From “Meh” to “Wow”: How to boost CSAT with AI

It would be strange to explain what CSAT is. Most of you (hopefully) already know what it stands for. But also the importance of the KPIs.

Most business leaders today don’t need convincing about the power of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the Zendesk Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2024, 65 percent of CX leaders see AI as a strategic necessity that has made previous CX operations obsolete and dated.

Read that again.

But many businesses are still learning how to use advanced AI to improve the customer experience (CX). Luckily, we’ve got a few ideas on how you can leverage AI for CX to provide faster and more personalized customer interactions.Enter AI.

Concentrix’s iX Hello and iX Hero provide the modern CX infrastructure needed to transform CSAT (and many other KPIs and business areas for that matter, but here we’ll just be focusing on this end) from a number on a report to a reflection of genuine customer delight.

1. The Reality: Why CSAT is Hard to Improve

Let’s be honest. Customers are frustrated:

Endless menus and long waits: Ever heard “Press 1 for billing… Press 2 for account info…”? By the time customers reach a human agent, they’re already irritated.
Repetition fatigue: Customers hate repeating their issue across channels or agents.
Limited availability: 9–5 support doesn’t match global customer needs.
Language barriers: Multilingual support is hard to scale.
Survey fatigue: Post-interaction surveys catch only a fraction of customer sentiment.

The result: low CSAT, frustrated customers, and increased churn.

Research backs this up: according to a research, a 1% CSAT increase can lead to 61.7% higher customer loyalty, and poor experiences directly affect retention and revenue.

2. Why Traditional CSAT Strategies Fail

Many companies try to “fix” CSAT with quick wins: more training, scripted responses, or discount offers. But these are band-aids, not solutions.

Post-call surveys miss the mark: Only 5–15% of customers respond, leaving blind spots.
Agent-only focus: Coaching doesn’t address systemic product or process issues.
Tech silos: CRM, KB, chat, and email systems rarely integrate.
Lack of real-time intelligence: Issues escalate before anyone knows.

To move the needle, you need a proactive, intelligent system—one that anticipates issues, personalizes responses, and integrates AI and human agents seamlessly.

3. The AI Advantage: A New Playbook for CSAT

It’s not a surprise that AI has the power to transform support from reactive to proactive. We don’t want to brag or anything, but our own iX Hello, which allows you to get AI-powered assistants can reduce time to complete key business tasks by up to 80%! Or our iX Hero which reduces the handling time by 22%.

Key AI advantages in general:

Predictive insights: AI spots friction points before customers complain.
Personalization at scale: Each interaction adapts to customer history and preferences.
Seamless human handoff: When AI reaches its limit, a human agent takes over without context loss.
Summarizes: It can summarize real-time transcripts and capture key moments of every interaction allowing agents to grasp customer’s inquiries and increase accuracy. (For instance, if the query needs to be transmitted to a different more specialized department).
Continuous improvement: AI learns from every interaction, improving over time.

Concentrix’s iX Hello and iX Hero deliver these advantages while being no-code, fast to deploy, and enterprise-ready.

4. 8 ways to improve CSAT with AI and how

4.1 Smarter Agents, No IVR Maze

The Struggle
The dreaded “press 1 for this… press 2 for that” loop is more than a cliché; it’s a CSAT surefire-killer. According to Forrester, 40% of callers abandon support calls after being trapped in IVR menus. By the time they reach a live advisor, frustration has already taken hold—CSAT plummets even before the conversation starts.

The AI Fix

Natural Language Understanding replaces rigid menus: Customers speak their issue naturally, and AI deciphers intent.
Real-time Context: Advisors see summaries of customer journey, including past interactions and key pain points.
Insightful Nudges: When the customer’s sentiment shifts toward frustration, agents receive real-time prompts on tone, empathy, or next steps.

The Impact

First Contact Resolution (FCR) improves significantly as customers are matched with solutions instantly.
Handle times shrink, since advisors don’t waste time asking the same questions repeatedly.
From the first interaction onwards, the experience feels personalized and respectful—setting the tone for higher satisfaction.

4.2 Always On, Always Connected: 24/7 Multilingual Coverage

The Struggle
Not all customers call between 9 and 5—or even in the same language. When support shuts down for the night or doesn’t speak the customer’s language, CSAT suffers.

The AI Fix

Perpetual Availability: AI-driven self-service answers can be available around the clock, across any time zone.
Language Agility: Built-in multilingual support ensures consistency—no customer is left out.
Seamless Escalation: When issues are complex, AI escalates in context—and it’s always ready with relevant conversation history.

The Impact

Global support without global staffing.
Customers feel acknowledged and respected, regardless of when or how they reach out.
CSAT remains stable or improves—especially in regions that previously lacked coverage.

4.3 Real Omnichannel Support, with One Voice

The Struggle
Modern customers expect to shift between channels—WhatsApp, web chat, email, voice—without repeating themselves. Most systems don’t keep up, resulting in friction and CSAT decline.

The AI Fix

Cross-Channel Integration: Conversations carry context across voice, chat, SMS, or social platforms.
Unified Interface: Advisors access all channels in one dashboard—no toggling between systems.
Consistent Reminders: When stepping into a conversation, AI surfaces the full history so no question is repeated.
Consistent knowledge bases and information: Updates, news, and alerts delivered straight to advisor’s desktops allowing all parties to have the same knowledge at the same time. This reduces confusion for customers.

The Impact

Lower Customer Effort Score (CES) as the experience feels seamless and intuitive.
Faster resolutions across touchpoints and a cohesive brand feel.
Companies see 20–30% CSAT jumps when they eliminate repetitive interactions and confusion.

4.4 Silent CSAT: Insights That Bypass Surveys

The Struggle
Surveys are often ignored, skewed, or too late to act on. Only 10% of customers may respond—little data, big blind spots.

The AI Fix

Full Conversation Analysis: AI listens to every chat, call, and email, flagging sentiment, intent, and unresolved issues.
Root Cause Identification: Recurrent friction points are surfaced automatically—before they become crises.
Real-Time Alerts: Teams see patterns develop and can preemptively fix issues, rather than reacting.

The Impact

Leadership gains actionable, continuous feedback from live interactions.
Problems are fixed across the process—not just at the front line.
Agents feel empowered, and CSAT climbs without pestering the customer for feedback.

4.5 Beyond Personalization: Hyper-Relevant Engagement

The Struggle
Generic support feels like a chore. According to Eesel.ai, 80% of customers prefer brands that provide personalized experiences.

The AI Fix

Context-Aware Responses: AI pulls purchase history, preferences, or past tickets to tailor support.
Adaptive Next Steps: FAQs, upsells, or proactive tips are surfaced based on each customer’s journey.
Human Touch When Needed: Advisors see the context and can apply empathy—making each interaction feel intentional.

The Impact

Customers feel known and valued, not just “handled.”
Personalization leads to stickier loyalty, upsell opportunities, and organic advocacy.

4.6 Smarter Staffing: Balanced Workforces for Peak Times

The Struggle
Live teams can easily get overwhelmed during holidays, product launches, or outages. Long queues, frazzled agents, frustrated customers—bad combo.

The AI Fix

Demand Forecasting: AI uses historical data and patterns to predict knock-on surge times.
Load Balancing: AI handles high-volume, low-complexity tasks while advisors take complicated ones.
Real-Time Triage: AI routes conversations dynamically based on urgency, skillset, or topic.

The Impact

Lower average handle times, fewer dropped calls, higher satisfaction.
Agents tackle meaningful interactions—not repetitive tasks—reducing burnout.
Overall CSAT stabilizes even during chaos.

4.7 Knowing What They Feel: Real-Time Sentiment Detection

The Struggle
Often, agents only realize when a caller is upset once it’s too late. Missing emotional cues can escalate a minor issue into a low-CSAT disaster.

The AI Fix

Emotion Recognition: AI tracks tone, words, and pacing to detect rising frustration.
On-the-Fly Coaching: Agents get nudged live (“Try empathy”, “Slow down”, “Offer reassurance”).
Dynamic Escalation: Issues escalated before frustration turns into rage.

The Impact

Frustration is addressed in the moment, not after it’s too late.
Agents feel supported, confident, and effective.

Dissatisfaction is prevented, not patched—CSAT either holds or improves.

4.8 Closing the Loop: Root-Cause Fixes, Not Agent Fixes

The Struggle
When CSAT dips, companies often blame agents. But frequently, the real issue is systemic: broken policies, confusing touchpoints, or product mix-ups.

The AI Fix

Cross-Interaction Analysis pulls common complaint patterns across time.
Insight Dashboards highlight recurring issues—whether UX, policy, or product-related.
Strategic Visibility: Leadership sees high-impact themes and updates them to stop repeat problems.

The Impact

Real, lasting changes—not just coaching scripts.
Customers notice and reward brands that act on feedback.
CSAT becomes a signal of learning, adaptation, and brand evolution.

5. Powering Smarter CX with iX Hello and iX Hero

Together with Concentrix, we want to help brands run operations that are not just more effective, but also more human. Because let’s face it: even the best teams struggle when they’re weighed down by clunky tools. That’s why we built iX Hello and iX Hero—two solutions designed to give your people the edge they need.

iX Hello is your always-on digital teammate. Think of it as a conversational front door for your customers—ready to listen, understand, and respond instantly. It speaks their language (literally, with multilingual support), works across all their favorite channels, and never takes a break. The beauty? You don’t need an army of developers to get started. With simple, no-code setup, iX Hello slots right into your existing ecosystem and starts delivering value fast.

But speed and automation are only half the story. That’s where iX Hero steps in. It’s built for your human advisors—the people who turn good service into unforgettable experiences. iX Hero equips them with real-time insights, conversation summaries, and even sentiment cues so they know exactly what the customer needs and how they’re feeling. Instead of scrambling for context, your advisors show up prepared, confident, and able to focus on empathy and resolution.

When these two solutions work together, you get the best of both worlds:

iX Hello handling scale, speed, and self-service.
iX Hero amplifying human strengths with intelligence and context.

It’s not man vs. machine. It’s man and machine, creating a seamless blend of efficiency and empathy that customers feel right away.

And if you’re curious how this could work in your own business, The Nest is here to help you map it out. Our team is ready to share playbooks, co-create solutions, and make sure you’re set up for success—because customer experience shouldn’t just be managed. It should be reimagined.

Stop Managing CSAT. Start Redefining It!