Are You Ready for AI Customers?

The idea of AI customers (also referred to as machine customers) can sound like something lifted from a science fiction novel, when – in reality – they are already part of everyday life.

To find out more, we spoke to Matt Lyles about everything from how advanced machine customers are right now, and what role human service might play as machines become ever-more sophisticated, right through to how you can make sure your operation doesn’t get left behind.

The Term “Machine Customer” Refers to Any Technology That Acts on Behalf of a Human Customer

The first thing you need to know is that machine customers aren’t futuristic concepts waiting to arrive. In many cases, they already exist – as a machine customer is just a term for any technology that acts on behalf of a human customer. This is an important distinction, as the machine isn’t the customer itself – it’s acting on behalf of one.

A machine customer can therefore take a number of different forms – from software, to using AI agents through OpenAI, and even just our devices that are connected to manufacturers.

One clear example sits in many people’s homes already – connected printers. They can communicate directly with manufacturers, monitoring usage patterns, and signalling when new supplies may be needed.

If you want to find out more about machine customers, read our article: An Introduction to… Machine Customers

Some of the Earliest Examples of Machine Customers Date Back to 2015

So, are machine customers a brand-new concept? Not at all! While the conversation around machine customers may feel new to some, the foundations have existed for years.

That being said, the early examples centred around replenishment – where products could be reordered automatically and subscriptions anticipated future needs, as brands attempted to remove effort from repeat purchases.

Matt Lyles

“Do you remember the Amazon Dash buttons? They were first released in March 2015 and are a great early example of machine customers.

Quite simply, they were buttons that you could just push and reorder any specific item that you had ordered through Amazon.

But they were short-lived because they were quickly superseded by the launch of Echo and the voice assistant Alexa, which allowed customers to just talk to them instead.” – Matt Lyles, Keynote Speaker, Brand Consultant and Podcast Host

Therefore, machine customers aren’t a new development driven solely by AI. Instead, today’s advances represent an evolution of trends that have been building for years.

Human Oversight Still Plays a Central Role Right Now

So where are we now? Despite what the headlines might have you believe, the machines aren’t independently shopping without human involvement.

Rather, many consumers now rely on AI to narrow options, conduct research, and recommend suitable choices. Human oversight still plays a central role!

“We’re not yet at a point where we have autonomous robots buying on our behalf. We’re really more in the age of AI doing the homework for us in order for us to approve a purchase.

So even though some of the headlines may suggest that AI is already shopping for us today, it’s not necessarily true.

What we’re actually experiencing is that AI will do the research and compare different products or brands, and then send us recommendations on what it believes is best.

We – as humans – then approve that recommendation. Think more human-supervised machine customers rather than actual autonomous machines.” – Matt Lyles, Keynote Speaker, Brand Consultant and Podcast Host

And this distinction matters! The current reality is less about handing complete control to machines and more about customers delegating certain tasks to them.

Success Will Be Defined by How Easy You Make It for AI to Connect to Your Brand

For CX leaders, this ultimately means you’ll be playing on a very different competitive landscape for years to come – where success may depend less on having the most advanced AI and more on being easy for AI systems to interact with.

Friction, complexity, and inconsistency will likely become even bigger barriers to service success, so the best thing that leaders can do today is to recognize that.

After all, the companies that win won’t necessarily be the ones that have the smartest AI. They’re going to be the ones that are easiest for AI to do business with.

So that means first taking an honest look at what you have in place and asking the question, “how easy am I to buy from?”

And yes, traditional customers may tolerate a degree of inconvenience because of loyalty, familiarity, or brand affinity – but machine customers won’t!

If information is difficult to find, policies contradict each other, or systems are hard to navigate, AI tools may simply eliminate that brand from consideration altogether.

The implication for CX leaders is clear: reducing friction isn’t just good customer practice any more, it may determine whether your brand survives at all!

For advice on how to improve CX in your contact centre, read our article: Everything You Need to Know About Level Zero Support

Machine Customers Make Your Weaknesses More Visible

As leaders continue to evolve their CX strategy, one of the biggest pitfalls to avoid is viewing machine customers purely as a technology problem.

At its heart, this remains a customer experience challenge, where trust continues to underpin every interaction.

So, leaders need to ask themselves the following questions:

Can AI customers trust your brand?
Can they trust you to be easy to work with?
Can they trust you to provide accurate and factual information?
Can they trust you to be able to move quickly?

In many ways, the fundamentals haven’t changed. Accuracy, transparency, consistency, and ease of doing business have always been important. Machine customers simply make weaknesses in those areas more visible.

Will Machine Customers Eventually Eliminate the Need for Human Interactions?

Be mindful that your human agents will need some reassurance here too, as one of the biggest fears surrounding the rise of machine customers is that they will eventually eliminate the need for human-to-human interactions altogether. But that is unlikely to ever happen.

“I don’t think machine customers will ever fully replace human-to-human interactions because machines aren’t actually the customer. They simply represent the human customer that’s behind them.

And that’s a big distinction. Particularly so as human beings still have emotions in play and still control the money that’s actually spent. So help your team to understand that these machines are largely an intermediary.” – Matt Lyles, Keynote Speaker, Brand Consultant and Podcast Host

It’s also worth keeping in mind that, as machines inevitably handle more transactional tasks, this will create opportunities for organizations to focus human effort where it matters most.

For example, post-purchase experiences, relationship-building, and emotional connections will become increasingly important differentiators.

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Machine Customers Aren’t a Distant Possibility – They’re Already Here!

What’s clear is that machine customers aren’t a distant possibility on the far-off horizon. They’re already here – albeit in a much more practical form than many people imagine.

For CX leaders therefore, the challenge isn’t simply adopting new technology, it’s ensuring they are easy for machines to do business with!

After all, machines may increasingly influence purchasing decisions, but the customer at the centre of those journeys will very much remain human. And the brands that thrive will be the ones that remember that!