As organizations increase their use of AI within both internal departments and external users,agentic AIdistinguishes itself by the ability to enhance customer experience through self-directed and partially self-directed activities. By facilitating quicker, more tailored interactions, agentic AI is increasing the need for effective methods to implement it on a large scale.
The evidence lies in the funding. The global autonomous agents market is valued at$4.35 billionin 2025 and is expected to exceed $100 billion by 2034 — representing a compound annual growth rate of over 42%. Microsoft’searlier projectionsa $3.50 return for every $1 invested in generative AI alone suggests even more potential for agentic investments.
Nevertheless, although automation might seem attractive for businesses constantly striving to achieve more with fewer resources, the danger comes from its improper implementation — resulting in digital versions of frustrating phone-tree cycles or unhelpful chatbots that cause annoyance instead of assistance.
What does AI that acts autonomously in customer interactions truly resemble — and what goals should companies strive for with it? Equally significant is the question of where automation might introduce complexity rather than benefits. Let's find out.
Personalized, proactive and predictive
Personalization has always been the ultimate goal in customer experience. Agentic AI makes this objective achievable by providing prompt, pertinent assistance that minimizes effort and avoids repeated contacts or escalations. Its worth is based on straightforward, practical commitments:
- Know the customer.
- Predict requirements by analyzing recent actions.
- Provide explicit follow-up actions in accordance with existing guidelines.
The reward has two aspects — increased satisfaction and reduced escalations. Here's how this appears in reality.
What this appears like to customers
- Wireless plan usage:In the middle of the month, a family is nearing their data limit. They receive a straightforward message offering two choices: a short-term increase or switching to a different plan, including cost, effective date, and an option to revert automatically later. No technical terms, no need to call.
- Retail delivery slip:If a shipment is unable to arrive within the specified timeframe, the customer receives a notification offering an alternative product or a pickup option, along with a minor credit when suitable. They can select their preferred choice with a single tap and receive a confirmed delivery date.
- B2B onboarding stall: A new account isn't utilizing key features by the second week. The admin receives a brief notification explaining what's lacking, a 10-minute guided onboarding session to begin, and a follow-up with their CSM only if adoption doesn't improve.
What marketing executives can do
- Begin with explicit customer commitments:Create straightforward, user-friendly guidelines that your teams can realistically follow (for example, "We will inform you before you go over your plan," "We will suggest options if there is a delay"). These help establish expectations and direct AI actions.
- Prioritize moments that matter: Identify three to five key stages in the customer experience where timely assistance significantly impacts results (such as increased usage, shipping issues, or early adoption) and establish monthly goals for First-Contact Resolution, time to resolve, and complaint levels during these specific instances.
- Keep offers straightforward and limited:Offer a few approved choices that customers can quickly access with a few taps (low-value credits, flexible rescheduling, plan changes that are simple to undo). Make sure each option can be clearly described in one sentence.
What to avoid
- Personalization that adds steps:If the customer needs to input information again or evaluate complicated options, it is not beneficial.
- Messages that are forward-looking and do not require a specific action:Each warning should present the customer with one or two choices to consider, rather than a link to "learn more."
- Pursuing distraction as the objective:Monitor the key results (quicker resolution, reduced follow-up interactions, improved CSAT/NPS) and allow self-service to take place.
Tailored, forward-thinking, and anticipatory approaches should result in fewer unexpected issues and quicker decisions for clients, rather than just appealing language. Establish clear commitments, concentrate on a limited number of significant interactions, and maintain focused options.
Dig deeper: Your site isn't prepared for AI agents — here's what must be updated
Navigating complex pathways
Customers interact through various channels and devices—frequently switching between them during their journey—while still demanding quickness, clarity, and uniformity. Agentic AI provides the greatest benefit when customer requirements span multiple stages, systems, and departments.
The role of marketing is to minimize the effort customers experience during intricate middle-stage processes—like moving, returning items, renewing services, and changing plans—and to make sure all commitments are consistently met across all platforms. It involves large-scale collaboration: the assistant recognizes what the customer is aiming to achieve, bridges any gaps, and helps them progress smoothly without needing to switch between different support points.
What this implies for clients
- Telecom move: A customer updates their address and is walked through service availability, appointment choices, and any billing changes in one process. They don't need to restate information or call back to verify anything — they simply get a straightforward confirmation along with the next steps.
- Return of mixed items in retail:A customer begins the return process and is immediately informed about where each item should be sent, when they can expect the refund, and whether any additional services are available. Labels are created, pickup options are provided if necessary, and automatic updates on the status are sent.
- B2B software access issue: A user is unable to view a feature after an organizational change. The assistant verifies their role, outlines the components of their plan, and either grants access or directs them to the appropriate owner with a clear summary. The user is not redirected between IT and the vendor.
What marketing executives can do
- Prioritize journeys, not channels: Identify the top three complex processes that create obstacles and take full responsibility from start to finish (such as getting started, returning items, modifying or renewing plans). Establish clear service commitments and ensure they are upheld through every channel.
- Establish basic guidelines for interaction:Define the ideal outcomes (time to resolve issues, resolving problems on the first contact, and the rate of complaints) along with a few simple, easy-to-understand guidelines (what can be provided, when a human is involved, and what needs to be clarified). These are choices made by leaders, not technical matters.
- Make progress visible: Review a brief dashboard on a weekly basis, identifying where customers are encountering difficulties, the number of cases that are resolved without handoffs, and the impact on satisfaction and revenue. Recognize improvements that remove steps or clarify policies, rather than just focusing on the volume handled.
What to avoid
- Channel-by-channel fixes. Improving chat or email alone often doesn't make a difference if the overall process is flawed.
- Over-personalization without clarity. A friendly tone can't compensate for confusing policies or unclear actions.
- Measuring displacement rather than results.Achieve quicker resolution and reduce the need for follow-up calls. View deviation as an outcome, not the primary objective.
For marketers, the key is coordination, not creating new scripts. Choose the most important customer journeys, establish rules and commitments focused on the customer, and review progress every week. If you simplify steps and eliminate handoffs using AI, customers will recognize the difference and outcomes will enhance.
Dig deeper: Six typical challenges in agentic AI and ways to prevent them
Combining human and agentic
The most effective customer interactions combine the efficiency of AI with human insight. Teams require well-defined guidelines on when to use automation and when to involve a customer service agent — a straightforward rule applies: automation manages standard tasks, while humans address exceptions, financial matters, and emotional situations.
What this implies for clients
Below are examples of situations where well-defined guidelines dictate whether the system should rely on human input or carry out automated actions.
- B2B renewal change: The assistant detects times of low usage and suggests switching to a smaller plan. When the customer has questions about the contract, a customer service manager joins in with a pre-prepared summary. All subsequent documentation and confirmations are managed automatically.
- Airline disruption: The assistant reschedules the traveler and provides seat options. When the AI identifies a family with specific needs, it automatically prioritizes the traveler for an agent who can help finalize the seating and arrange necessary accommodations. The system's AI manages confirmations and receipts automatically.
- Healthcare plan questions: The assistant's initial questions to a customer wishing to switch plans are aimed at narrowing down the options by identifying the specific doctors and medications the customer needs covered. When the customer raises concerns about costs, a certified representative enters the conversation using a pre-prepared script. Following the discussion, the assistant automatically finishes the enrollment process and records the selected choices.
What marketing executives can do
Achieving success by integrating human and automated methods involves several key elements. Leaders can begin by focusing on a few specific areas.
- Set handoff rules: Create basic triggers that involve a human in a customer discussion (for example, when a significant financial issue is mentioned, the system identifies recurring problems in a process step, or a delicate subject comes up). Ensure customers can easily request to talk to a representative whenever they want.
- Make the handoff frictionless: Ensure the system consistently provides the customer with a single-screen overview of the discussion after each transfer from a human agent: the customer's objective, tasks accomplished, available choices, and upcoming actions.
- Measure the blended experience:Monitor essential performance indicators along the customer journey (AI-only, human-only, and combined) and prioritize paths that minimize customer effort and speed up solutions, rather than focusing solely on reducing handling time.
What to avoid
Certainly, success involves understanding what is not suitable for an ideal customer experience. Leaders must also be cautious of obstacles that can easily hinder initiatives aimed at making automation focused on the customer.
- Forced containment: Preventing a customer from connecting with an individual represents a flaw in experience design that undermines trust and frequently leads to grievances via alternative avenues.
- Context resets: If a customer is required to restate details or make selections after being transferred, the issue lies with the system, not the customer.
- Scripted empathy: Employ agents when expenses, dangers, or emotional stakes are significant. Utilize AI to enhance human interactions, rather than replace them.
Achieving success through a combined strategy:Combine artificial intelligence with human input, allowing AI to quickly eliminate routine obstacles while people manage situations involving risk or requiring decision-making.
Create clear guidelines for handoffs, demand thorough transfers with full information, and monitor results based on customer input and the rate of resolution, rather than shifting responsibility.
Dig deeper: Managing customer experience in the era of agentive AI
Success requires mindset shifts
To leverage the potential of an agent-driven customer experience strategy, marketers can start by focusing on the three mental transformations required for success:
From initiatives to ongoing support
CX is a continuous system that remains active, monitoring for signals and acting according to policy, rather than relying on scheduled updates. Allow teams to define their own event triggers, consent rules, and action limits, then refine them weekly using FCR, time-to-resolution, and complaint rate metrics.
From content-first to policy-and-data-first
Make sure you have approved identity, rights, and current policies in place before proceeding with creation. Create workflows that verify qualification, support responses with credible references, and operate within defined boundaries (e.g., credits up to $25, a 7-day rescheduling period). This will reduce the need for revisions, enhance traceability, and ensure consistent personalization across platforms and languages.
From automation aimed at deflecting issues to automation focused on achieving results
Improve agent interactions to achieve quantifiable customer results, rather than merely managing issues. Define specific goals and evaluate the effectiveness of AI-only, human, and combined approaches. Support agents in speeding up human tasks, mandate escalation when risks or uncertainties exceed limits, and integrate corrections into prompts, policies, and tools during regular review cycles.
Adopting these changes enables marketing and CX leaders to maintain control while providing quicker solutions, reduced effort, and uniform experiences across a larger scope.
Dig deeper: 60% of consumers anticipate utilizing AI assistants within the next 12 months
Making agentic AI work
Agentic AI has the potential to simplify and accelerate addressing customer requirements — that's all. The route is clear:
- Define clear promises.
- Orchestrate complex end-to-end journeys.
- Integrate automation with human insight in situations involving significant financial stakes, risk, or emotional involvement.
When top executives concentrate on these three factors, customers will experience the effects initially — and the statistics will come in turn.
Chief Marketing Officers and Customer Experience leaders are responsible for the guidelines of interaction, not the infrastructure.
- Establish basic guidelines — what the assistant can provide, when a person becomes involved.
- Focus teams on a limited number of high-impact paths to enhance performance.
- Review outcomes weekly.
Positive outcomes result from reduced handoffs, shorter cycles, more straightforward decisions, and consistent increases in satisfaction and income. Maintain a focused strategy, make adjustments using data, and expand only those elements that demonstrably enhance performance.
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