CX is the number one thing they consider when deciding on a purchase. CX also drives two-thirds of customer loSeven out of ten companies increased their digital CX budgets in 2023—for good reason. yalty—more than brand and price combined.

Yet even with a laser focus on providing exceptional customer experiences, over 70% of CX leaders struggle to design initiatives that actually increase loyalty and retention. In fact, U.S. businesses lose more than $35 billion annually in customer churn caused by avoidable CX issues.

A lot of this boils down to ineffective personalization. While 85% of brands believe they offer a personalized customer experience, only 60% of consumers agree. 

Like it or not, your customers don’t consider lightning-fast, hyper-relevant, self-driven interactions an indulgence, but a baseline expectation. To remain competitive—let alone stand out—companies now need to offer more than “lack of friction.” 

Autonomous CX represents the next evolution of personalized digital experiences. Leveraging generative AI to respond to real-time customer behavior, this technology will completely transform individual interactions and CX as a whole. Today we’ll take at some of the biggest barriers to best-in-class customer experiences, how autonomous CX actually works, and why it’s so disruptive.

3 reasons for disappointing customer experiences

A whopping 54% of U.S. consumers believe most companies can improve their customer experience. So what keeps getting in the way?

1. Misaligned customer expectations and reality: There’s a significant gap between CX technology and what customers are actually experiencing on the other side. Part of the problem is that companies often struggle to understand their customers in the context of a holistic journey rather than segregated touchpoints. “Think of it like the butterfly effect. A specific error or struggle at any point can actually affect the entire experience,” says Yaron Gueta, CPO/CTO at Glassbox.

2. Limited technical personalization: Personalization isn’t just about delivering the right message to the right person on the right channel at the right time. It also means customers can easily and consistently perform the same combination of actions, regardless of their device. 

Although responsive design can deploy multiple layouts according to screen dimensions, your customers’ digital experiences can be impacted by a vast number of variables, from operating system to pixel density. This degree of technical nuance is often excluded from personalization efforts. 

Your site or app may display differently on desktop and mobile devices, but that’s not the same thing as a truly responsive digital experience that adapts to real-time customer behavior instead of hard-coded screen dimensions.

3. Manual optimization: CX technology has enabled companies to automatically capture every tap, click and swipe. However, the way teams actually work with that data behind the scenes is often a manual and cumbersome process. Even with a sophisticated tech stack, optimizing any aspect of the digital experience can easily require weeks of testing, validating feedback and implementing changes across multiple teams.

Autonomous CX: Improving customer interactions in real-time

Commonly associated with ChatGPT, generative AI can create and modify content, including markup language and programming code. What does that mean for CX? Essentially, your site or app can employ generative AI to adjust its own interface and display different variations in response to real-time customer behavior. This is autonomous CX—digital experiences that can auto-enhance interactions for any individual.

While standard CX tools like heatmaps and session replays already identify rage clicks, page refreshes and other signs of struggle, autonomous CX goes even further by addressing friction as it occurs. For example, if someone abandons a form, this could be for several reasons, like unclear language or a particular field getting pushed below the fold. Autonomous CX can simplify the language and reconfigure the layout for the customer’s precise screen dimensions, self-optimizing on the spot. "We believe autonomous CX will be a game-changer in the CX domain,” says Gueta.

That being said, there are some potential limitations to be mindful of. AI-enabled technology is only as good as its underlying data, and autonomous CX is no exception. A holistic CX intelligence function that can vividly capture the intricacies and nuance of any digital experience—consolidating product analytics, web/app analytics, technical performance and voice of the customer (VoC) data—will equip autonomous CX to perform to its fullest capabilities and effectively improve real-time customer interactions. 

Back to you

For all the investment in CX technology, customers are still frequently left wanting more from their digital experiences. Failed expectations, insufficient personalization, and a lengthy road to even minor improvements are all partially to blame. In leveraging generative AI, autonomous CX doesn’t just smooth out sources of friction or optimize internal processes. More than anything, it enables real personalization: digital experiences that respond to individual behavior.

Hear from top digital and CX experts as they discuss how AI can elevate your digital customer experience in this video.