Mary Beth Snodgrass, PAC’s founder and a startup and product leader for over a decade, will lead a discussion on the state of trust between tech companies and customers in the age of AI and the role product leaders play in building trust throughout the customer journey.
Customer trust is an invisible, quiet, yet powerful undercurrent in the age of AI. Product leaders have played important roles in designing trust into customer journeys pre-ChatGPT, directly and indirectly, and in this session we’ll share insights and aim for clarity on how product’s trust-building roles are evolving in the age of AI.
When customer trust is eroded during the customer journey, either while using the product (e.g., bugs resulting in financial, time or reputational losses) or during interactions with customer support, is accountability for or resolution to the issues siloed internally to one function? Or, is accountability shared cross-functionally? Do companies have effective customer trust strategies that underpin all business and product goals? Does AI help or hurt build trust?
Nowadays, AI is often the first or only line of defense once customer trust is eroded by a product experience. Yet, AI itself has a long road ahead to gain user trust:
80% of customers are likely to switch to a competitor after more than one bad experience with AI, according to IBM.
Two-thirds of people had low trust of AI in 2023, according to KPMG.
High distrust of AI in the U.S., relative to other countries, according to Edelman’s 2023 and 2024 Trust Barometer.
Mary Beth will share trust-building vs. trust-eroding approaches to integrating AI into customer support, based on her (mis)adventures. Most of the session will include a discussion among attendees on questions like these:
Which factors contribute the most to the effectiveness of an AI integration into customer support functions: CxO’s understanding of AI capabilities, competing company priorities (e.g., growth, engagement and monetization) and imbalances in short-term vs. long-term planning.
In the age of AI, what is the role of product leaders in establishing, maintaining and growing customer trust throughout the entire customer journey?
What strategies and tactics can be used to protect and maintain customer trust, during the rapid pace of AI and product changes?
Join us! Women product leaders can join for free by becoming a PAC member. Please note: it will take at least three days to join.
What is Product Therapy? Read about it here.