Customer engagement changes with technology, and each new advancement gives us a way to create a deeper understanding of customer needs.
We interviewed Ginger Conlon, Director of Customer Stories at Genesys and a prominent voice featured on Brevo’s Top 100 Customer Engagement Influencers to Watch in 2025 to discuss how businesses can use technology and AI to create more empathetic and effective customer experiences.
In this exclusive interview, Ginger shares her perspectives on the biggest shifts in customer engagement and how technology is shaping that future.
Here’s what we learned.
Key takeaways:
1. AI can enhance both the employee and customer experiences.
AI has a significant impact on customer engagement. Organizations are adopting AI and using it to support frontline employees with knowledge while at the same time providing better coaching internally.
"Organizations have been talking a really long time about improving the employee experience because when you have a great employee experience, that then weaves itself into delivering a better customer experience. And so I'm seeing more and more that organizations are really taking that to heart and starting to use AI to support their frontline employees..."
How can AI enhance team performance?
- Give supervisors better insights into team performance
- Surface knowledge faster
- Provide auto-summarization of interactions and conversations
2. Strategic technology implementation is key
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is rushing to implement new technologies without a clear strategy.
“Don't just buy the technology because it's cool or what have you. Make sure that it's the right technology for your organization and what you're trying to accomplish."
It's important to define the problem you're trying to solve and choose the technology that best fits your specific needs and goals.
3. Balance technology with the human element
While AI and other technologies are essential, Ginger emphasizes the importance of balancing them with the human element.
"It's just balancing technology and the human element so that you're delivering empathetic experiences… So as an organization, we've put ourselves in our customers' shoes."
So what does this look like? Ultimately, creating an empathetic experience means making it easy for customers to do business with you. Using technology to understand customer history and needs is key for effectively personalizing their journey.
4. Build learning relationships
Ginger shared a valuable concept from Don Peppers and Martha Rogers: building learning relationships.
"You want to create learning relationships with your customers so that every time you learn something new about them that gets embedded in your system so you can use that information to deliver a more personalized experience."
Rather than creating one-off experiences, businesses should focus on retaining history from each interaction. This approach helps create a competitive advantage as you gather unique insights about your customers and use them to enhance interactions.
Brevo’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) empowers brands to build learning relationships through data management. By centralizing and enriching customer activity across your sub-accounts and touchpoints, your business creates long-term memories of who your customers are which in turn builds long-term relationships in the future
Learn more about CDPs in our ebook: The Power of Customer Data Platforms
5. Create a customer-first mindset from the top down
To align strategies with a genuine customer-first mindset, Ginger shared a quote from Sam Walton, founder of Walmart:
"The customer can fire everyone from the CEO on down just by spending their money somewhere else."
This doesn’t mean catering to their every whim and desire. It’s about putting the customer at the center of strategic decisions so that your customers are taken care of. Happy customers buy more and recommend your business, ultimately benefiting everyone involved.
In short, "It's a win-win to take care of your customers."
Final thoughts: The future of customer engagement
The future of customer engagement lies in strategically leveraging technology, especially AI, while maintaining a strong human element.
By building learning relationships and adopting a customer-first mindset, organizations can create engaging and personalized experiences that drive success.
Want to learn more? See who else made Brevo’s Top 100 Customer Engagement Influencers to Watch in 2025
