AI has become an integral part of the modern business landscape, with some brands already leveraging its power to transform their operations. In a recent Gladly Connect Live 2024 panel, CX leaders from three brands — Rothy’s, Breeze Airways, and BSN Sports — discuss their journey into AI adoption, the business cases they’re testing, and the diverse strategies they’re implementing for AI. The results so far? Reduced CX costs, higher efficiency, and an enhanced customer experience.
How Rothy’s’ Lauren Inman-Semerau Is Using AI to Reduce Costs and Keep the Customer Experience On-Brand
Lauren Inman-Semerau, Head of Customer Experience at Rothy’s, considers the rise of AI to be an excellent opportunity for innovation within the customer service space: “We always knew AI was coming — [Rothy’s] is excited about what AI can do for customer service and the company as a whole. [So I figure], let’s try something fun, let’s play, let’s figure it out. Customer service is a good and safe base for companies to use AI.”
As for one of the primary reasons she’s using AI?
“[We want to use] AI to absorb costs at scale,” says Lauren. “What do I actually want to pay people to do? [Sure, there’s] the KPIs — how to reduce average handle time, cost per contact, etcetera — but for me, the bigger thing is, how do I want to use my existing agents who I am paying?”
Lauren believes that AI can not only help reduce labor costs by taking over the tedious, mundane tasks but can also generate more revenue by creating free time to nurture and train her agents to become brand ambassadors, bring the in-store experience to life, and grow additional skills including upselling.
That’s what brought Lauren and Rothy’s to Gladly Sidekick — our consumer-facing AI solution that enables data-rich, personalized self-service experiences across channels.
“For us, we have a big-picture vision at Rothy’s. If you’ve ever been to [one of our] retail stores, they’re well curated; they reflect the brand. Our agents are called brand ambassadors. I work really hard to have those ambassadors bring that brand experience to life. For me, AI is allowing my brand ambassadors to do that at a deeper level.”
“All of that low-hanging fruit, get it done — get it out to the queue. AI can do that while I’m working to upscale the rest of the agents so they can have deep knowledge of the product, start to sell, and surprise and delight…I want [my brand ambassadors] to be revenue generators and product experts.”
Lauren also credits AI for keeping the customer experience on-brand. “Before Sidekick, I wasn’t interested in anything — I didn’t see any bot I liked until Sidekick. We could have done a widget with our social vendor, but it couldn’t give branded answers…it was doing a good job learning, but it was hard to get the brand tone and voice [right].”