AI-Driven Personalization: Elevating Consumer Engagement

We live in an era where personalized consumer experiences have become the standard. Just a couple of decades ago, your choices at the coffee shop were limited to cream, sugar, or black coffee. Now, you expect to be able to order your half-caff, no-foam, almond milk cappuccino with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla—anything less feels antiquated.

Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar business or a fully digital SaaS company, the customer expectation for personalized experiences has evolved just as much as coffee orders. According to research from McKinsey, 71 percent of consumers expect personalized interactions from companies, while 76 percent report feeling frustrated when this doesn’t happen. AI tools have become pivotal in helping businesses understand their customers from the first interaction. With these insights, companies can enhance experiences, increase engagement and retention, and ultimately drive growth.

At Jotform, our teams across all departments are consistently exploring new ways to embed AI-driven personalization into our processes, aiming to make every step of the customer journey more personalized. If you’re wondering how to get started, here are a few effective strategies that we’ve employed.

Refining Marketing and Sales Campaigns Imagine receiving a gift that doesn’t reflect your tastes at all—it’s frustrating. That’s the same feeling customers get from impersonal marketing. Personalization makes customers feel valued. McKinsey highlights that personalization is directly linked to a more positive customer experience. In marketing and sales, AI tools play a crucial role in making consumers feel recognized and understood—or as Gen Z might say, “seen.” For example, the Zia app uses AI to analyze customer data, preferences, and behaviors, customizing interactions, recommendations, and communications to align with each customer’s specific needs.

Zia can even determine the best time to reach out to a customer based on their activity patterns, ensuring that messages are sent at optimal moments. The app can also spot trends in workflows, suggesting ways to automate routine tasks, improving process efficiency, and freeing up time for more meaningful customer interactions.

By leveraging AI tools like these, you can create personalized experiences that resonate with customers, fostering stronger relationships, increasing loyalty, and boosting the bottom line. Take Michaels Stores, for instance. When they increased email campaign personalization from 20 to 95 percent, their click-through rates jumped—41 percent for SMS campaigns and 25 percent for emails. At Jotform, we’ve observed similar results: the more personalized the campaign, the higher the engagement.

Enhancing Customer Support AI-driven chatbots are becoming increasingly sophisticated, extending far beyond automating responses to frequently asked questions (though that’s still valuable). They can generate and continuously improve customer support ticket responses by learning from past interactions. These AI systems suggest appropriate fields for new tickets, ensuring more consistent replies while reducing the manual workload for employees.

Moreover, AI-powered chatbots can handle tasks like appointment bookings, gathering logistical information, and reassuring customers that their concerns are being addressed. They can assist customers in making purchasing decisions, locating products, and providing tailored suggestions. Additionally, they can collect valuable feedback, allowing companies to continually refine and personalize customer experiences.

One standout example is ING’s Netherlands subsidiary, which replaced its rule-based chatbot with an AI-driven one. After just seven weeks, they found that the AI chatbot provided a superior experience, helping 20 percent more customers avoid wait times and receive instant assistance. Such advancements illustrate how AI can streamline customer support, making it more efficient and personalized.

Empowering Data-Driven Personalization In Tokyo, McDonald’s offers a teriyaki chicken filet sandwich. In Paris, you’ll find macarons on the “MacDo” menu, and in Texas, they serve a sausage burrito. This is a basic example of market segmentation—tailoring offerings to meet the preferences of different customer bases. AI-powered tools can help companies gather comprehensive customer data and use that information for tasks like market segmentation, generating insights, and crafting reports that guide data-driven objectives.

As McKinsey notes, these data-driven decisions increase repeat engagement, generating more data and creating a cycle of continuous personalization. This loop of data collection and targeted personalization enhances customer satisfaction and fuels sustainable growth.

Boosting Efficiency and Enhancing Human-Centered Service At Jotform, integrating AI tools into our customer support workflows allows employees to focus on higher-value tasks—such as addressing unique customer issues that require personal attention and creative problem-solving. By offloading routine inquiries to AI, our team has more time to dive deeper into our users’ pain points and craft customized solutions. This not only improves operational efficiency but also empowers our team to deliver thoughtful, human-centered service. Happier customers and more satisfied employees are the result.

One key advantage of AI automation—whether it’s taking meeting notes, scanning for security issues, or generating standard replies—is that it frees professionals to focus on more meaningful tasks, such as listening to customers and addressing their specific needs. In this way, automation unlocks greater freedom, creativity, and strategic thinking.

Contrary to widespread fears, AI tools aren’t necessarily replacing human jobs. Instead, they’re freeing professionals to excel in the aspects of their roles that require human qualities—listening, empathy, and innovation. For companies, investing in automation pays dividends over time, not only enhancing employee satisfaction but also ensuring that customers receive the personalized attention they deserve.