In today's fast-evolving world of customer experience, leaders must be adept at harnessing data to guide their decisions while also knowing when to trust their gut. We had the pleasure of speaking with Disha Gosalia, Chief Customer Officer at Gladly, a radically personal customer service platform that uses the best of AI and people to drive lifelong customer loyalty. In our conversation, Disha shared her thoughts on the key metrics that matter most in CX, the growing role of AI and automation, and the art of balancing quantitative insights with experience-bred intuition. Here are the key takeaways from our discussion.
Q: As a CX leader, what are the North Star metrics you track to gauge the health and success of your customer relationships?
Disha: When it comes to measuring customer experience, I think it's critical to focus on leading indicators, not just lagging ones. Revenue, CSAT, resolution times — those are all important, but they're telling you what's already happened, not what's coming down the pike.
For me, engagement is the ultimate leading indicator. I'm constantly looking at how deeply and frequently users are interacting with our platform and our team. In the world of B2B SaaS, stickiness is everything. Are customers adopting your advanced features? Are they building integrations and workflows around your tool? Have they made you an indispensable part of their ecosystem? The more entrenched you are in their day-to-day operations, the harder it is for them to rip and replace you.
For example, at Gladly, we've built out a detailed maturity model where we track what percentage of our user base falls into different engagement tiers, from basic to power users. And then we're maniacally focused on moving customers up that adoption curve because we know that's directly correlated with retention and expansion.
The other piece is making sure you're tracking the outcomes that matter to your customers. In the CX world, efficiency metrics like cost per contact or agent utilization are important internal measures. But you can't lose sight of whether you're actually delivering better service experiences and helping your customers achieve their goals. It's a constant balancing act.
Q: Speaking of that balancing act, how do you think about the interplay between automation and AI versus the human touch in delivering great CX? Where do you see the greatest opportunities and limitations?
Disha: This is the million-dollar question, isn't it? On one hand, the promise of AI and automated chatbots to revolutionize CX is immense. The ability to scale personalized, always-on service while driving huge efficiency gains is incredibly compelling. And I think for simple, transactional interactions, we're already seeing really impressive results.
But then you have incidents like what happened with that airline chatbot going rogue and saying insensitive, misguided things no human agent ever would. It's a good reminder that the technology is still in its infancy and there are very real risks and limitations to contend with.
I think where AI can be really transformative in the near term is in augmenting and empowering human agents, not replacing them outright. Imagine a world where your agents have an AI-powered sidekick that can surface relevant knowledge articles, suggest the next best actions, and even draft responses — all in real time as they're interacting with a customer. That's a huge unlock in terms of efficiency and consistency.
Longer-term, I do think we'll see more and more customer interactions shift to being primarily or even exclusively handled by AI-powered bots. But it's going to be a long, iterative journey to get the technology to a point where it can truly mimic human judgement, empathy, and contextual awareness at scale. In the meantime, the goal should be to find that optimal blend of human and machine to deliver the best possible outcomes for customers and the business.
Q: That's a great segue to my next question around business outcomes. How do you go about quantifying the ROI of CX investments and tying your team's efforts back to the top and bottom line?
Disha: This is so critical, and honestly, it's an area where I think a lot of CX leaders still struggle. We're great at measuring things like NPS and CSAT, but translating that to dollars and cents can be more complex.
One framework I like to use is what I call the "CX P&L" — essentially, tracking the revenue and cost impacts of specific CX initiatives or investments. On the revenue side, if we launch a new self-service feature that demonstrably reduces churn and drives up adoption and engagement, we can model out the CLV and retention gains from that. Or if we're able to proactively identify and save at-risk customers through better health scoring and outreach, we can put a number on the saved ARR.
On the cost side, it's about looking at things like contact deflection, handle times, and agent efficiency. If we can automate a meaningful percentage of tier 1 inquiries and shift more volume to lower-cost digital channels, that's hard dollar savings. The key is having a clear baseline and a disciplined measurement process in place to track the deltas.
The other piece is making sure you're aligned with the goals and metrics that matter most to your C-suite and board. If expansion and logo retention are the top priorities, then you need to be showing how your CX programs are moving the needle there. It's about speaking the language of the business and tying your efforts directly to those outcomes.
Q: Looking ahead, what are some of the CX trends or technologies you're most excited about as Gladly continues to grow and evolve?
Disha: I mentioned the potential of AI and I do think that's going to be one of the most transformative forces in CX over the next 5-10 years. We're just scratching the surface of what's possible in terms of personalization, automation, and real-time decision-making. As the technology matures and becomes more seamlessly integrated into CX platforms, it's going to fundamentally change the way brands and customers interact.
I'm also really excited about the shift towards more holistic, omnichannel experiences. Customers today expect to be able to move seamlessly across channels and pick up right where they left off without missing a beat. The brands that can deliver that kind of fluid, cohesive customer journey are the ones that will win long-term loyalty.
At Gladly, our whole ethos is around putting the customer at the centre of every interaction and empowering agents with the context and tools they need to deliver radically personal service. So a lot of our product innovation is focused on things like unifying customer profiles across channels, surfacing actionable insights and next-best actions, and enabling more proactive, contextual outreach. It's about helping brands build deeper, more authentic relationships with their customers at scale.
Ultimately, I think the future of CX belongs to the companies that can strike that right balance between the speed and efficiency of AI and the empathy and judgement of people. It's not an either/or proposition — it's about finding ways to augment and enhance human interactions with technology in a way that feels natural and value-additive. The brands that can crack that code are the ones that will thrive in this new era of customer experience.
Conclusion
Our conversation with Disha underscored that while data and technology are powerful enablers for CX leaders, they're not a cure-all. The art of great customer experience still lies in deeply understanding your customers, aligning your metrics to their success, and making judicious choices about where and how to deploy AI and automation for maximum impact.
Some key takeaways stood out:
- Focus on leading, not lagging indicators of customer health and engagement
- Constantly look for ways to tie CX initiatives directly to revenue and cost outcomes
- Take a balanced approach to AI, using it to augment and empower human agents in the near term while planning for more transformative use cases in the future
- Prioritize omnichannel fluidity and proactive, contextual outreach in your CX roadmap
- Never lose sight of the human element and the power of authentic, empathetic connection
As Gladly continues on its mission to be the platform that brings together the best of AI and people to help brands build radically personal customer relationships, Disha's multifaceted approach to data-driven CX offers a compelling model for any leader seeking to balance the art and science of customer experience. By marrying quantitative rigor with human intuition, and always keeping the customer at the centre of every decision, Gladly is well-positioned to lead the way in this new era of AI-powered, omnichannel service.
