
AI Voice Agents - The Complete Guide to Voice Chat (2025)
Learn everything about an AI voice agents, its benefits, implementation tips, and the AI voice chat applications for business success.
Longer wait times, high call volumes, and language barriers in call centers often frustrate customers. Complex interactive voice response (IVR) menus only add to the problem, leading to customer dissatisfaction. That’s why companies are adopting smarter self-service solutions like artificial intelligence (AI) voice agents. In fact, experts predict the voice bot market will reach $98.2 billion by 2027, showing a clear trend toward smarter solutions to improving customer experience.
AI voice agents technology combines Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning, and voice recognition to transform customer interactions. It provides quicker, more efficient service and improves the overall customer experience.
In this guide, we'll explore what AI voice agents are, their key features, practical use cases, and tips on how to implement a voice agent in your business.
What is an AI voice agent?
An AI voice agent is a two-way conversational tool that communicates with the customer. It automates inbound and outbound calls without human intervention and transfers calls to a human agent when needed.

The biggest advantage? Callers can navigate an IVR by speaking naturally, without listening to long, complex menus or pressing numbers on a keypad.
Popular AI voice agent examples include Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon's Alexa. These tools simplify interactions, provide instant answers, and automate tasks. In contrast, advanced bots like IBM’s Watson Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana handle customer support, sales inquiries, and internal communications.
Types of AI voice agents
Here’s a breakdown of the four main types of AI voice agents and how they can benefit your business:
Rule-based AI voice agent
Rule-based voice agent use predefined sets of questions and rules to offer answers or perform tasks. Such voice agents handle routine tasks and customer FAQs. They answer all queries that fall under the if-this-then-that logic.
For example, an e-commerce site using a bot to guide customers in checking their order status or a banking site handling routine inquiries like balance checks, bill payments, transaction histories, etc.
AI-assisted voice agent
AI-assisted voice agents use machine learning and natural language to interpret conversations so they can analyze the context and grasp what the speaker means. This makes them far more capable and user-friendly than the conventional, rule-based voice agents.
Let’s suppose a user asks Alexa, 'What's the weather tomorrow?' and then follows up with, 'How about next week?' it remembers the context. This adaptability means customers don’t have to repeat themselves, creating a more contextual customer experience.
Conversational AI voice agent
Conversational voice agents make conversations using natural language. They’re more nuanced than AI-assisted voice agents as they can handle complex conversations using everyday language to create more personalized interactions.

Google Duplex, and IBM Watson Assistant, are examples of conversational voice agents. They can make phone calls, make reservations, and handle natural conversations with a human-like tone.
Voice-activated voice agent
These bots use voice commands to answer practical questions and perform routine tasks. They are more flexible than personal voice agents that adapt to speakers and perform customized tasks.
Such bots serve as digital assistants to AI-assisted bots like Siri.
How does an AI voice agent improve customer engagement?
A customer calling your sales team wants to feel valued and understood. An AI voice agent does that. It puts the customer at the center, creating a better experience and driving business benefits as a result. Let’s understand it with a few use cases.
Use case: Get a quick update on order status, 24/7

Assuming the AI voice agent is integrated into your CRM, it greets the customer by name. Instead of navigating through a branched IVR to get their order status, the customer can simply say ‘order status’ and the voice bot pulls out the order details from the CRM and gives the user a real-time update within seconds.
Sheraz Ali, the Founder of HARO Links Builder states that their voice agent managed over 30% of customer interactions in one of their company projects and drastically reduced wait times.
“It also improved our response efficiency and led to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction scores and a reduction in operational costs within three months.”
Benefits:
- Decreased waiting time.
- Limited IVR menu navigation.
- No human intervention is required.
- Quick response times.
- Reduced business costs.
- Tangible increase in customer satisfaction.
Use case: Improve language learning for students

A language learning platform uses a voice agent to provide real-time translations and personalized tutoring. So the voice agent instantly supports students in any subject by translating and clarifying complex terms in their preferred language.
Benefits:
- Reduced requirement for multilingual staff.
- Increases inclusivity as the bot answers in the user’s preferred language.
- Language barriers are removed.
Use case: Improve patient outcomes in healthcare

It's easy to miss appointments or forget to deliver prescriptions to the patient’s home timely. A healthcare service can employ a voice agent to deliver personalized care and offer preliminary health assessments, medication reminders, and easy appointment scheduling, all according to the individual patient's needs.
Benefits:
- Saves time by streamlining appointment bookings.
- Ensures medication adherence with timely reminders.
- Reduces workload for healthcare providers with automated support.
Use case: Streamline routine financial services

Once integrated with the banking system, the voice agent automates routine financial tasks, provides instant account information, processes transactions, and delivers personalized financial advice around the clock.
Benefits:
- 24/7 access to financial services without wait times.
- Improves customer experience with quick, accurate responses.
- Automates routine tasks, freeing up staff for complex queries.
- Provides personalized advice to improve financial decision-making.
Use case: Get personal shopping assistance

An e-commerce platform can use a voice agent to assist customers with product selection, provide personalized recommendations, and automate the sales process from start to finish.
Benefits:
- Delivers a personalized shopping experience 24/7.
- Boosts sales with customized recommendations.
- Reduces cart abandonment by guiding customers to checkout.
- Improves customer satisfaction with fast, accurate service.
Features of an AI voice agent
To understand why voice agents are so effective, let’s look at the key features that improve the overall customer service experience while streamlining business operations.
The best voice agents for businesses come equipped with:
Natural language understanding (NLU)
An AI voice agent understands user queries by converting speech into text using AI and NLP. It then forms an appropriate response and converts it back into speech using text-to-speech (TTS) technology. This ability to understand and respond in natural, conversational language sets AI voice agents apart from traditional IVR systems, which rely on rigid, menu-based responses.

Personalization capabilities
Customers want quick, personalized responses to their queries, unlike complex IVR systems that frustrate them with lengthy menus. An AI voice agent offers contextual conversations, adapting to the user’s intent. It detects speech cues, skips irrelevant interactions, and also transfers calls to the right agent.
Hence, when comparing voice agents to IVRs, the bot's ability to offer personalized interactions like a human outshines communication systems that follow even the best IVR practices.
Multi-language support
AI voice agents break down language barriers, supporting multiple languages to provide a more inclusive and accessible customer experience. Businesses can easily connect with diverse customer bases across the globe.
For instance, Plivo supports speech recognition in 27 languages and their regional variants.
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Integration with other platforms and services
AI voice agents easily integrate with platforms like customer relationship management (CRM) systems, Enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, and ticketing software. They access and update customer data in real time to ensure accuracy.
These bots also pull relevant details, automate follow-up actions, and sync with communication channels like email or chat. This creates a personalized and consistent customer experience across all touchpoints.
Benefits of voice agents
Let’s now look at the benefits of AI voice agents.
Enhanced user experience
Many businesses have concerns over the quality of a voice agent for customer service. However, a voice agent answers queries quickly regardless of the time of the day. Speedy, reliable answers are important to providing excellent service, making voice agents an invaluable tool for businesses looking to improve customer satisfaction.
Additionally, businesses can:
- Handle routine queries and common tasks faster than human agents.
- Remove the need for users to navigate complex IVR menus.
- Manage high-volume calls without errors.
Better cost efficiency
An AI voice agent doesn’t just save time, it also saves money. It boosts user satisfaction and reduces support times by automating repetitive queries. This frees up staff for higher-value tasks, and interacting with customers after hours has improved lead conversion.
The direct benefits to businesses are:
- Reduces the need for a larger customer support team.
- Allows human agents to focus on complex, high-value inquiries.
- Engages users outside business hours to boost marketing return on investment (ROI).
- Lowers training costs and minimizes the risk of providing incorrect information.
Accessibility for users with disabilities
With over one billion people living with disabilities worldwide, voice agents make services more inclusive. They enable hands-free, accessible interactions, allowing customers with visual, motor, or cognitive impairments to engage with the business easily. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also broadens the company’s reach to a more diverse audience.
Data collection and analysis for improved services
Voice agents don’t just serve customers — they also gather insights. Use this data to analyze data and improve services, personalize marketing efforts, and make more informed business decisions.
24/7 availability
Unlike human agents, voice agents are always accessible. They ensure customers get help whenever they need it, contributing to a more consistent and reliable customer experience.
Future of AI voice technology
As IBM's data engineer, Chris Hay puts it, "We're entering an era where every mom-and-pop shop can have the same level of customer service as an enterprise." This statement captures the transformative potential of voice recognition technology.
AI voice chat applications benefit businesses of all sizes by delivering top-tier customer experiences. Tech giants are already paving the way. Microsoft has updated its Copilot AI with advanced voice capabilities, allowing it to handle complex queries with natural language reasoning, while Meta has introduced voice AI to its messaging apps.
AI voice assistants will move beyond smartphones, integrating into wearable devices like the recently unveiled Meta Orion augmented reality glasses. For businesses handling sensitive client relationships, this could mean smarter, empathetic bots that mirror the tone and approach of a human assistant.
Key upcoming trends:
- Hyper-personalization: Customized voices and targeted recommendations.
- Advanced problem-solving: Managing complex queries using natural language.
- Real-time analytics: Analyzing customer tone for deeper insights.
Yet, challenges remain. Arvind Rongala, the founder of a skill-management solution provider, shares, “There are still issues, especially with data privacy and ensuring interactions are human-like. In addition to resolving problems with bias in training data and regulatory compliance, businesses must strike a balance between automation and personalization. For example, adhering to GDPR regarding the storage of voice data can be challenging, but doing so is essential to fostering trust.”
Ultimately, businesses need to prioritize data security, explore multi-device integration options, and develop stronger contextual understanding for natural interactions.
Launch an AI voice agent with Plivo
Any scaling business needs a voice agent that's easy to integrate, globally accessible, and cost-effective without sacrificing quality.
Plivo checks all these boxes, offering seamless integration, seven global points of presence for low-latency interactions, and competitive rates starting at just $0.0040 per minute. It's ideal for businesses willing to scale while keeping operational costs in check.
In fact, Plivo can reduce operational costs by up to 40%.
Moreover, its commitment to reliability is backed by a 99.99% uptime guarantee, with failover capabilities that switch within two seconds if any disruptions occur.
You can launch voice agents with Plivo using just a few lines of code.
- Log in to your OpenAI Account: Secure your API key and RealTime API access.
- Log in to your Plivo Account: Sign up and get a voice-enabled number.
With integration options for leading speech-to-text (STT) and TTS providers like Deepgram and ElevenLabs, you can launch AI voice agents in multiple regions, including India, using local numbers.
Use Plivo-powered voice agents for:
- Personal shopping assistance: Offer personalized recommendations, go through product selections, and close sales.
- Healthcare automation: Improve patient outcomes with medication reminders, and appointment scheduling, and offer preliminary health assessments.
- Inclusivity in education: Break language barriers in learning with real-time translations and personalized tutoring across multiple subjects.
- Routine financial services automation: Provide instant account information, personalized financial advice, transaction processing status, etc. to customers.
With a 24/7 AI voice agent, your business can handle these tasks around the clock, ensuring that customers are never left waiting. Want to improve customer experience with Plivo? Contact us today.
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RCS Marketing 101: Your Complete Guide
Discover how RCS marketing delivers rich, branded messages that drive engagement for your business.
SMS marketing works, but let’s be honest: it feels a bit outdated compared to modern apps.
But what if you could send rich, interactive messages with branded content, images, buttons, and carousels straight to your customers’ native messaging apps?
Rich communication services (RCS) makes that possible.
If you’re ready to explore how RCS marketing can transform your engagement strategy, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know. Let’s get started.
What is RCS marketing?
RCS marketing uses rich communication services to send interactive, branded messages through a customer’s default messaging app. It’s a modern upgrade to SMS that lets businesses share images, buttons, carousels, and more — all without needing third-party apps.
A user on Reddit summed up this perfectly:

RCS lets you send messages that are visually branded with logos and colors while remaining interactive. This turns static updates into an app-like experience inside a message.
This shift is part of a broader industry move, led by Google and backed by major mobile carriers, to upgrade messaging infrastructure and make RCS the default standard on Android devices.
As support continues to grow, businesses are adopting RCS as part of their customer engagement strategy. Platforms like Plivo make that adoption easier with a reliable, enterprise-grade gateway to deliver rich, reliable RCS campaigns at scale.
RCS vs. SMS marketing: A quick comparison
Marketers today are looking for ways to deliver more interactive and visual communication, and RCS is clearly leading the way.
While SMS still works well for simple alerts, it lacks the creativity and engagement that RCS marketing offers.
Let’s take a quick look at RCS vs. SMS marketing.
4 key benefits of RCS marketing
RCS marketing makes messaging feel more natural for both you and your customers. And since you can see what’s working and what’s not, it’s easier to pivot your strategy and get better results.
Here are its four key benefits.
1. Improved user interaction
One of the biggest advantages of RCS marketing is how seamless it makes the experience for your customers. Instead of typing out replies or clicking a link to open a website, users can just tap a button right inside the message.
Want them to book a demo, check order status, or browse products? It’s all possible with just a tap.
Fewer steps mean less effort, and that leads to more people following through. In fact, individuals spend up to 37 seconds engaging with RCS messages, which is a lot longer than most other types of mobile messaging.

That extra time and interaction can make all the difference when you’re trying to convert interest into action.
2. Consistent brand experience
RCS marketing doesn’t just tell people who you are — it shows them.
Verified business profiles help people know they’re getting messages from the real brand. Every message shows your brand’s logo, name, colors, and a checkmark. These small details make it clear that the message is coming from a genuine source.

This consistency matters because 88% of people are more likely to buy from a brand they trust.
3. In-depth analytics
With RCS marketing, you can track open rates, button clicks, and how people interact with each part of your message.
You get clear visibility into what’s working and where users are dropping off.
This makes it much easier to measure the return on investment (ROI) and fine-tune your campaigns. The more you understand how people engage, the better you can shape your messaging for results.
4. Higher conversion potential
RCS marketing makes it easier for customers to take action — whether that’s browsing products, booking a service, or making a purchase — all within the message itself.
With fewer clicks and no need to switch apps, the path to conversion feels effortless. And when it’s that easy, more people follow through.
For example, EaseMyTrip used RCS to run a post-COVID travel survey. They added quick-tap answer options and followed up with a thank-you coupon. The campaign saw a 4x higher click-through rate than email, 10x more survey completions, and a 2.7% increase in conversion rate.
5 major use cases of RCS marketing
Here are five major use cases showing how brands are using RCS marketing effectively.
1. Product promotions
RCS makes product promotions feel more like browsing a store than reading a message. Brands can send image carousels that customers can swipe through to explore new arrivals, check product details, and see what’s available without leaving their messaging app.

2. Abandoned cart reminders
The average cart abandonment rate is over 70%, which means most shoppers never make it to the finish line. RCS marketing can help bring them back by making the reminder more engaging and easier to act on.
You can send a message that shows exactly what they left behind, along with a clear button to complete the purchase. It’s visual, straightforward, and the entire experience stays within their messaging app.
3. Appointment confirmations and reminders
A PhD thesis from Manchester Metropolitan University found that forgetfulness is the most common reason people skip their appointments.
RCS makes it easier for both businesses and customers to stay on the same page. You can send a message that shows the appointment details along with a simple calendar view. Add buttons to confirm, reschedule, or cancel — all within the chat.

4. Customer surveys and feedback
Getting feedback is important, but most customers lack the time or patience to complete lengthy forms. RCS marketing makes it easier by allowing brands to ask short, targeted questions and receive quick responses.
Plus, the rich features of RCS let you include images, ratings, or multiple-choice options, making feedback feel more like a conversation.
5. Customer support follow-ups
After a support request is resolved, following up shows customers you care and helps close the loop on their experience. But if the follow-up message gets buried in an email inbox or goes unnoticed, that opportunity to connect is lost.
With RCS marketing, you can send a quick message to check if everything’s working fine. You can include helpful buttons like “Change Password,” “Manage Account,” or “Talk to Support.”

RCS marketing myths and realities
Despite RCS marketing’s growing adoption and proven results, some common misconceptions still hold businesses back from trying it. Let’s look at a few of the biggest myths and what’s actually true.
Myth 1: RCS marketing is too expensive
At first glance, RCS business messaging can seem like a pricey upgrade. Rich visuals, tap-to-action buttons, and branded layouts look premium, so it’s easy to assume they come with a hefty cost.
But cost alone doesn’t tell the full story.
What you get in return matters more. RCS drives significantly stronger engagement with higher click-through rates, increased interactions, and better overall outcomes.
Take Club Comex, the loyalty program of North American paint brand Comex. They sent two rich and interactive RCS campaigns to their members and saw a 10x higher click-through rate, which helped increase revenue by 115%.
That’s the value side of the equation. Better targeting and richer content mean more people click, engage, and convert.
Myth 2: RCS marketing doesn’t reach enough users to be worth it
This concern made sense in the early days of RCS, when adoption was still catching up. But the landscape looks very different now.
In June 2024, the 12-month growth of RCS users reached 36.3%, showing faster uptake than other messaging channels. More Android devices support RCS by default, and it’s being rolled out across more networks globally. Even Apple has announced support, which means RCS is on track to reach a massive number of smartphone users worldwide.
With that kind of growth and widespread support, the hesitation around RCS is starting to fade. Brands can confidently invest in RCS marketing knowing it will connect with more customers than ever before.
Myth 3: RCS gets treated like spam and ends up ignored just like emails
Unlike email, RCS messages appear directly in the user’s primary messaging app alongside personal conversations. They include rich media and interactive elements, making them more engaging and less likely to be ignored.
This creates a more natural, conversational experience that drives higher open and response rates than traditional marketing channels.
Why choose Plivo for your RCS marketing needs
With RCS, you can turn simple messages into rich, branded conversations that feel more like chatting than broadcasting.
Plivo gives you the tools to make that shift without the hassle. From verified messaging to smart automation, everything works together to help you connect better and respond faster.
When combined with AI Agents and a unified customer data platform, RCS becomes more than just messaging. You can deliver personalized experiences at scale, automate everyday interactions, and keep conversations flowing without lifting a finger.
Here’s what you get with Plivo’s RCS API:
- Real-time personalization: AI Agents tailor conversations using customer profiles and behavior triggers to improve engagement and conversions.
- Multi-channel fallback: If RCS isn’t supported, messages automatically switch to SMS to ensure delivery and maintain consistent communication.
- Conversational automation: AI Agents handle FAQs, process orders, schedule deliveries, and route complex queries within RCS.
- All-in-one messaging platform: Manage RCS, SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, and more from a single dashboard.
- Reliable performance: 99.99% uptime and global infrastructure keep your campaigns running smoothly.
With Plivo’s no-code tools, you can quickly launch AI-powered RCS messaging across channels and deliver a consistent customer experience from day one.
See how you can launch your first RCS marketing campaign with Plivo by requesting a demo today!

WhatsApp Agent Setup: How to Launch AI-Powered Conversations at Scale
Learn how WhatsApp agent setup works using Plivo to launch AI-powered, no-code agents that handle support, sales, and engagement at scale.
Your customers are on WhatsApp but are your agents?
If you’re still relying on manual replies, scripted chatbots, or email follow-ups, you’re leaving response time and revenue on the table.
The smarter path? AI-powered WhatsApp agents. They’re full-service, no-code agents that can resolve issues, qualify leads, and send personalized offers 24/7.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through WhatsApp agent setup using Plivo and understand how these agents help you automate conversations that convert.
What is a WhatsApp AI agent?
A WhatsApp AI agent is an automation designed to operate over the WhatsApp Business API. Unlike scripted bots, agents are built to understand intent, pull in context from your internal systems, and complete business tasks like answering account-specific questions or initiating transactions.
Plivo’s WhatsApp AI agents can be trained to use your brand voice, integrated with your CRM or helpdesk, and customized to handle specific use cases, such as subscription renewals, cart recovery, refund processing, or customer onboarding.
They are accessible through a no-code interface and support a multilingual, omnichannel customer experience across WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, and voice.
What you need before setting up your agent
To go live with a WhatsApp agent, you need:
- A verified Meta Business Account
- An active WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) tied to a phone number
- Pre-approved message templates for outbound communication
- WhatsApp Business API access through a business solution provider (BSP) (Plivo offers this natively)
- A platform to design, train, and manage agents (Plivo Agent Studio)
Also read: How to Create WhatsApp Message Templates: A Complete Guide
Optional but recommended integrations:
- CRM (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho)
- Helpdesk (like Zendesk or Freshdesk)
- E-commerce or billing tools (Shopify, Stripe, etc.)
Step-by-step: How to set up a WhatsApp agent with Plivo
Follow this step-by-step guide for a smooth WhatsApp agent setup with Plivo.
Step #1: Choose your primary use case and define agent scope
Don’t build a generic bot. Start with why you’re automating. This could be handling support queries, sending order updates, re-engaging inactive customers, or managing subscription renewals.

Plivo provides a library of prebuilt AI agents for common use cases like cart recovery, lead qualification, appointment reminders, and product recommendations. You can choose to use one as-is or customize it to fit your business process. Each agent is compatible with WhatsApp and designed to operate across channels as needed.
Step #2: Build the agent using Plivo’s no-code platform
Since your API access is already set up, you can begin building your agent in Plivo’s Agent Studio. This is a visual, drag-and-drop builder where you create conversation flows using blocks that represent actions, responses, conditions, and triggers.

You can structure your flow to respond to specific keywords, match customer intent, route inquiries to different departments, or escalate to a live agent when needed. Each step in the journey can include media-rich responses like buttons, product carousels, quick replies, and file attachments.
Beyond logic design, you can also configure fallback rules for when the agent is unsure, and add human handoff conditions to ensure escalations happen smoothly with full context transferred to the live agent.

This step allows you to fully customize the agent’s tone, workflow, and logic to reflect how your brand communicates.4
Step #3: Train your agent with AI
Plivo supports integration with internal systems like your CRM, order management platform, inventory tools, or helpdesk. This means your agent can access real-time customer data, past orders, preferences, and policies to deliver personalized responses.
You can also connect your knowledge base, including FAQs, SOPs, product documentation, or policy articles. These resources train the agent to respond accurately and contextually, without needing scripted answers.

For natural language understanding, Plivo gives you the flexibility to choose the AI model that powers your agent.

Step #4: Test, launch, and monitor your agent
Once your flow is built and trained, run controlled tests:
- Check for flow accuracy and intent matching
- Review how it handles incomplete or unclear inputs
- Test human handoff and see if the agent transfers the full context

Plivo’s real-time dashboard lets you:
- Monitor delivery, engagement, and satisfaction metrics
- Track where users drop off in conversations
- Identify areas to improve agent logic or content
- Compare campaign and agent performance across channels
After launch, your agent keeps learning. As more customers interact, you’ll gather insight to improve how it responds or what paths it offers.
Plivo is purpose-built for WhatsApp AI agent deployment
Plivo’s platform is designed to help you move from idea to live AI-powered engagement without requiring engineering support or external consultants. When you use Plivo for WhatsApp agent setup, you get:
- Access to prebuilt agents for sales, support, and engagement
- Intuitive no-code builder (Agent Studio) that puts you in control
- Deep integration with your business systems for real-time, contextual replies
- Support for the best LLMs on the market, so your agent is trained with intelligence
- Built-in compliance with WhatsApp’s policies and global data laws
- Unified interface to manage messaging across WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, and Voice
- Enterprise-grade infrastructure with 99.99% uptime and expert onboarding support
Automate outcomes with WhatsApp agent setup in Plivo
Smart WhatsApp automation starts with smart setup. With Plivo's no-code platform, you can automate customer conversations, boost sales, and scale support — all without a development team.
Plivo offers the tools to build agents that reflect your brand, the infrastructure to scale securely, and the intelligence to adapt with your customer needs.
Whether you're trying to cut support wait times, recover abandoned carts, or drive upsells through personalized outreach, a well-built WhatsApp agent can make it happen, and Plivo makes it achievable.
Ready to get started? Request a free trial today!

The Definitive Guide to Automating WhatsApp for Business
Learn how WhatsApp automation can simplify customer communication and scale operations. Know about its key benefits and use cases. Get started today.
Remember when WhatsApp was just a simple messaging app? Launched in 2009, it was a tool for friends and family to stay in touch.
Fast-forward to today, and WhatsApp has become a global powerhouse with over 3 billion monthly active users. Businesses worldwide leverage WhatsApp to connect with customers, share updates, and provide support.
Many businesses struggle to keep up with the growing volume of customer messages on WhatsApp. Manually handling inquiries, sending updates, or following up on leads can quickly become overwhelming and inefficient.
This is where WhatsApp automation steps in.
By automating repetitive messaging tasks, businesses can reduce manual workload, respond faster, and deliver more personalized, timely communication.
In this article, we'll explore what WhatsApp automation is, why it's essential for modern businesses, and how you can implement it to improve customer engagement and operational workflows.
What is WhatsApp automation?
WhatsApp automation is the use of technology to automatically send and manage messages on the platform, especially for business and customer engagement purposes.
It doesn’t require human intervention for every interaction. As a result, businesses can handle customer inquiries, deliver updates, and engage with prospects efficiently.

With WhatsApp business automation, you can:
- Auto-respond to FAQs and reduce ticket volume.
- Reduce customer support load with proactive messaging.
- Route complex support queries to live agents only when needed.
- Send order confirmations and delivery updates automatically.
- Share return instructions based on customer actions.
- Run re-engagement campaigns with smart timing.
- Integrate with Shopify, Magento, and more for real-time updates.
- Trigger workflows from CRMs or e-commerce platforms.
- Keep messaging compliant with auto opt-outs and logs.
Here’s a breakdown of the three main types of automated messaging on WhatsApp:
Key benefits of WhatsApp automation
By automating routine tasks, WhatsApp can help your business stay responsive and consistent across customer touchpoints. Here’s how it can benefit your business:
Reduce manual workloads and response times
When you automate WhatsApp interactions, every department, from marketing to customer service, runs more smoothly.
By automating routine tasks like order updates, FAQs, and customer inquiries, businesses can significantly reduce the manual effort required.
This means your team spends less time on repetitive tasks and more time focusing on high-priority interactions.
Increases the scalability of customer interactions
As your business grows, the number of customer interactions increases. Automation allows you to scale communication efforts without hiring additional staff or losing the personal touch.
Whether you're dealing with 50 or 5,000 customers, automated responses ensure that each inquiry is handled swiftly and consistently.
Enhances customer experience through personalization
Automated WhatsApp messages can be personalized based on customer data, creating a more relevant and tailored experience.
From addressing customers by name to offering product recommendations based on past purchases, personalization makes customers feel valued. This leads to higher engagement rates and improved loyalty.
Cost-effectiveness compared to manual processes
WhatsApp automation eliminates the need for large customer support teams and reduces the time spent on repetitive tasks.
This saves on operational costs and also leads to a more efficient allocation of resources.
5 popular use cases of WhatsApp automation across industries
Businesses everywhere are finding new ways to use WhatsApp automation. Here are five popular examples:
1. Customer support
Automating common FAQs and routine inquiries on WhatsApp helps customers get instant answers anytime. This reduces the number of tickets support teams have to handle, letting them focus on more complex problems.
2. E-commerce operations
Order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications keep customers informed every step of the way. Automating returns and collecting feedback via WhatsApp speeds up these processes and improves customer satisfaction.
3.Marketing and lead nurturing
Automated lead follow-ups ensure timely, consistent engagement with prospects, boosting conversion chances. Also, you can use personalized re-engagement campaigns to help bring back inactive customers with offers or updates tailored to their interests.
4.Event management and invitations
Automated WhatsApp invites, updates, and follow-ups keep your audience informed and engaged, boosting the attendance rate. This helps you stay connected and make every event a success.
5.Appointment scheduling and reminders
Timely reminders help customers remember appointments, reducing cancellations and improving the overall experience. Automation makes scheduling easier and more efficient for both businesses and customers.
Step-by-step guide to implement WhatsApp automation for your business
To successfully implement WhatsApp automation, follow these key steps that cover planning, setup, and optimization.
Step 1: Define your use cases and goals
Start by identifying which business functions, such as order updates, customer support, or lead follow-ups, will benefit most from automation.
Set clear, measurable goals like:
- Reducing response times
- Lowering manual workload
- Boosting customer engagement
This will guide your automation strategy and help you track success.
Also, ensure compliance from the start. WhatsApp requires businesses to obtain explicit customer opt-in before sending messages. To stay compliant:
- Use clear, transparent language when requesting consent.
- Collect opt-ins through channels like website forms, checkout flows, or click-to-chat ads.
- Log and manage consent within your systems for audit readiness.
Data privacy and compliance are essential for building trust and maintaining long-term customer relationships.
Step 2: Choose the right WhatsApp business API provider
Select a platform that fits your specific needs. Look for features like:
- Robust CRM integrations
- Audience segmentation
- Flexible automation workflows
These capabilities simplify your communication and scale your efforts efficiently.
Make segmentation a priority, use tagging and grouping strategies to target the right customers with the right messages.
With smart tagging and grouping, you can:
- Deliver personalized messages
- Engage the right people at the right time
- Improve conversion and retention
Step 3: Set up your WhatsApp business account
You must set up a verified WhatsApp Business account to use WhatsApp for automated messaging. This includes:
- Registering your business name and details.
- Verifying a dedicated phone number.
- Getting approval from Meta to use the WhatsApp Business API.
This ensures that your business is recognized as a legitimate sender.
Your WhatsApp API provider will typically assist with onboarding, including submitting documentation and setting up the technical aspects.
Some platforms also offer pre-built tools to help you manage mobile number registration, display name approval, and message template submissions.
Step 4: Create and submit message templates
Start by designing message templates for everyday customer interactions, such as:
- Promotional messages (e.g., limited-time offers)
- Transactional updates (e.g., order confirmations, delivery alerts)
- Support messages (e.g., ticket updates or issue resolution)
Each template must follow WhatsApp’s formatting and content policies.
Once your templates are ready, submit them through your WhatsApp API provider for Meta’s approval. Only approved templates can be used for proactive messaging.
Step 5: Build automation workflows
Now that your account and templates are ready, it’s time to connect WhatsApp with the rest of your tech stack. Integrate with:
- CRM systems (to access customer data)
- Support tools (for query management)
- E-commerce platforms (to track orders and actions)
Use event-based triggers, like a new order, a cart abandonment, or a support ticket, to automatically send relevant messages.
Additionally, plan for human fallback. Automation can’t handle everything. Build intelligent workflows that escalate to a human agent when:
- A customer requests help
- The query is too complex
- Sentiment detection flags a negative experience
This keeps your support experience smooth, responsive, and frustration-free.
Step 6: Test, launch, and optimize
Start with a pilot campaign to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Track key metrics:
- Response time
- Open rate
- Conversion rate
Use these insights to refine your workflows, improve message content, and adjust targeting.
Best practices for WhatsApp automation
Following some proven best practices is essential to get the most out of WhatsApp automation. Here’s what you need to know:
Tips for optimizing messaging frequency and timing
To keep your audience interested, it's vital to message thoughtfully and strategically. Here are some quick tips:
- Avoid over-messaging to prevent unsubscribes.
- Use analytics to identify when your audience is most active and receptive.
- Space out messages to keep it natural.
- Monitor response rates and adjust based on customer behavior and feedback.
Leverage data analytics for campaign performance
By tracking metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and response times, you gain valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. Use this data to refine your messaging, target relevant audience segments, and optimize timing.
Regularly reviewing analytics helps you make informed decisions that boost engagement and drive better results over time.
Compliance and customer privacy protection
To protect your customers and stay compliant, focus on these key areas:
Enhance customer communication with Plivo’s AI WhatsApp automation
The growing demand for instant, tailored communication on WhatsApp puts pressure on businesses to respond quickly. Customers expect fast, personalized replies around the clock, and doing this manually often leads to delays, inconsistent service, and missed opportunities.
Finding a way to scale these conversations efficiently is critical for businesses looking to stay competitive.
That’s where Plivo comes in, an industry-leading omnichannel platform that automates and personalizes WhatsApp conversations, delivering timely responses at scale.
By leveraging Plivo’s WhatsApp AI agents, businesses can manage a wide range of customer communication tasks, from pre-sales inquiries to post-purchase support, without increasing their team size.
Here’s how Plivo can enhance your customer communication:
- Brand-aligned AI agents: You can customize the AI agents to reflect your brand’s voice, tone, and style. This makes all customer interactions align with your brand’s identity and deliver a personalized experience.
- AI customer service agent: Plivo’s AI agents work around the clock, ensuring your customers receive timely responses, regardless of the time zone. These agents process orders, resolve support issues, and answer questions.

- Natural, human-like conversations: With AI agents, you can engage in context-aware conversations, mimicking human interactions. They remember customer preferences and history to provide relevant responses like a human agent would.
- Simple, volume-based pricing: Plivo charges a flat fee per conversation rather than per message, making costs predictable and scalable. Volume discounts are available to lower your total spend as your messaging needs grow.

- Built-in compliance: Plivo ensures compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 standards.
- Guaranteed message delivery with fallback options: The platform delivers billions of messages annually and uses SMS and voice fallback channels to ensure your customers always receive important communications.
- 24/7 availability: Plivo's AI agents provide instant, 24/7 assistance, answering questions, processing orders, and resolving customer issues.
- Multilingual support: With support for 70+ languages, Plivo’s AI agents can engage with customers globally and offer a multilingual customer service experience.
- E-commerce platform integrations: Integrate seamlessly with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento to deliver a unified customer experience across all touchpoints.
With Plivo’s vast carrier network spanning over 220 countries, businesses can significantly cut SMS costs by up to 70% while achieving threefold returns on investment.
Many companies using Plivo CX have experienced remarkable results, earning an outstanding $71 for every dollar invested in their SMS marketing efforts.
Book a free demo today and see how Plivo’s AI WhatsApp agents can change your customer communication strategy.

How to Use AI for SMS Marketing
Learn about AI SMS marketing and how it personalizes messages, boosts engagement, and automates campaigns.
With 90% of texts read within three minutes, SMS offers unmatched visibility. However, for many marketers, the real challenge is turning that attention into clicks and conversions. It’s like shoppers streaming into a mall, browsing every window, but leaving without making a single purchase.
AI-powered SMS marketing makes a difference here.
Instead of just getting your messages “seen,” AI SMS marketing helps you get them “clicked”, by delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.
In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to use AI for SMS marketing. We’ll also help you identify common bottlenecks, explore how AI can solve them, and share actionable steps to help you hit your SMS campaign goals!
How AI SMS marketing benefits businesses
From automating message flows to predicting the best send times, AI in SMS marketing helps businesses save hours weekly on manual work.
But that’s not it. By integrating AI, you can:
Personalize at scale
Consumers have become experts at tuning out generic company messages, so the last thing you want is for your SMS campaigns to blend into the background noise.
SMS AI changes this. It dynamically tailors content based on customer demographics (like age, gender, and location) and real-time behaviors (such as purchase history or browsing patterns).
This means you can convert mass messaging into highly relevant, individualized communications that help you drive a higher return on investment (ROI).
The power of AI for personalization in SMS marketing extends far beyond simple reminders or cart abandonment alerts. It even recommends products your users may like, adjusts pricing, and curates personalized campaigns. (More on this later in the article!)
Automate with intelligence
With intelligent SMS marketing automation, you can set up triggered workflows that respond instantly to customer actions.

For example, you can gently nudge when someone leaves items in their cart, send a thank-you note after their first purchase, or request quick feedback. Plus, with chat-style auto-replies and AI-powered bots, you can handle simple customer conversations, like answering FAQs or confirming appointments, right in the SMS thread, 24/7.
Optimize with AI-powered A/B testing
With AI, you can test multiple message variations at once, track how different groups respond, and get early signals on what’s driving clicks or replies. AI spots patterns in open times, link engagement, and even response rates. Then, it helps you adjust content or timing before the campaign ends.
AI also determines the ideal send times for each audience segment so your SMS messages reach recipients when they’re most likely to engage. Plus, it continuously refines your campaigns in real time for maximum impact.
Let’s understand the benefits of AI in SMS marketing through its applications.
Practical AI SMS marketing applications
AI SMS marketing empowers you to hit your campaign targets, whether that means boosting click-through rates, driving more conversions, or increasing customer engagement.
But the real value lies in how AI achieves these results behind the scenes.
Smart segmentation
When 34% of consumers become annoyed by SMS messages irrelevant to their needs and interests, opt-out rates automatically increase. The reasons are ample: bad timing, irrelevant messaging, lack of personalization, unclear expectations, etc.
AI lets you automatically classify your audience into meaningful segments based on their engagement levels, purchase history, and behaviors.
For example, as shown in the image below, you might have segments like “High Value Customers” or “Holiday Shoppers.” This allows you to curate highly targeted campaigns for each group and deliver personalized offers, timely reminders, or exclusive deals.

Dynamic content insertion
AI-powered dynamic content lets you personalize each SMS with details like product recommendations, names, or exclusive offers.
For instance, if a customer abandons a cart with a specific item, the platform sends a message like, “Hi [name], your Nike Air Max is still waiting for you. Complete your purchase now and enjoy 10% off!”
This level of personalization boosts engagement and drives higher sales.
Automated replies and conversational flows
AI replies are smarter and more conversational than ever.
Modern AI SMS chatbots can handle FAQs, order status requests, and opt-out commands with natural, context-aware responses that feel genuinely human.
For instance, if a customer texts “Where’s my order?” or “I want to return product X,” they receive an instant, personalized update tailored to their situation. Even better? When a query is more complex or sensitive, the platform escalates the conversation to a human agent without delay.

Abandoned cart recovery
AI-powered abandoned cart recovery automatically adjusts tone, offer, and timing of messages based on each customer’s cart value and behaviors.
Behavior-triggered SMS
Apart from cart abandonment recovery and product recommendations, the use cases of AI in e-commerce include identifying fake reviews, fraud detection, and voice search optimization.
So if a customer suddenly places multiple high-value orders from different locations or uses inconsistent payment information, AI instantly flags the transaction as potentially fraudulent and triggers an SMS alert to both the customer and the internal risk team.
Upsell and cross-sell campaigns
SMS AI surfaces the right opportunities to recommend additional products that align with each customer’s preferences and actions.
For instance, after a customer buys a smartphone, Plivo’s Upsell and Cross-Sell Agent can follow up with a timely SMS recommending a phone case or screen protector. It can also optimize the timing of these offers, ensuring that suggestions are made when the customer is most receptive, such as right after the initial purchase or when they revisit the website.
Now that you know the benefits of AI SMS marketing, how do you find a platform that truly fits your business needs?
What to look for in an AI-driven SMS platform
When choosing an AI-driven SMS platform, focus on features that make your campaigns smarter. These include:
- Machine learning for segmentation: Prioritize a platform that automatically sorts your audiences based on real behaviors and attributes. This way, you can send the right message to the right person, trigger events, and manage opt-outs.
- NLP to generate messages: Look for built-in AI tools with natural language processing (NLP) that help you craft engaging, on-brand messages in seconds.
- AI-based A/B testing and optimization: Choose a platform that can automatically test different versions of your SMS, analyze the results, and optimize future sends for higher conversions.
- Auto-reply and AI bot integrations: Ensure it offers AI-powered SMS chatbots to manage FAQs, order tracking, and basic support, so your customers always get quick answers, even outside business hours.
Getting started: Steps to incorporate AI into your SMS strategy
Not sure where to begin with AI and SMS? You don’t need to overhaul everything at once.
Start by asking yourself: What are the current bottlenecks in your SMS campaigns? Are you aiming to boost conversions, increase CTR, or improve personalization?
Then, follow these steps.
Step #1: Audit your current SMS campaigns
- Review your existing SMS templates and campaign workflows.
- Identify repetitive manual tasks (like scheduling, segmentation, or copywriting) and areas where performance lags, such as low engagement or inconsistent personalization.
- Analyze which types of messages and calls to action (CTAs) perform best to spot opportunities for AI-driven improvements.
Step #2: Choose an AI-enabled SMS platform
- Prioritize SMS solutions that offer advanced segmentation, predictive analytics, and automation tools to help you scale as your business grows. Easy integration with your current marketing stack is an added bonus.
- Plivo CX is a strong option as it combines AI-driven segmentation, automated campaign workflows, and an OpenAI-powered copywriting tool to help you craft engaging, personalized messages at scale.
Step #3: Set up behavioral triggers and segmentation logic
- Use AI to segment your audience based on behavior, purchase history, and engagement patterns.
- Establish automated triggers for common scenarios (e.g., abandoned cart, post-purchase follow-ups, re-engagement) to ensure timely, relevant messaging.
Step #4: Test AI-generated copy vs. human-written messages
- Run A/B tests comparing AI-generated SMS messages to those written by your team.
- Ensure key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to determine which performs better.
- Continuously analyze results and let AI optimize future campaigns based on what resonates most with your audience.
Step #5: Refine with retention signals
- Monitor campaign results to see which segments engaged, converted, or dropped off.
- Use AI to identify patterns across time, content style, and customer behavior.
- Create follow-up segments like “one-time buyers” or “frequent clickers, no purchase” to guide re-engagement.
- Adjust future campaign timing, message structure, and tone based on actual user feedback and engagement history.
Let Plivo’s AI-powered platform handle SMS marketing
With so many AI-powered SMS marketing solutions on the market, it can be challenging to find one that truly fits your business. Many platforms either disrupt your existing communication systems or fall short when it comes to sounding genuinely human, leaving customers frustrated and your team with extra work.
Plivo is built to overcome these challenges.
It uses advanced NLP to understand and respond to customer messages just like a real person, so every conversation feels natural and engaging. And when a conversation gets too complex for AI, Plivo automatically routes it to a human agent.
Moreover, Plivo connects easily with popular platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, and HubSpot. So you can sync customer data, automate campaigns, and manage conversations without heavy IT involvement.
Customization is simple, too. You can quickly build custom AI agents tailored to your business goals, whether you want to engage, delight, or convert customers at different stages of their journey. Plus, it lets you set up automated workflows for each agent, so they can instantly trigger personalized messages based on real-time customer actions.
Ready to automate customer conversations? Get started for free with Plivo today!

25+ Omnichannel Customer Service Statistics You Should Know in 2025
Discover essential omnichannel customer service stats that reveal how connected support improves satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue in 2025.
A customer reaches out through your website’s live chat with a simple question. Hours later, they follow up via email. The next day, still waiting for a clear answer, they call your support line.
By this point, they’ve used three channels and repeated their issue to three separate agents.
They’re not alone: 56% of customers say they have to repeat themselves during support interactions. With no shared context or continuity, frustration builds.
Omnichannel customer service is designed to fix this.
In this blog post, we break down the key stats behind the shift to connected support and why businesses can’t afford to ignore it. Let’s begin!
Why omnichannel customer service matters in 2025
Omnichannel customer service helps businesses respond faster, reduce pressure on agents, and keep track of customer issues without starting over each time. It also helps teams spot problems early, identify trends, and improve service quality.
When support systems aren’t connected, these opportunities are harder to spot, and customers notice the difference.
That’s why consistency matters. Research shows that 24% of customers would stop buying from a brand after just one bad experience.

25 trends in omnichannel customer service
These omnichannel customer service statistics and trends reveal what’s shaping the future of connected, seamless experiences in 2025 and beyond.
Customer expectations and satisfaction
When people contact support, they want one thing: to get help without any extra hassle. That means quick answers, fewer handoffs, and not having to jump through hoops.
Omnichannel customer service delivers exactly that with a clear impact on customer satisfaction:
- 45% of firms saw better customer engagement, 35% retained more customers, and 35% reported improved customer loyalty due to omnichannel engagement. Furthermore, 46% of respondents noted a rise in customer lifetime value (CLV). (Forrester)

- 70% of customers globally prefer brands that provide service across multiple channels. (Freshworks)
- Digitizing customer service, notably through proactive omnichannel interactions, can enhance customer satisfaction by 33% while cutting costs by 25-35%. (Odondo)
- Most consumers now switch between at least three channels during a single purchase journey. Even though 75% expect a smooth experience across all of them, only 25% feel that retailers meet that expectation. This gap matters because customers who interact across multiple channels are at least 1.25 times more valuable than those who stick to just one. (McKinsey)
- Customers who switch between two or more channels to solve the same issue report much higher satisfaction when the experience is seamless. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) reaches 67% with smooth omnichannel support, compared to just 28% for disconnected multichannel support, the lowest among all support experiences. (SQM Group)
- 73% of customers believe companies should inherently understand their expectations, and 62% expect businesses to proactively anticipate their needs. (Salesforce)
- Four in five companies have implemented a channel steering strategy. Among these, 36% have successfully deflected calls to other channels. This overall approach leads to smoother customer experiences and more efficient issue resolution. (Deloitte Digital)
Efficiency across omnichannel operations
Support teams often lose time moving between disconnected tools like email, chat, and phone systems. This creates delays, forces customers to repeat themselves, and drives up service costs.
Omnichannel service brings everything into one view. Agents can handle requests faster, track previous conversations, and avoid doing the same work twice.
Here’s what that looks like with real numbers:
- Companies utilizing an integrated omnichannel solution experience a 31% reduction in first-resolution times and a 39% decrease in customer wait times compared to those operating in silos. (Zendesk)
- Companies that adopt omnichannel strategies reduce service delivery costs by 3-7%. (McKinsey)
- A study found that 36% of respondents experienced improved operational efficiency through omnichannel engagement. Additionally, 25% reported both increased revenue and reduced costs. (Forrester)
- Customers who receive high-quality omnichannel experiences are 3.6x more likely to make additional purchases, driving more cross-sell and upsell opportunities. At the same time, better experiences lower the cost to serve, allowing companies to focus on high-value customers who deliver over 1.6x higher lifetime value. (Deloitte Digital)
- One in three companies use omnichannel integration tools, resulting in a 9% reduction in cost per assisted contact. (Deloitte Digital)
- Most contact centers today use routing tools for agent-assisted chat (74%) and phone calls (51%), helping achieve a solid 76% agent occupancy rate. However, these single-channel tools fall short when it comes to efficiently routing customers across multiple channels or managing fluctuating contact volumes. To address this, 25% of contact centers have adopted dedicated omnichannel routing tools designed to optimize both speed and resource allocation. (Deloitte Digital)
Revenue and retention outcomes
When customers move across chat, email, and phone without starting over each time, they feel heard and valued. That sense of recognition strengthens trust, which naturally leads to deeper engagement and higher spending.
Here’s how that ripple effect plays out:
- Companies implementing omnichannel transformations see a 5-15% increase in total revenue. (McKinsey)
- In 2023, the global omnichannel customer service market was valued at approximately USD 14.2 billion. Projections indicate that the market will expand to USD 35.6 billion by 2032, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% throughout the forecast period. (Dataintelo)
- Nike has invested in omnichannel improvements, pushing e-commerce sales to over 30% of its business, with a goal of reaching 50%. (McKinsey)
- Companies with strong omnichannel engagement see a 9.5% increase in annual revenue. (Brand Equity)
Omnichannel results across key industries
Omnichannel customer service doesn’t look the same for every industry.
Nevertheless, it’s helping businesses across sectors like retail, banking, and insurance deliver faster support, meet growing expectations, and boost loyalty.
Here’s what it looks like:
- A fashion company saw a 10x increase in mobile app downloads and a 5x boost in mobile revenue within a year of implementing an omnichannel strategy. (Bain & Company)

- One retail company adopted an omnichannel strategy and achieved a significant 54% increase in its net promoter score (NPS), which reflects how loyal its customer base is. (Medallia)
- A report from the financial services industry shows that implementing a centralized customer experience data hub (a key component of omnichannel customer service) can reduce call handling times from five minutes to just two to three minutes. (Capgemini)
- In the insurance industry, 70% of customers expect a multichannel experience, but less than 40% of insurers said that their digital channels were robust enough to help customers switch channels seamlessly during their purchase journey. (Capgemini)
Read more: Omnichannel vs. Multichannel Customer Service: Key Differences Explained
Barriers and emerging trends
Omnichannel customer service is evolving, but not without growing pains. Many companies are still trying to connect the dots between systems, teams, and channels. At the same time, customer habits are shifting fast, often outpacing how businesses respond.
Here's how those changes are starting to show up in the data:
- Between 2022 and 2023, video support dropped from 0.6% to 0.4%, and email declined from 17.8% to 16.5%. In contrast, quicker channels saw growth — SMS rose from 1.3% to 1.6%, social media from 2.8% to 3%, and live chat from 7% to 7.2%. This shift signals a growing customer preference for faster, more convenient support options. (Deloitte Digital)
- Only 13% of companies report that customer data, history, and context carry over fully across interactions and channels. This shows that most businesses still struggle to deliver seamless experiences, forcing customers to repeat themselves and slowing down issue resolution. (Deloitte Digital)
- By 2028, 30% of Fortune 500 companies are expected to consolidate customer service into a single, AI-powered channel, moving away from traditional multichannel support. (Gartner)
- A survey found that 45% of people turn to generative AI tools for quick answers instead of using official customer support channels. This shift impacts omnichannel strategy as customers are no longer sticking to brand-owned channels. To stay relevant, businesses need to rethink support by including third-party AI platforms as part of the overall customer journey. (Gartner)
How Plivo streamlines omnichannel support for better outcomes
Plivo is an all-in-one omnichannel customer service platform that helps you deploy AI agents, which can deliver faster answers, fewer handoffs, and smoother customer journeys across every channel.
But, Plivo’s AI Agents go beyond chatbots. It can engage in human-like conversations, understand intent, and guide customers from discovery to purchase. Whether it’s voice, WhatsApp, webchat, or SMS, they respond with consistent context and clarity across all channels.
For example, if you’re a retail business, Plivo’s AI Shopping Agent can help customers instantly find the right products, compare options, and check what’s in stock. Your customers get quick answers, and your team can focus on more important conversations.

Similarly, with Plivo, you can build AI Sales Agents to qualify leads, recover carts, book appointments, and suggest products. On top of that, each agent is fully customizable to match your brand’s voice and integrate with your product catalog, FAQs, and business rules.

Plus, with Plivo’s Unified Agent Desktop your support team can see conversations from every channel on one screen and can intervene when needed.
With built-in tools like live call barge-in, real-time coaching, and in-depth analytics, you’ll stay in control while your AI agents handle the workload.

If your business is ready to scale personalized service across channels, Plivo makes it possible. Get started for free today.

14 RCS Use Cases for Your Business
Discover 14 high-impact RCS use cases to engage customers, boost conversions, and improve communication.
Back in 2007, most retailers didn’t sell on mobile.
Fast forward to today, and smartphones now drive 78% of global retail traffic and generate 68% of online orders. To match this shift in behavior, your messaging needs to meet customers where they are and how they prefer to engage.
SMS still delivers results with extremely high open rates and a 90-second average response time. However, it lacks the interactive, visual experience modern users expect.
Apps, meanwhile, offer rich functionality—but most users abandon them quickly, with 77% uninstalling or going inactive within three days. That’s where RCS comes in.
RCS (Rich Communication Services) combines the reach of SMS with the rich features of apps with images, buttons, and video without needing a download.
In this blog, we cover how RCS compares to traditional SMS and other messaging platforms, along with 14 practical use cases your business can start using today.
RCS vs traditional SMS: What’s the difference?
To put it simply, SMS is rudimentary, whereas RCS is built for modern mobile users.
For example, with SMS, you’re limited to 160 characters of plain text. It doesn’t have any branding, media, buttons, or delivery insights. It works, but doesn’t stand out.
RCS messaging changes that. It lets you send messages that look and feel like mini apps within the default messaging app on Android.
Think images, videos, product carousels, quick reply buttons, and more with your business name and logo.
Here’s how they compare:
RCS compared to other rich messaging channels
If you’ve used WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Apple Business Chat to engage customers, you’re already familiar with rich messaging: images, buttons, and fast replies.
But each of these platforms comes with limitations around reach, access, and control.
Benefits of using RCS for businesses
With over 1.4 billion global users and nearly 30% smartphone penetration, RCS gives you the scale of SMS with the functionality of an app. If you’re aiming for higher engagement, stronger branding, and quicker conversions, these benefits show why RCS deserves your attention.

Higher engagement than SMS
We are visual creatures. With rich visual elements and interactive content, customers are more likely to engage, explore, and act. This makes your messages harder to ignore and easier to convert.
Better branding with verified sender and media support
RCS messaging lets your business appear with a verified name, logo, and brand color. You can include product images, promo banners, and even videos directly in the message. This builds trust instantly and reinforces brand identity across every customer touchpoint.
Increased interactivity
With RCS, you’re not limited to static text. You can add buttons for checkout, support, or store locator, or display a carousel of products right inside the message. You can guide the customer journey step by step with no external links or confusion.
Frictionless experience
Unlike WhatsApp or mobile apps, RCS doesn’t need an app install or account login. It works natively in the Android messaging app, meaning your customer can view, interact, and buy without leaving the conversation.
The result? Lower friction, faster action, and better results.
14 RCS messaging use cases
Here are some top practical ways you can use RCS to improve communication, boost conversions, and enhance the customer experience:
1.Order confirmations and delivery updates
RCS helps you send interactive, real-time order confirmations and delivery updates that look and feel like app notifications without requiring your customers to download anything.
That means, instead of plain SMS like “Your order #1234 has shipped,” you can send an RCS message with your brand logo, product image, estimated delivery date, a “Track Package” button, and even live updates if the status changes.
2.Appointment reminders and rescheduling
RCS lets you send appointment reminders that go beyond basic SMS alerts. You can include branded visuals, dates, times, and quick-reply buttons like Confirm, Reschedule, or Cancel within the same thread.
This not only reduces no-shows but also streamlines the rescheduling process without needing a phone call or a separate app.

3.Product promotions and flash sales
Grab attention during sales periods with RCS messages that feature product images, discounts, limited-time banners, and tappable CTAs like “Shop Now” or “Add to Cart.”
Rich media helps offers stand out and drive faster conversions.

4.Cart abandonment recovery
Recovering abandoned carts is easier with visuals and interactivity. RCS allows brands to send reminders with product thumbnails, prices, and direct checkout buttons. This also removes extra steps and brings users back into the buying journey, instantly reducing friction and increasing recovery rates.
5.Customer support follow-ups
Instead of email back-and-forth or disconnected phone calls, RCS enables support teams to send follow-ups in the same conversation thread. You can include options like “Issue Resolved,” “Still Need Help,” or “Talk to Agent,” allowing for faster resolution and better customer experience.

6.Feedback and reviews collection
Asking for reviews or feedback becomes more effective when it’s quick and interactive. With RCS, you can send star-rating prompts, multiple-choice questions, or open-text feedback forms within the message.
This increases response rates and helps gather insights without redirecting users to external sites.
7.Event invitations and RSVP management
Drive participation in events by sending visually rich invites through RCS. You can also include event images, time, location, and quick actions like RSVP Yes or Add to Calendar.
With reminders in the same thread, you can boost attendance while keeping the experience friction-free.
8.Loyalty program updates
Keep your most valuable customers engaged by sharing point balances, rewards status, or tier upgrades through RCS. You can even embed CTA buttons to redeem offers, view rewards catalogs, or join challenges. This keeps customers informed while enhancing their overall experience with the brand.
9.Real-time order tracking
Deliver live updates on your customer orders directly via messages. Real-time order tracking provides customers with live information about their order status, including exact location, estimated delivery times, and direct tracking links.
This not only streamlines operations by minimizing the volume of customer inquiries but also reduces customer anxiety about their purchase.

10.Product recommendations based on behavior
Send personalized product suggestions using browsing or purchase history. RCS supports carousels with product images, prices, and CTA buttons, making it easy to go from message to purchase. Behavioral targeting combined with rich messaging leads to higher engagement and upsell potential.
11.Interactive payment processing
Enable your customers to make secure payments directly via a chat interface. RCS can integrate with various payment gateways, allowing a smooth transaction experience without redirecting users to external sites or apps. You get to offer a more integrated and efficient service while reducing cart abandonment rates.
12.Feedback & surveys
RCS lets you send short, visual surveys right inside your customer’s messaging app. You can include star ratings, multiple-choice options, or a quick text box that requires no redirects or logins.
It makes giving feedback feel effortless, so you’re more likely to get honest, timely responses.
13.Retargeting
Think of the last time you got a discount code via text from a store you visited months ago. Now imagine that message with your name, product images, and buttons to claim the offer instantly.
That’s where RCS Business Messaging stands out. It brings together the visual appeal of display ads, the customization of email, and the reach of SMS in one message.
14.One-time passwords (OTPs)
Security and speed matter when you’re verifying a user. One-time passwords are essential for actions like logging in, making payments, or updating account info. But plain-text SMS OTPs often blend in with other messages and don’t always feel secure or user-friendly.
RCS makes OTP delivery clearer and more trustworthy. You can brand the message, verify the sender, and include visual elements like your logo or a status icon. The message appears in a trusted thread, reducing the risk of phishing.
Start creating richer conversations with Plivo
Whether you’re sending order updates, promoting products, or collecting feedback, RCS is a better way to reach your customers where they already are
Plivo makes it simple to get started. It is an all-in-one AI-powered cloud communication platform that helps you send verified, rich messages at scale.
Plivo’s RCS turns plain texts into branded, two-way conversations.This drives stronger engagement and better business results. It gets even better when paired with Plivo’s AI agents and unified customer data platform CDP, becoming a powerful tool for personalized, automated, and scalable marketing.
Here’s what you get with Plivo:
- Real-time personalization: AI agents dynamically adjust RCS conversations based on unified customer profiles and real-time behavior triggers resulting in higher engagement, better conversion rates
- Multi-channel fallback: When RCS isn’t supported by the user’s device or network, messages automatically switch to SMS guaranteeing message delivery and maintaining consistent communication across all devices
- Conversational automation: AI agents seamlessly handle FAQs, process orders, schedule deliveries, and escalate complex queries, all within RCS. This reduces support costs, improves response times, and ensures a smooth, always-on customer experience
- Comprehensive omnichannel Platform: Manage SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, Chat, and RCS from a single dashboard streamlining operations and reducing vendor complexity.
- Enterprise-grade reliability: With 99.99% uptime and global infrastructure, Plivo ensures your campaigns and conversations are always on.
- Built-in security and compliance: Stay protected and compliant with support for GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2, ideal for businesses in regulated industries.
- Plug-and-play integration: Easily connect Plivo to your existing CRMs, marketing automation tools, and support systems to get started quickly without heavy development effort.
- Future-ready capabilities: Stay ahead of the curve with a platform built for evolving customer engagement needs positioning your brand as an early mover in conversational commerce.
Ready to go beyond basic SMS and reach customers at speed and scale?

RCS Chat Features: The Complete Guide to Next-Generation Messaging
Learn how next-generation RCS chat features are transforming business communication with rich media, better security, and real-time interactivity.
You may wonder: “We’re already running SMS campaigns, why switch?”
Well, 70% of users are more likely to communicate with brands through interactive messaging.
Clearly, customers crave something richer than bland text. That’s where rich communication services (RCS) come in. RCS chat features combine the trust of SMS with the interactive messaging your customers expect.
Let’s look at how RCS message features go beyond “rich messaging.”
Why RCS?
A plain text message can inform or ask, but it rarely engages. And today’s customers expect visual stimulation. No surprise, then, that 73% of businesses considered this rising need and boosted their budgets for visual communication platforms in the past year.
RCS messaging turns those standard texts into a fully branded experience with product images, quick-reply buttons, appointment confirmations, and even order tracking.
Sam Jacobs, the Head of Marketing at Ammo, on switching from SMS to RCS, says, “Our audience is visually driven, and with RCS, we send them images of our new collections and restocks. The 160-character limit on SMS limited how well we could tell a brand story and share features of our products.”
Apart from the 160-character limit, SMS falls short as:
- It supports only basic text and lacks interactivity or branding options.
- There’s no way to know if a message was read, and to track customer engagement beyond delivery.
- No sender verification means a higher risk of fraud and reduced customer trust.
SMS and RCS: How do they compare?
Before we dive into the RCS chat features, here’s a side-by-side breakdown of RCS vs. SMS to help you see how these messaging technologies differ and why RCS might be the smarter pick for your business.
Now that we know how these compare, let’s dive into RCS chat features and their benefits.
Key RCS features that boost customer engagement
Customers want rich media, two-way communication, and interactive branded texts. But how do these features benefit your business?
Rich media support that keeps your brand top of mind
With rich media support, you can engage customers with images, videos, carousels, and GIFs directly in the message, making campaigns visually compelling and memorable.
So a retailer can showcase new arrivals with product images and videos, rather than just a plain text link.
How does this benefit your business?
- Grabs attention instantly
- Boosts engagement and click-throughs
- Improves product discovery
- Strengthens brand recall
- Reduces friction in the buying journey
- Ideal for mobile-first shoppers
If your business has visual appeal, frequent promotions, or products/services that benefit from being “seen,” this feature helps.
Typing indicators and read receipts to optimize campaigns
Unlike traditional SMS, you’ll know if your offers have been read, so you can fine-tune your send times and messaging strategies for maximum impact.
For example, if you see most customers read your message in the evening, you can schedule future offers to hit inboxes at that peak time for better results.
How does this benefit your business?
- Follow up at the right moment
- Get clear visibility into customer engagement
- Reduce response time with proactive support
- Refine campaign timing based on user behavior
Any business with a strong need for customer service, fast issue resolution, or timely decision-making benefits from this feature.
Suggested replies and quick actions for a smooth buying journey
You can make it easy for customers to respond or take action with a single tap, boosting conversion rates and reducing friction.
For example, a bank can send a payment reminder with actionable buttons like “Pay Now” or “Contact Support,” while a sports facility can let users confirm or reschedule turf bookings — all through Plivo’s RCS messaging.

How does this benefit your business?
- Speed up customer responses
- Guide customers toward desired actions
- Reduce support workload
- Gather better data
Verified sender and branding to foster consumer trust
With verified business profiles, logos, and colors directly in the chat, users are more likely to trust your business. Plus, when they see your logo and a verified badge, it reduces fraud risk and increases open rates.

How does this benefit your business?
- Build immediate trust with customers
- Increase open and engagement rates
- Protect brand reputation against spoofing
- Enhance message consistency across campaigns
- Reinforce brand identity in every interaction
Any business that wants to minimize fraud and prevent spoofing benefits from this feature.
Two-way interactivity to decrease wait times
RCS message features enable real-time, dynamic conversations where customers can ask questions, get support, or make purchases without leaving the chat.
For example, an airline can handle booking changes or customer queries instantly instead of relying on slow SMS replies or call centers. Passengers can even browse flight options, seat upgrades, or travel add-ons without leaving the chat.

How does this benefit your business?
- Increase customer engagement through personalized messaging
- Resolve queries faster with back-and-forth messaging
- Reduce support wait times with instant communication
- Improve satisfaction by making customers feel heard
Delivery and engagement analytics
How can you be sure customers are even seeing, let alone clicking, your messages?
RCS messaging features include access to detailed analytics on delivery, reads, clicks, and engagement to maximize delivery and empower data-driven marketing. The data helps you see which promotions drive clicks and optimize future campaigns. (something SMS simply can’t provide!)
How does this benefit your business?
- Gain visibility into message delivery and read status
- Optimize send times and content based on real engagement data
- Reduce guesswork in campaign performance
- Improve ROI by doubling down on what works
- Track user behavior to personalize future campaigns
This feature helps marketing teams across industries analyze key success metrics and optimize strategies based on data.
End-to-end encryption (where supported)
This feature assures customers' privacy and security, especially for sensitive transactions or personal information. Industries like healthcare providers or banks can communicate securely, unlike with unencrypted SMS.
How does this benefit your business?
- Protect sensitive customer data in transit
- Build trust by ensuring message privacy
- Comply with industry regulations and standards
- Reduce liability from data breaches
Any business handling sensitive information, like patient data protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), financial transactions, or compliance-regulated customer details, can benefit greatly from this feature.
Interactive messaging functions to increase open rates
A travel agency that lets customers swipe through a carousel of dreamy destinations right inside their chat is far more likely to secure a booking than one that sends a plain text list.
With interactive messaging functions, you can use carousels, rich cards, and buttons to create immersive, actionable experiences within chat.
For example, Elizabeth Lawrence, Managing Editor at American Military News, shares how using RCS for state‑specific polling initiatives boosted customer engagement and helped them build more precise, targeted strategies.
“We sent a message that had the poll link, a short issue summary, and two reply buttons: 'I Support' or 'I Don’t.” Once clicked, the respondent got follow-up content based on their answer, like tailored videos, quotes, and even links to community events.”
On talking about how it helped them segment their audiences better, she said:
“Instead of shouting at everyone with the same message, we let them direct the conversation with one tap. That gave our analytics team cleaner segments and gave users content they wanted.”
How does this benefit your business?
- Improve engagement by delivering location-relevant content
- Increase conversion rates through personalized messaging
- Gather more accurate customer insights and preferences
- Reduce campaign waste by avoiding irrelevant outreach
- Support A/B testing based on region or segment behavior
Engage smarter with Plivo’s RCS features
With rising expectations for faster support, more personalization, and app-like messaging experiences, you can't rely on basic SMS alone. Plivo’s RCS messaging capabilities make a significant difference here. It brings the power of rich, interactive communication to your existing systems to drive engagement, automate conversations, and build trust at scale.
Plivo easily plugs into your existing communication stack via intuitive APIs, so you can start using RCS without overhauling your infrastructure. You can also pair it with AI Agents to automate FAQs, drive personalized recommendations, and resolve queries 24/7.
Whether you’re a retailer promoting a product drop, a bank confirming transactions securely, or a healthcare provider following up on appointments, Plivo’s RCS solution ensures your message is timely delivered, seen, clicked, and remembered.
Get started for free to see it in action!

RCS Business Messaging: The Smart Way For Engagement
Upgrade your customer communications with RCS for business messaging and drive higher engagement rates.
SMS has helped businesses with a wide reach for decades, but its limitations are clear: no branding, basic text only, and zero interactivity.
With rich communication services (RCS) business messaging, you’ll never have to choose between rich features or universal reach. It offers both and transforms standard texting into an interactive experience without requiring customers to download a third-party app.
Today, over a billion users have access to RCS across major platforms. So it’s high time we moved past the “should you use RCS” to “how quickly you’ll capitalize this unified messaging ecosystem” ones.
Here’s everything you need to know about RCS business messages, their types, capabilities, and use cases to streamline customer engagement.
What is RCS business messaging?
RCS messaging is a protocol that upgrades text messaging beyond the basic limitations of SMS. It adds features like high-resolution images, typing indicators, read receipts, and interactive buttons — all delivered directly to a mobile phone's native messaging app.
Simply put, RCS is SMS with superpowers.
While SMS limits you to 160 characters of plain text, RCS lets you send videos, offers suggested replies, and includes branded messages to help recipients take action right from the message.
Here’s an in-depth SMS vs. RCS discussion to catch up on their differences and benefits.
Barclays used RCS for business to reduce branch visits by guiding customers to their mobile app.
Their messages asked if customers knew they could make payments themselves, included a "See how" button that played a tutorial video, and provided a direct download link. This self-service approach improved customer experience while reducing operational costs.

Capabilities that RCS provides your business with
Here are the key features that make RCS better than traditional SMS.
Verified sender profiles
Trust drives purchasing decisions, and 87% of customers will pay more for products from brands they trust.
Every RCS business message comes from a verified sender profile that displays your business name with a verification badge. This tells recipients they're receiving legitimate communications, not spam or phishing attempts.

Branded messages
Your logo, brand colors, and business name appear at the top of every RCS communication.
Studies show that 86% of consumers made two or more purchases in the previous year directly from branded text messages. When customers see your logo and signature colors in their messaging app, they're already primed to engage.

Modern interactive features
RCS supports a range of interactive elements that static SMS can't match.
Rich cards combine media, text (title and description), and calls to action (CTAs) in a single message. These cards can link directly to products, allowing customers to go from message to purchase with one tap.

Further, carousels let customers swipe through multiple products or offers without leaving the messaging app.
Cross-platform support
Apple's iOS 18 update, which introduced RCS support, has significantly reduced the communication gap between Android and iPhone users.
With both Android and iOS supporting RCS, you can now reach virtually all smartphone users with rich, interactive messages. There’s no need for separate strategies for different devices.
Advanced analytics
RCS provides detailed engagement metrics beyond simple delivery reports.
You can access read receipts, typing indicators, and click-through rates (CTRs) for every interactive element. This data shows which cards, buttons, or documents drive the most campaign engagement.
You can monitor read reports, customer actions, and identify trends to adjust your campaign strategies.
RCS vs. SMS vs. MMS: What's the difference?
You've used all three at some point: SMS for basic text, MMS for image transfer, and maybe RCS without even realizing it.
But what makes them fundamentally different? Let’s see.
Types of RCS for business messaging
Moving beyond the technical differences, let's look at how businesses apply RCS messaging in practice. Unlike SMS, RCS gives you three distinct message formats to match your communication needs.
Basic messages
Basic messages work much like SMS but with verification. They contain text-only content within 160 characters and include URL previews that recipients can tap to visit your website.

What sets these messages apart from SMS is that they come from verified business profiles with a brand logo displayed. This verification immediately creates trust, even though the message itself is simple.
Basic messages work best for:
- Authentication codes and one-time passwords
- Appointment reminders
- Order confirmations
- Service updates
The biggest advantage is that you can often use your existing SMS API and pricing structure. Many providers automatically "upgrade" SMS to Basic RCS messages on compatible devices, making this a zero-effort enhancement.
Single Rich messages
Single Rich messages break free from text-only limitations by adding visual and interactive elements. Here’s what you can include with these messages:
- High-resolution images and videos
- Interactive buttons for direct actions
- Rich cards displaying product information
- Carousels showcasing multiple items
- Location data with map previews

For example, take a travel company sending a booking confirmation as a Single Rich message. They add the hotel image, display the check-in date, and use action buttons to "Add to Calendar" or "View Reservation Details."
The result is high engagement with minimal backend efforts.
Conversational messages
Conversational messages enable real-time, two-way discussions between brands and customers.
They come in two forms. Brand-initiated (A2P) starts when a customer responds to your Basic or Single Rich message within 24 hours. On the other hand, user-initiated (P2A) begins when a customer messages you first or responds after the 24-hour window.

With these messages, your business can:
- Handle customer service inquiries
- Provide personalized recommendations
- Guide customers through complex processes
- Qualify leads before transferring to sales
The messages require more backend work but deliver the full RCS experience.
Say a travel company could help a customer select vacation packages, add excursions, and complete the booking, all without leaving the message thread.
RCS business messaging use cases
Now that you know the different types of RCS, it’s time to see them in action. Here are some ways businesses use RCS messaging and drive results.
Marketing campaigns
With RCS marketing, it’s easy to create immediate connections through visual content that customers can act on directly. You send product showcases with embedded purchase buttons, surveys with tappable answers, and promotions with instant booking options.

For example, EaseMyTrip used RCS for a post-COVID travel survey with quick-tap answer options and a thank-you coupon.
The campaign achieved a 4x higher CTR than email and 10x more survey completions, resulting in a 2.7% increase in conversion rate.
Holiday promotions
Holiday shopping periods demand special attention. RCS makes your seasonal promotions stand out with visual product showcases, limited-time offer countdowns, and immediate purchase paths.
Nespresso used RCS for their holiday campaign to showcase their lesser-known accessory collections as gift options.

Their messages featured product carousels with direct purchase links. Making the experience interactive and circular (allowing users to replay or explore more) facilitated a 25% increase in purchase intentions.
Payments and transactions
RCS streamlines financial transactions with secure, interactive payment flows. Banks can send payment requests with verification buttons, fraud alerts with immediate action options, and bill reminders with one-tap payment capabilities.

Take Axis Bank, which implemented RCS for loan, credit card, and fixed deposit management.
Their interactive banking chatbot activated over 2,000 users, enabled 45% cross-sell opportunities, and processed 6.5% of service requests directly through RCS messaging.
Customer engagement and loyalty
Loyalty programs often fail because they're forgettable. Instead of sending a static "You have 250 points" message, RCS creates interactive experiences.
Here, customers swipe through reward options, play mini-games to earn bonus points, or receive personalized recommendations based on their preferences.
ENGIE tackled its inactive loyalty program with an RCS Advent Calendar. Each day revealed new surprises, educational content about their "Mon Programme pour Agir," and opportunities to earn and immediately redeem points, transforming a forgotten program into a daily habit.
Travel check-in and boarding passes
RCS streamlines travel experiences by combining reservation management, check-in, and digital boarding passes in a single conversation.
Airlines can walk passengers through seat selection, meal choices, and safety information with visual guides and simple taps, then deliver a scannable boarding pass directly in the messaging thread.

Google's RCS integration with Google Wallet lets travelers save their boarding pass with one tap. Once saved, the pass updates automatically with gate changes or delays, ensuring travelers always have accurate information without searching through emails or downloading airline apps.
RCS for business messaging is the future
As we've seen across these use cases, RCS is not an emerging technology anymore; it’s become a communication standard. But where is this technology headed?
According to Juniper Research, RCS business messaging will grow from just 3% of operator messaging revenue in 2024 to 18% by 2029. Total revenue will jump from $1.8 billion to $8.7 billion — a 370% increase in just five years.

What's driving this growth? Trust.
As SMS becomes increasingly compromised by scams and phishing attempts, businesses are migrating to RCS, where brand verification comes standard.
Market penetration is another factor. With Android holding over 70% of the global mobile market share and Apple's adoption, RCS now reaches every smartphone user. This universal reach without requiring app downloads gives RCS a significant advantage over platforms like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
The integration of AI with RCS will further accelerate adoption.
Smart chatbots that understand customer intent can handle routine inquiries and provide a personalized experience. Unlike traditional chatbots, RCS bots can share rich media, walk customers through complex processes with visual guidance, and seamlessly transfer to human agents when needed.
For your business, this transition represents an opportunity to get ahead. Companies that adopt RCS now will build familiarity with the platform while developing communication strategies that take full advantage of its capabilities.
Simplify your customer engagement with Plivo RCS API
With RCS positioned to transform business messaging, you need the right tools to capitalize on this opportunity.
Plivo's RCS API helps you bridge the gap between current SMS capabilities and the personalized, advanced experiences customers now expect. The platform's pay-on-delivery model means you only pay for messages that reach customers.
You also get valuable engagement metrics, including read receipts and button click data that traditional SMS can't provide. Plus, there are intelligent chatbot flows to help with instant issue resolution.
With RCS expanding its user base and showing engagement rates 35x higher than email, Plivo's API gives you a direct path to this growing audience. If your customers are among the 70% more likely to engage with brands through RCS, Plivo gives you the tools to meet them there.
Get started for free and build better customer conversations today.

36 Key CX Statistics Every Business Should Know in 2025
Know about key 36 CX statistics for 2025, including industry benchmarks, and the impact of personalized experiences on customers. Read more.
Many businesses invest heavily in customer experience(CX) strategies, believing that the right tools and technologies will immediately improve their bottom line.
They make changes, launch campaigns, and yet...
Customer satisfaction scores do not bulge, retention rates stay the same, and the promised growth in revenue feels elusive.
This often leads to the question: Is CX really the key to success?
Here's the thing: Successful CX strategies depend on measuring what truly matters, not just implementing random initiatives. When you track and optimize the metrics that capture genuine customer behavior patterns and pain points, your customer experience strategy transforms from a costly obligation into your most powerful revenue engine.
In this article, we'll explore the critical customer experience stats and CX trends for 2025 that provide actionable insights to not only meet customer expectations but exceed them in ways that impact your bottom line.
Why CX statistics matter for businesses

- Improving customer engagement and satisfaction: CX statistics help businesses understand customer behavior and preferences. This allows them to tailor interactions for better engagement and satisfaction.
- Using data to support budget allocation: With clear CX data, businesses can demonstrate the value of customer experience improvements. This justifies the allocation of resources and budget for CX initiatives.
- Identifying key areas for improvement in CX strategies: CX statistics highlight pain points and gaps in the customer journey. This enables businesses to focus on areas that need optimization to enhance the overall experience.
36 eye-opening customer experience statistics
To stay ahead, businesses must keep a close eye on emerging trends and some important customer experience data that will define the future of CX.
1. Customer satisfaction rates and benchmarks
As we look ahead to 2025, businesses must stay on top of evolving customer experience (CX) trends and performance metrics. According to Gartner, conversational generative AI (GenAI) is a top priority in 2025 to enhance customer interactions and drive enterprise growth through upselling and cross-selling.
Customer satisfaction is typically assessed using several key metrics:
Key statistics on CX satisfaction and expectations
- 94% of customers rate video support as a positive experience.
- In a global survey of over 75,000 consumers across 33 markets, the average customer service satisfaction rating for banks was 3.97 out of 5 in 2025, with customer service ranked as the fourth most important aspect of banking.
- 90% of CX leaders report that customer expectations are higher than ever before.
As customers use multiple channels, businesses need to focus on offering smooth experiences across all touchpoints.
2. Response times and customer expectations
In 2025, customer expectations regarding response times have become more stringent.
According to IBM, 60% of service professionals report that customer expectations have increased since before the pandemic, making timely responses critical to customer retention and business growth.
IBM also highlights that quick resolution and reducing handling time to 53 seconds per interaction for one of their clients significantly improves customer satisfaction.
This is primarily influenced by technological advancements in digital communication channels.
Here's an overview of the current landscape:
- Customer service teams respond to requests in an average of 12 hours and 10 minutes.
- In the US, 46% of consumers are willing to wait up to three days for a response from a brand they contacted.
- Email response time is a critical KPI; responding within 5 to 10 minutes can reduce customer dissatisfaction by 400%
Meeting customer expectations requires strategic investments in staffing, technology, and process optimization to ensure timely and effective customer service.
3. Understanding the shifting channels of customer interaction
The digital transformation of customer interactions has fundamentally reshaped how businesses engage with consumers. Channel preferences are evolving rapidly, and omnichannel strategies have become non-negotiable for competitive success.
The dominance of traditional and digital channels
A survey conducted in 2024 in the United States examined consumer preferences for channels when interacting with AI-powered customer service.
For both consumers aware and unaware of AI, phone support emerged as the top choice, with 72% of the aware group and 65% of the unaware group preferring it.
The second choice for the aware group was online support, with around 60% opting for it, while for the unaware group, SMS or text support was the second choice, with about 55% preferring it.
This persistence highlights the enduring value of human-like interaction, even in AI-enhanced systems.
However, text-based channels are gaining ground; 86% of businesses utilized SMS marketing in 2023, marking a 56% increase from 2022.
Generational differences make it harder to create effective channel strategies. Gen Z consumers prioritize social media and mobile-first platforms, with 78% of U.S. TikTok users making purchases based on influencer recommendations.
On the other hand, 57% of shoppers aged 18 to 24 discover new products through recommendations, highlighting the importance of personalized suggestions for younger demographics. This contrast underscores the need to tailor strategies to different generations.
4. The role of AI and automation in CX
AI-driven solutions are becoming an integral part of customer support. The adoption of AI technologies simplifies customer operations and also reduces costs.
Let’s take a look at some key statistics showcasing the impact of AI in customer support and service.
- Global AI adoption in customer support: 80% of companies are either using or planning to adopt AI-powered chatbots for customer service by 2025.
- AI in healthcare: NIB Health Insurance saved $22 million through AI-driven digital assistants, reducing customer service costs by 60%.
- AI's Impact on customer support efficiency: AI-enabled customer service teams have saved 45% of the time spent on calls, resolving customer issues 44% faster, leading to reduced operational costs.
- Increased AI utilization across functions: A McKinsey survey reveals that the use of AI has risen from 72% in early 2024 to 78%, with significant adoption in marketing, sales, and service operations
5. The impact of personalization and hyper-personalization in CX
Customers expect tailored experiences that address their needs, and businesses that excel at personalization are reaping the rewards.
Generative AI is helping brands to scale this personalization, and as AI continues to evolve, hyper-personalization is now possible, where every interaction feels unique.
The global revenue of the customer experience personalization and optimization software and services industry is projected to reach 11.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2026, marking an increase of over 65 percent from current levels.
AI-driven platforms, like Plivo, are enabling businesses to scale hyper-personalization. By integrating communication channels, they tailor experiences to meet each customer's unique preferences.
Here are some key statistics that highlight its influence on customer behavior:
- 84% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience
- 79% consider a personalized experience important when combining "Very Important" and "Important" ratings
- AI-powered personalization can drive up to a 15% increase in revenue
- 61% of consumers would spend more for tailored experiences, yet only a quarter (25%) of experiences are considered highly personalized.
Unifying customer data for intelligent experiences
The key to providing personalized customer experiences is integrating and unifying data across multiple platforms. Businesses that connect customer touchpoints can create a more intelligent and cohesive experience.
- 70% of marketing leaders struggle with disconnected customer data and are unable to reach ideal segments
- Unified data enables both AI and human agents to offer more accurate and personalized service.
CX ROI and business outcomes
Investing in customer experience improves customer satisfaction and also delivers clear business outcomes, from higher revenue growth to greater profitability.
According to Forrester, here are some key stats showing CX's impact on organizational performance:
- 41% faster revenue growth for organizations that excel in CX.
- 49% faster profit growth and 51% better customer retention for customer-obsessed businesses.
The impact of poor customer experiences on churn
Failing to meet customer expectations can have severe consequences like lost sales and damaged reputations. Poor experiences are a leading cause of churn and can cost companies billions.
According to IBM, voluntary customer churn-where customers leave due to reasons such as bad customer experience-accounts for about 3% of the average churn rate, compared to 1% for involuntary churn.
This highlights that poor customer experience is a significant driver of customer loss.
How industries are adapting to CX shifts
Here’s a look at how various sectors are adapting to meet the rising customer expectations.
Retail
Retail has undergone a dramatic transformation with the rise of e-commerce and the demand for seamless omnichannel experiences. Retailers are now focusing on integrating their online and in-store services to provide a smooth shopping experience for consumers.
For example, luxury auto manufacturers and retailers improved their industry-average CX score in 2023, with brands like Infiniti, Lincoln, and Tractor Supply joining the top 5% of brands in the CX Index.
Banking
In banking, the shift toward digital-first solutions is changing how customers engage with financial institutions. From mobile banking apps to AI-driven financial advice, banks are leveraging technology to meet the needs of tech-savvy customers.
- 78% of financial institutions have implemented generative AI to enhance customer service, simplify interactions, and boost efficiency.
- Banks are increasingly adopting hybrid cloud technologies to securely store and manage customer data, with over 60% of CEOs in the banking sector prioritizing cybersecurity as part of their CX strategy.
Telecom
The telecom industry is embracing automation and AI to improve customer service and manage the increasing demand for better connectivity. Telecom companies are now offering more digital services to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.
- In 2024, the Communication & Media sector, which includes telecom companies, had the lowest customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores compared to other industries. However, in 2025, their CSAT score showed improvement, reaching 22.
- 62% of telecommunications providers enhance customer experience through generative AI, with expectations to rise to 90% by 2027.
Healthcare
Healthcare has become increasingly digital and is integrating new technologies to enhance patient care and improve operational efficiency.
A 2021 Accenture study revealed that two-thirds of Americans have had a negative healthcare experience, highlighting the need for significant improvements in service delivery.
Simplifying CX with Plivo’s AI-driven solutions
It is, undoubtedly, not an easy task to provide personalized, efficient customer support at scale is a significant challenge for many businesses today. Traditional customer service models struggle to meet the growing demand for real-time engagement and great customer experiences across multiple touchpoints.
This is where Plivo CX steps in.
As an all-in-one omnichannel customer engagement platform, Plivo CX offers AI-driven solutions that simplify customer interactions and enhance overall customer engagement.
We deliver a suite of intelligent tools designed to optimize every aspect of customer service. This ensures timely and personalized experiences without draining your money.
Here’s how Plivo CX helps you to enhance CX and customer service:
- Flexible customer segmentation: Use the Audiences feature to categorize customers based on their behavior, preferences, and past interactions. This ensures that each message is relevant and personalized for the right audience.
Timely engagement: Automate messaging and scheduling to engage customers at the optimal time across different time zones.

- Sales conversion agent: Utilize AI to create personalized offers, guiding potential customers through the sales funnel with targeted messages.
- Customer retention agent: Proactively reach out to inactive customers with tailored messages. This helps businesses re-engage and retain valuable customers while reducing churn.
- Copywriter AI: Leverage Copywriter AI to craft compelling, personalized SMS with the help of AI-driven suggestions and pre-built templates. This ensures each message resonates with your audience.

- Pre-sales inquiry agent: Plivo’s AI-powered agents quickly and accurately handle inquiries. This provides prospective customers with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.
- E-commerce platform integrations: Seamlessly integrate with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento. You can send notifications directly from your system.
With Plivo’s robust carrier network spanning over 220 countries, businesses can slash SMS expenses by up to 70% while experiencing a threefold increase in ROI.
Businesses using Plivo CX have experienced impressive returns with $71 generated per dollar spent on SMS marketing campaigns.
Book a free demo today and succeed in delivering exceptional customer service.

Role of Real-Time Agent Assist in Contact Centers
Learn how real-time agent assist helps contact centers boost productivity, reduce call time, and support agents with live insights.
Contact centers are stretched thin. Agents spend nearly 70% of their week on tasks that don’t drive revenue: searching for information, entering data, or answering repetitive queries.
While they jump between systems, customers are kept waiting. Supervisors catch these inefficiencies too late, and reactive tools only add to the delay.
Real‑time agent assist (RTAA) turns this around. It delivers the right information at the exact moment agents need it, helping them move faster and stay focused.
The results speak for themselves. Early adopters report a 15% increase in agent productivity.
Want to see how RTAA can transform your support ops? Let’s get into it.
What is real‑time agent assist?
Real‑time agent assist is a tool that gives support agents the information they need during a live call. It relies on natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to understand what’s being said.
RTAA pulls relevant data from knowledge bases and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to show the best suggestions in real time. This cuts down on guesswork and lets agents handle issues more smoothly.
How does real-time agent assist work?
When an agent-customer call starts, the tool quietly works alongside them.
First, the system uses automatic speech recognition (ASR). The technology listens to the conversation and turns spoken words into written text.
Next, both the text and voice inputs are sent to spoken language understanding (SLU), which analyzes the words to understand their meaning and the emotions behind them. Then, before anything appears on the agent's screen, all this processed information passes through the recommendation system.
It analyzes everything and decides what insights are most useful for the agent at that exact moment. Some information becomes real-time guidance, while other details might be shown with specific advice.
Finally, agents see these processed insights instantly on their screens.
These insights can be used through various features. Let’s examine these one by one.
Core capabilities of real-time agent assist
While the agent talks, this tool listens, understands, and acts — all at once. These are the core capabilities that make it happen.
Real-time guidance
Real-time guidance means agents get on-screen tips while they chat with customers. These suggestions help them fix issues and offer the right products.
If the customer sounds frustrated, it even suggests what to say or when to escalate. Each tip shows up at just the right moment, so agents know what to do next without guessing.
The result is faster replies, fewer mistakes, and happier customers.
Plivo’s Unified Agent Desktop makes this possible by pulling everything into one place.

Let’s say a customer sends a WhatsApp message asking about a missing order.
The message pops up on the agent’s screen along with the customer’s full history. Past orders, complaints, call logs, and previous chats are right there.

That’s because Plivo integrates with your e-commerce, CRM, and ticketing platforms — so all the context an agent needs is centralized.
If a customer asks about an order, the system spots the issue and instantly suggests the right tracking link.
The agent clicks, sends it over, and the problem’s solved in seconds.
Dynamic knowledge integration
When agents don’t have quick access to the right information, calls drag on, customers get frustrated, and issues go unresolved.
The challenge isn’t that answers don’t exist, it’s that they’re buried across tools, tabs, and team documents.
Dynamic knowledge integration solves this by pulling the right info from the right system at the right time without making agents search for it. Plivo brings it to life inside its Unified Agent Desktop with integrated knowledge bases.

Guided script
Live calls can go off track fast, especially when the issue is complex or the customer is upset.
Guided scripts help agents stay sharp by showing a live, step-by-step checklist during the call. It highlights what to ask, what to confirm, and what’s still pending. If the agent misses a key question, the system immediately flags it, ensuring nothing important gets overlooked.
During an insurance claim, for example, it might remind the agent to ask for accident details, vehicle info, and witness names.
This results in more structured calls, fewer mistakes, and customers feel like they’re in good hands.
Workflow automation
After every call, there’s more work to do — forms to fill, follow-ups to schedule, tickets to update. It eats into time and pulls agents away from the next conversation.
Workflow automation removes that extra load. It handles repetitive steps in the background, so agents can stay focused on helping customers.
Plivo makes that happen with AI Agents. They can log conversation details, trigger workflows, and update internal tools using existing business logic.
Tasks like refund approvals, appointment confirmations, loyalty updates, and survey requests are handled in the background. The agent finishes the call, and everything else moves forward on its own.
No repetition, no delay.
Why traditional support tools fall short
Most support tools weren’t built for fast-moving conversations or rising customer expectations. Here’s why they fall short:
Agents waste time chasing information
Customer data is often spread across disconnected tools like spreadsheets, emails, CRM entries, and chat logs.
A simple billing issue might mean checking payment history in one place, looking up complaints in another, and searching inboxes for policy files. By the time the agent pulls everything together, the customer is already frustrated, and the call has gone longer than it should.
Supervisors can’t see what’s happening
Most tools only surface problems after the call ends, when it's already too late to fix anything.
Supervisors can’t see when agents are struggling or when conversations start to go off track. They miss patterns like a surge in refund requests or customers repeatedly asking about the same policy.
Without real-time visibility, there’s no way to coach during the moment or step in before things escalate. Feedback feels disconnected, and agents miss the chance to improve where it matters most.
For example, a customer keeps pushing back on refund terms, and the agent hesitates. With live monitoring, a supervisor could instantly suggest a better explanation or offer backup, turning a tense moment into a smooth resolution.
Reactive alerts that come too late
62% of customers expect companies to anticipate their needs, yet most support tools only react after an issue is raised. A missed upsell, a delay in apologizing, or a dropped follow-up often surfaces after the call ends, when it’s too late to fix.
Agents need prompts while the conversation is still happening.
For instance, during a billing call, a customer might ask if their current plan includes international coverage, signaling potential interest in an upgrade. Without a timely prompt, the agent moves on, missing a clear opportunity to upsell.
Without this real-time guidance, teams stay stuck in reactive mode as missed chances pile up, and customer trust takes a hit.
Benefits of real-time agent assist
With real-time support built into every step, agents don’t have to slow down or second-guess. Here’s how it plays out on live calls:
Live call and screen monitoring
Real-time tools follow both the conversation and what’s happening on the agent’s screen. If a customer asks a tricky question, the system can suggest a reply or surface the right info instantly.
The agent responds faster, and the call keeps moving.
Support that works anywhere
Agents get the same real-time guidance and assistance no matter where they’re based: at home, in the office, or working a hybrid schedule.
The system stays consistent across every setup, so there's no drop in support quality, no missing context, and no disruption to the customer experience.
Faster fixes, lower costs
When agents get instant guidance, they don’t need to put customers on hold or transfer the call. Problems get solved faster, customers don’t have to wait, and agents save time.
In the long run, this can bring down call costs without reducing service quality.
Less agent churn
Live calls are tough, especially when agents feel stuck. Real-time support takes some of that pressure off by offering help in the moment. It builds confidence, shortens training time, and makes the day-to-day feel less overwhelming.
How to implement real-time agent assist
Rolling out real-time agent assist successfully takes the right setup, the right tool, and a plan to make it stick.
Here’s how to do it step by step:
Step #1: Assess readiness
Before you roll out real-time agent assist, take stock of what you already have. Start with your tech. Are your current systems ready to connect with an RTAA tool? If they’re outdated or too siloed, you may run into issues early on.
Next, look at how your agents work. Where do they lose time or get stuck? Knowing this helps you spot where RTAA can step in and where you might need to adjust workflows.
And don’t forget your customers. What are the recurring problems they face? If you know what frustrates them, you can shape RTAA to address those gaps from the start.
Step #2: Choose the right solution
Real-time agent assist only works if it fits your operations, not the other way around. Many solutions promise "AI-powered support" but fall apart in practice with too many logins, clunky integrations, or dashboards that agents avoid.
To find a solution that works, look for these essentials:
- Centralized experience: Agents shouldn’t have to juggle five tabs to help one customer. Look for an interface where voice, chat, tickets, customer history, and AI prompts all show up in one place.
- Plug-and-play integrations: The tool must work with your existing CRM, ticketing, order systems, and knowledge base without breaking workflows or needing months of custom dev work.
- Scalable performance: As teams grow and call volumes spike, the system should remain responsive. Look for solutions with proven uptime, low latency, and robust application programming interface (API) coverage.
- No learning curve for agents: If it takes a training manual to use it, agents won’t. The tool should feel intuitive, like a natural extension of their workflow.
That’s exactly what you get with Plivo’s Unified Agent Desktop. It brings every customer interaction (voice, messaging, tickets, and insights) into a single screen powered by AI. The tool works behind the scenes to prompt, suggest, and guide in real time.

Step #3: Train and empower agents
The success of any real-time assist tool depends on agent adoption.
To build trust, start with a clear explanation of how the system works. Show agents what it listens for, how it generates prompts, and what kind of help it provides during live conversations.
The goal is to position it as a support system, not a surveillance tool.
Walk agents through real scenarios where the tool steps in, such as flagging rising frustration, suggesting a missing step, or surfacing key product info before the customer even asks. Once agents see how it helps them work smarter, they’re far more likely to rely on it.
It’s also important to keep the feedback loop open. Encourage agents to share what’s working and what isn’t. If something feels off or distracting, it should be adjusted.
Step #4: Measure impact
Once real-time agent assist is live, track what’s changing. Focus on call center metrics that reflect both performance and experience.
Start with these:
- First call resolution (FCR): Higher resolution rates show that agents are handling queries more effectively during the first interaction, reducing the need for callbacks or escalations.
- Average handle time (AHT): If calls become more efficient while maintaining quality, agents are clearly benefiting from timely prompts and faster access to answers.
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT): An increase in satisfaction scores reflects smoother conversations and stronger outcomes from the customer’s perspective.
- Agent retention: When agents feel supported and less overwhelmed, they’re more likely to stay, especially in high-volume or high-pressure environments.
These indicators work together to reveal the system’s true impact.
With Plivo, all of this data is accessible through a single interface, allowing teams to track trends, identify gaps, and adjust as needed without adding operational complexity.

Future-ready your contact centers with Plivo
Plivo CX gives enterprises a simpler, more flexible way to manage customer service. Its cloud-based platform brings everything — voice, chat, and messaging into one place. This helps your team focus on solving problems instead of switching tools.
Here’s what it brings to your contact center:
- AI-powered live chat that answers common questions instantly using your knowledge base
- Custom knowledge base integration so agents always have accurate, up-to-date information
- Unified Agent Desktop to manage conversations across channels without losing context
- Smart routing based on agent skills and predictive insights to speed up resolutions
- Workflow builder to automate customer journeys across all communication channels
- API support to customize workflows and connect with your existing tools
Get started for free and bring speed, clarity, and consistency to every customer conversation with Plivo CX.

AI Agents: Top Statistics You Need to Know in 2025
Explore key 2025 statistics on AI agents in customer service. Discover trends in adoption, ROI, performance, customer preferences, and more.
Accenture’s 2024 report indicates that 74% of organizations say their investments in generative AI and automation have met or exceeded expectations. Even more telling, 63% plan to increase that investment by 2026.
This sends a clear signal: AI is paying off.
Now the question is, are you using it to its full potential? Or are outdated systems slowing your team down?
To help you get a full overview of the current landscape, we have handpicked top customer service stats from McKinsey, PwC, Gartner, and other credible sources. You’ll see exactly where AI agents deliver results and how Plivo helps you act on them.
Top AI agent statistics
AI agents are changing how you deliver customer service. But how much impact are they really making?
To help you make smarter decisions, we’ve broken down the latest statistics into seven key categories. Each one highlights where AI agents impact, from adoption and performance to ROI, customer preferences, and challenges.
Growth of AI agents in customer service
More companies are deploying AI agents to reduce wait times, cut support costs, and scale faster. Let’s look at the numbers showing how fast AI adoption is accelerating:

- The AI agents market was valued at $3.7 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $103.6 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 44.9% from 2024 to 2032 (S&S Insider)
- 63% of top-performing companies plan to increase cloud budgets by 6% or more (PwC)
- 85% of enterprises are using AI in 2025 (Wiz)
- By 2025, 80% of companies will have adopted or plan to adopt AI-powered chatbots to support their customer service operations (Gartner)
- As of early 2025, 78% of organizations are using AI in at least one business function, up from 72% in early 2024, showing steady growth in AI adoption across industries (McKinsey)
- 78% of respondents report using AI in at least one business function, a rise from 72% in early 2024 and 55% the year before, showing rapid growth in AI adoption(McKinsey)

- The share of companies running fully AI-led operations jumped from 9% in 2023 to 16% in 2024. These businesses are seeing 2.4 times higher productivity and developing more effective retention strategies (Accenture)
- By 2029, AI agents will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues, eliminating the need for human intervention in most routine cases (Gartner)
- 63% of retail organizations report using generative AI to enhance their existing customer service efforts (Capgemini)
- Organizations are turning to AI to drive top-line growth and stand out from competitors. 42% aim to improve product or service quality, while 39% are focused on boosting revenue. At the same time, they’re using AI to enhance operations—40% to increase workforce productivity, 41% to improve IT efficiency, and 39% to speed up innovation (Weka)
Use cases: where AI agents are creating impact
If you think AI has limited use, these stats will shift your perspective:

- Automating just up to 20% of support tickets can lead to an 8-point increase in repeat purchase rates within 28 days (Gorgias)
- Automated responses resolve some tickets instantly and help teams respond faster overall. On average, merchants using automation reply 37% faster than those who don’t (Gorgias)
- Merchants who automate customer tickets resolve them 52% faster than those who don’t, showing how AI significantly speeds up support (Gorgias)
- AI agents will cut the time needed to exploit account exposures by 50%, emphasizing the importance of AI in both defense and risk response by 2027(Gartner)
- Organizations using Gen AI–enabled customer service agents saw a 14% increase in issue resolution per hour and a 9% reduction in time spent handling issues (McKinsey)
Performance metrics that matter
AI agents now match or exceed human benchmarks in speed, accuracy, and resolution rates. But how do they actually perform under pressure? These numbers tell you what to expect and where to set your goals:

- 72 % of top-performing companies have seen increased productivity by implementing AI (PwC)
- Using generative AI tools boosts user performance by 66% on average. The biggest gains come from complex tasks, with less-skilled workers seeing the most improvement (Nelisen Norman Group)
- Conversational AI in contact centers will cut agent customer service operations costs by $80 billion by 2026. In 2022, global end-user spending on these solutions reached $1.99 billion, showing substantial investment in automation (Gartner)
- Among leading generative AI adopters, the majority report a high or very high impact on key business areas: 79% say it boosts innovation, 76% say it supports new product launches, and 76% see faster time to market—all contributing to stronger competitive positioning (Weka)
- Customer support agents using a generative AI assistant boosted their productivity by 14% on average (NBER)
- Workers are, on average, 33% more productive during each hour they use generative AI (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)
AI agent ROI and cost efficiency
Businesses are saving millions in overhead while improving support outcomes. Want to know how much ROI you could unlock with AI agents? These stats break it down:

- Support agents using AI tools can manage 13.8% more customer inquiries per hour, boosting productivity without the need to hire more staff (Nielsen Norman Group)
- Generative AI and related technologies could automate tasks that currently take up 60 to 70% of employees’ time, significantly changing how work gets done (McKinsey)
- AI-powered systems have led to a 31.5% boost in customer satisfaction scores and a 24.8% increase in customer retention, showing clear gains in both experience and loyalty (ResearchGate)
- Companies using generative AI are 35% less likely to report that human agents feel overwhelmed by the amount of information during customer calls (Deloitte)
- 9 in 10 of organizations using AI report saving both time and money. Service operations professionals are especially optimistic, nearly all believe generative AI will improve their company’s customer service (Salesforce)
- 1 in 3 companies with omnichannel integration tools resulted in 9% lower cost per assisted contact (Deloitte)
AI agents + human agents: The hybrid advantage
The best support teams blend human empathy with AI efficiency. AI agents handle volume. Human agents step in for nuance. These figures show what’s working and where companies get it wrong:

- 71% of customers believe it is important for a human to validate the output of AI (Salesforce)
- Today, 54% of workers worldwide trust humans and AI to work together on most tasks, highlighting the need for businesses to implement AI responsibly and in ways that earn user trust(Salesforce)
- Among organizations using generative AI, 27% say their employees review all AI-generated content before it’s used, whether it’s a chatbot response for a customer or an image for marketing (McKinsey)
- While 68% of people have used automated customer service chatbots, 88% still prefer speaking with a human when they need support, highlighting the ongoing importance of human interaction (Ipsos)
- 87% of executives believe generative AI will augment jobs rather than replace them, suggesting most roles will evolve with AI support instead of being automated away (IBM)
- Executives can drive AI adoption by showing employees that the goal is to add value, not just cut costs. Companies that foster a culture of experimentation and don’t penalize failure see a 10% boost in revenue growth during tech adoption. Among AI users, those with this open mindset achieve a 22% higher revenue growth rate than those who don’t (IBM)
AI Agents and Customer Preferences
Customers care about fast, helpful answers, not who gives them. But preferences still matter. You’ll want to see what real users are saying before making your next CX decision:

- 28% of respondents have used AI-powered visual search to find products that look like what they’re interested in purchasing (BCG)
- Nearly 24% of consumers are already comfortable with AI agents making purchases on their behalf, and that number rises to 32% among Gen Z shoppers (Salesforce)
- About one in three consumers prefer to buy products through automated or digital channels, such as AI agents, rather than interacting with a person (Salesforce)
- Some of the top reasons for customers interacting with AI include better availability (41%), faster issue resolution (37%), and more accurate information (30%) (SurveyMonkey)
- 52% of consumers are interested in using AI to guide them through a product, website, or feature. 47% want personalized deals based on their purchase history, and 42% are interested in AI-driven product recommendations (SurveyMonkey)
- 89% of customers say it’s important to know whether they’re interacting with a human or an AI, highlighting the need for transparency in customer support (Salesforce)
Challenges & considerations
If you’re thinking about scaling AI, you need to know what could go wrong and how others navigate it. These stats show the friction points worth planning for:

- 92% of analytics and IT leaders say that the demand for trustworthy data is at an all-time high, especially as AI becomes more central to decision-making (Salesforce)
- 61% of workers are open to using generative AI, but many still lack access to reliable data and the security skills needed to use it effectively (Salesforce)
- Nearly 64% of organizations express concern about how AI and machine learning projects affect their energy consumption and carbon footprint. 25% say they are very concerned (Weka)

- 35% of organizations cite storage and data management as the top infrastructure barriers to AI adoption. However, those with widespread AI implementation report fewer issues in these areas (Weka)
- 37% of the U.S. IT leaders see data quality as a major obstacle to AI success (Hitachi Vantara)
- 40% of employees will need retraining due to AI adoption, underscoring the need for ongoing learning and strong human oversight (IBM)
Experience next-gen AI-driven engagement with Plivo
The data speaks for itself—AI agents are no longer optional. They mean faster resolutions, lower costs, and higher satisfaction. But success depends on choosing the right partner.
Plivo is an all-in-one omnichannel customer service platform that helps you deploy open AI-powered AI agents that actually perform. No overpromises. Just faster responses, fewer escalations, and better CX.
With Plivo, you get:
- AI agents for instant support: Handle FAQs, status checks, and call routing automatically, reducing agent load and response times 24/7
- Metrics & reporting: Get live insights into call volume, handle time, and team performance
- Smart, context-rich escalations: Transfer complex issues to human agents with full conversation history. No repeated questions, no friction
- Easy integrations: Connect Plivo to your CRM, helpdesk, and other tools without heavy dev work
- Flexible scalability: Whether you’re supporting 10 users or 10,000, Plivo adapts to your scale and needs
- Workflow automation: Automate follow-ups, ticket routing, and updates to keep customers informed without manual effort
- Enterprise-grade security: Built with SOC 2 and GDPR compliance to keep your data safe and your business trustworthy
Want to see how AI agents transform your support strategy? Book a demo now.

What Is a Customer Success AI Agent and How to Implement It?
Learn what a Customer Success AI Agent is, how it works, and how to implement it effectively. Discover top use cases and tips to enhance your customer success strategy with AI.
Organizations are struggling to do more with less when it comes to customer success. Many organizations are facing tight budgets. As TSIA’s The State of Customer Success 2025 webinar showcases, in this money crunch, they are moving towards AI in customer success to automate repetitive tasks.
In fact, 40% of organizations have already deployed AI in customer success management operations. AI-powered customer success agents are a promising solution in this area.
In this post, we will look at what a customer success AI agent is, its top use cases, and how to implement one.
What is a customer success AI agent?
A customer success AI agent uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate the routine work of customer success managers (CSMs) such as upselling, cross-selling, promotions, engagement, etc. It operates like a virtual assistant to CSMs but is an automated one.
How do customer success AI agents differ from AI-powered chatbots?
AI-powered chatbots typically answer customers' queries and help with customer service. On the other hand, customer success AI agents are capable of doing more advanced functionalities in marketing, customer engagement, and customer service.
How does an AI customer success agent work?

An AI-powered customer success agent typically works in four steps:
1. Data collection: It connects with your existing CRM platforms, support portals, and marketing platforms to create a complete database of customers (website activity, support queries, orders, etc.).
2. Data analysis: Once the data is collected, AI agents analyze it using natural language processing and machine learning. These interpretations can be stored as customer profiles, which can then be used to personalize any further customer interactions.
3. Task automation: AI agents can automate specific tasks in custom engagement/service and use the interpreted data to personalize communication.
4. Learning and adaptation: AI agents also have self-learning capabilities, which means they can continuously improve by analyzing past interactions and responses.
Top AI as customer success agent use cases

Some top tasks of CSMs where AI customer success agents can assist are:
1. Personalized communication
AI customer success agents analyze past customer interactions (mail, chat, calls, and support tickets) and send personalized communication. This communication could be related to onboarding, predictive alerts, automated check-ins, nudges, follow-up messages, feedback surveys, etc.
2. Customer engagement
AI customer success agents can further run customer campaigns for engagement, such as welcome series, feedback surveys, and more. These campaigns help improve customer retention/loyalty and increase production adoption.
3. Upselling and cross-selling
AI customer success agents analyze past customer data (activity, orders, etc) and run:
- Upselling campaigns: Recommending higher-tier products
- Cross-selling campaigns: Suggesting complementary products.
4. Customer support
AI customer success agents can also take away some manual customer support tasks off the CSM's task list, such as:
- Ticket routing: It analyzes the ticket, categorizes it, and assigns it to the relevant department for resolution.
- Call routing: It analyzes the customer’s query and automatically routes calls to the next best executive available for the customer call.
- Customer support: It acts as a virtual support agent and handles some repetitive customer queries.
AI agents transform customer support with automation.
5. Customer health scoring
AI customer success agents analyze data from existing systems (CRM, marketing, support tickets, etc) and build customer profiles with a score. These profiles can help identify which customers are more likely to come back and which are more likely to churn. You can further build marketing campaigns using these scores.
6. Call quality monitoring
AI customer success agents automatically analyze customer call recordings to assess the following:
- Call quality: Is the audio clear, volume consistent ,and connection stable?
- Conversation quality: Does the tone of voice and choice of words by customers show they were happy with the solution?
This information further helps you improve the customer experience and quality of customer calls.
7. Customer success agent training
AI customer success agents provide live cues to CSMs in case of any issues, like a real-time virtual assistant. It can also simulate customer interactions to train new CSMs who have just been onboarded. Overall, it significantly reduces the team's training efforts.
How to implement an AI customer success agent

You can integrate and implement an AI customer success agent successfully in five simple steps:
1. Understand your use cases
A simple strategy to identify the right use cases for AI agents in customer success is to go into your CSM’s task list and identify tasks that are:
- Repetitive with the scope of automation
- Manual with the scope of error
You can further look into business priorities and look for any automation scope (example: upselling, cross selling, etc) that leads to long-term benefits.
2. Identify current data sources
The next step is to identify where your data currently is, such as:
- CRM records
- Support tickets
- Emails
- Call recordings
- Survey responses
3. Choose the right technology
Once you have the base information ready, you can choose a provider that can:
- Integrate with your existing data sources
- Support the required use cases
- Support all your communication channels
- Handle scale as your business advances
- Meet your budget with growth
4. Create customer workflows
After taking a subscription of an AI customer success agent, identify all the touchpoints where these agents can handle the interactions and where human intervention is required.
For example, an AI customer success agent can handle level-1 and level-2 queries and need CSM help for level-3 queries.
5. Continuously improve workflows
Using AI customer success agents requires regular monitoring and experimentation. You can identify new use cases that can be implemented in your AI customer success platform and opportunities for further workflow enhancements.
The reporting and analytics modules of the AI customer success platform also provide necessary KPIs to track implementation.
Use Plivo for customer success
Plivo is an advanced AI agent helping you to provide:
- 24/7 support: Provides round-the-clock assistance on SMS, Voice, and WhatsApp.
Conversational AI: Use company data (by connecting with CRM, billing, and support systems) and provide precise answers to customers.

- Omnichannel support: Engages customers via voice, Email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, and more.
- Sales & engagement boost: Sends AI-driven cart reminders, offers, upsell, cross-sell, and proactive messages
- Real-time insights: Monitors resolution rates, pain points, and customer satisfaction.
Start building better customer experiences with AI. Book a demo today.
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