In our recent webinar, Mandi Geary, Director of Customer Care at BSN Sports, took us behind the scenes of her artificial intelligence (AI) journey with Gladly, sharing the wins, lessons, and strategies that have transformed how her team supports customers.
Here are a few key takeaways from the webinar. You can watch it on-demand here.
Your North Stars: Customers and Employees
AI often promises efficiency, but BSN Sports’ approach is refreshingly balanced.
“My consistent challenge is always, how do I improve the customer experience, and how do I improve the employee experience?” she shared. At BSN Sports, these dual goals guided their AI implementation, ensuring tools like AI-powered message enhancement benefited both agents and customers.
Her advice? Define your AI North Stars before diving into implementation. Clarity will shape success, whether your goal is enhancing customer satisfaction or empowering agents.
“While AI streamlines processes, the human element remains irreplaceable. The key is integrating AI to enhance, not replace, the empathy and understanding that define exceptional customer service,” explained Nidhi Nair, Senior Manager of Product Marketing at Gladly. AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a catalyst for redefining how we connect with customers, enabling more personalized and efficient interactions.”
Easing Team Fears Through Creativity
AI adoption isn’t just about technology; it’s about people. Mandi’s team initially felt apprehensive, imagining AI as a “job stealer.” Her solution? A light-hearted campaign to welcome their new AI tool, named “Stanley.”
This approach turned fear into excitement, creating buy-in through storytelling and fun. For CX leaders, the lesson is clear: Meet apprehension with engagement.
Measuring Success Beyond the Metrics
While numbers matter, Mandi emphasized the power of anecdotal feedback in early AI adoption stages. Six weeks into integrating AI chat capabilities, BSN Sports saw immediate results—AI fully resolved 16 percent of customer inquiries. But the feedback from agents was just as valuable.
“If our agents came back and said, ‘This isn’t helping,’ we’d pivot,” she said. “Listening to your team’s pulse is as crucial as tracking KPIs.”
Continuous Learning at BSN Sports
Mandi likened AI to adopting a puppy—adorable, exciting, but a lot of work. “You have to train it, correct it, and continuously quality-check it,” she explained. This analogy underscores a critical truth: AI isn’t plug-and-play. It requires ongoing maintenance and a strong foundation of clean, centralized data.
“Do your research. Understand what’s out there and what aligns with your priorities, but don’t take for granted that AI will do the work for you,” Mandi added. “The next iteration is understanding what truly drives customers and using AI to fix problems before they even arise.”
Watch the full webinar on-demand to explore more actionable insights for your team, including:
- Debunking the Myths: Addressing the biggest fears and misunderstandings surrounding AI in CX—like “Will AI make our service less human?”
- The Real Benefits: Learn how AI can automate without sacrificing personalization, boost efficiency, and ultimately empower your team to do what they do best—focus on meaningful, human connections.
- Proven Impact: Mandi will share the key metrics BSN Sports uses to measure the true value of AI in their customer experience, from response times to customer satisfaction scores, so you can see the results for yourself.
