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April 11th 2025
How much AI can a good customer experience tolerate?
This is the question posed in the latest article by our CEO Herbert Höckel on the marktforschung.de portal. Höckel has been writing about artificial intelligence as a (potentially) very effective tool for better CX for years - including in his book ‘Think like your customers - to understand and inspire them’ (in German only).
We hope you enjoy reading it!
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How much AI can a good customer experience take? This is the question posed in this dossier.PLUS.
The question should rather be: Does every AI innovation really improve every single station in the customer journey? That remains to be seen. But there is no doubt that new, generative AI tools are strengthening our ability to optimise, enhance, accelerate and make our customers' experiences more cost-effective.
Can multilingual real-time avatars be helpful for users looking for valuable insights? Absolutely!
Do AI-based SAAS (Software-as-a-Service) applications bring efficiency and convenience gains for a customer? The potential is definitely huge!
AI will change every single phase of the research process!
Will it improve the customer experience if market research institutes completely re-streamline all process steps from problem identification to data collection and production, analysis, pattern recognition, evaluation and consulting? Steve Philipps, CEO of Zappi, which received USD 170 million in venture capital in 2023 to integrate AI into pre-testing, gives the following answer: ‘AI will disrupt and change every single phase of the research process’. He is right. 100%!
Of course, the latter in particular first requires the institute to invest in internal workflows and break up existing structures. The latest AI applications can then ensure that processes that used to take several days or even weeks can now be completed in a fraction of the time.
This opens up completely new opportunities for our industry: for example, we can focus much more on our customers, for more intensive support within the business relationship. This will enable us to ensure that the data we obtain is translated even more effectively in the interests of our customers. In the long term, we are developing into an accompanying coach or, in other words, a Chief Understanding Officer.
Every customer values good CX differently!
How well the customer experience is assessed by individual customers naturally depends on their individual needs. If, for example, it is ‘only’ a matter of rather simple questions such as A/B tests or the assessment of packaging designs, convenient DIY tools will probably soon dominate the market even more - or even semi-autonomous do-it-together solutions in which we market researchers accompany the process and at the end at least provide support in interpreting the results.
These results will also increasingly be delivered by synthetic test subjects, fed with data from previous ‘real’ consumer panels. This means that immediate answers to almost any question are possible - again realised using the latest AI algorithms.
Doesn't that already sound as if the customer journey today is heading straight for an AI-powered land of milk and honey? But it's not quite that clear-cut (yet). At least not when it comes to new and substantial insights that affect people themselves: Their emotions, their expectations of the future and their sometimes contradictory behaviour in an economic, social or interpersonal context.
Beware of reproduced patterns and self-nurturing algorithms.
When it comes to high-quality, valid and reliable information, even the best process and decision-making algorithms will not suffice if the underlying data merely reproduces past patterns and perhaps even ‘feeds’ itself in the end. This will always (and will continue to!) require people to be interviewed or observed online, face-to-face or by telephone.
But even with traditional survey methods, the data-related superpowers of AI tools help us to recognise patterns that even experienced professionals can easily miss. We are already using the technology to identify even the most hidden trends and are delighted with the lightning-fast processing of the results. More depth of data and greater speed, also and above all at the relevant touchpoints with customers - these are clear advantages that are also reflected in the customer experience.
So: How much AI can a good customer experience take?
As is so often the case: it depends! Not every customer needs and wants the full programme of technical innovations. It is up to us to recognise this and provide the best possible catalogue of services. However, the use of AI for central data collection and processing should already be mandatory, as the gains in efficiency and effectiveness are too great.
The future of market research still lies in balanced collaboration between man and machine. By combining the strengths of AI with human empathy and strategic thinking, we can gain deeper, more relevant insights. This tandem makes our services better (almost) everywhere.
AI must not remain a black box!
Nevertheless, we must always remain vigilant and scrutinise which data is being used by the systems. AI must never be allowed to work uncontrolled, but must always be scrutinised for distortions, data protection aspects and programmatic weaknesses - so that it does not remain a black box, which it still is for most people.
We also need to recognise at all times when it is not the algorithm but the human being that belongs at the centre of the action. As the sole bearer of knowledge, emotions and experience. After all, it is only fresh, new insights that ultimately provide the basis for determining whether we are showing our customers the right strategic path for their business. And thus the most important prerequisite for any good customer experience, whether with or without the help of AI.
Herbert Höckel is a managing partner here at moweb research GmbH. He has been a market researcher for more than 25 years. In 2004 he founded moweb GmbH, which he is still the owner today. moweb from Düsseldorf operates internationally and is one of the first German market research institutes specializing in digital processes.