• Login
  • Status
  • Support
  • Partners
  • Pricing
  • Careers
  • ENLanguages
    • English
    • Deutsch
    • Français
    • 日本
    • 简体中文
    • العربية
    • 한국
    • Español
Customer Experience (CX) AI Platform
  • Customer Experience (CX) AI Platform×
  • Platform

      CXone Mpower Platform

      • Platform Overview

        Complete AI platform for customer service automation

      • Enlighten AI

        Powering smarter CX with AI-driven insights and automation.

      • Cloud Architecture

        Innovative cloud-native foundation to rapidly scale extraordinary CX

      • Dashboards & Reporting

        Gain a full operational picture of your contact center, with enhanced visualization of real-time and historical insights

      • Integrations

        Seamlessly connect your business systems with our platform

      • Trust & Compliance

        Securing your trust with every interaction

      Discover the full value of AI in customer service

      Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

      Calculate your savings

    • Products
      • Explore all Products

      • Capabilities

      • Interaction Orchestration

        Interaction Orchestration

        Orchestrate all interactions and workflows across every customer service touchpoint.

        Learn more

        • Omnichannel Routing

          Reduce wait times and boost conversions with smart customer-agent matching.

        • Proactive Engagement

          Generate more revenue, minimize hang-ups, and proactively connect to reduce friction.

        • AI Orchestrator

          Unify and optimize every customer service workflow from intent to fulfillment.

        • Agent Desktop Workspace

          Connect front and back office teams with data, conversations, and workflows together in one place.

      • Workforce Augmentation

        Workforce Augmentation

        Amplify team performance with specialized AI copilots for every role.

        Learn more

        • Specialized AI Copilots

          Elevate human performance with specialized AI copilots for every role.

        • Workforce Engagement Management

          Elevate employees, adapt to flexible work, and meet expectations - without compromise.

        • Automated Agent Notetaking

          Instantly summarize interactions - accelerating resolution times and agent efficiency.

        • Voice of the Customer

          Unlock customer insights to enhance experiences, drive loyalty, and boost business growth.

        • Interaction Analytics

          Gain AI-powered insights from 100% of interactions to drive continuous improvement.

      • Service Automation

        Service Automation

        Automated customer self-service solutions increasing retention rates.

        View Products

        • Intelligent Virtual Agent

          Boost self-service satisfaction and conversion with conversational AI agents.

        • Experience Optimization (XO)

          Synthesize real customer conversations to identify your top automation opportunities.

        • Proactive AI Agent

          Keep customers engaged in conversation from onboarding to installation, service, and retention.

        • Knowledge Management

          Activate AI-powered enterprise knowledge to increase self-resolution rates and loyalty.


      • Solutions

      • By Industry

        By Industry

        • BPO

          Business Process Outsourcers

        • Financial Services

          Customer experiences that count

        • Government

          Elevate citizen trust

        • Healthcare

          Healthy patient experiences

        • Insurance

          Secure policyholder experiences

        • Retail

          Delight customers where they shop

        • Telecom

          CX for Telecommunications

        • Travel & Hospitality

          Boost traveler and guest loyalty

        Discover the full value of AI in customer service

        Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

        Calculate your savings

      • By Business Initiative

        By Business Initiative

        • Grow Revenue

          Boost conversions and win rates to accelerate growth

        • Engage & Empower Employees

          Create a workplace of truly engaged employees

        • Boost Customer Loyalty

          Improve customer loyalty on interactions across the journey

        • Drive Digital Transformation

          Integrate digital technology at the center of CX

        • Small and Medium Business

          Drive growth and boost revenue with smarter, cost-effective customer service built for SMBs.

        • Call Center Software

          Empower agents to provide better experiences

        • Increase Operational Efficiency

          Leverage AI and automation to increase agent retention

        • Move to the Cloud

          Elevate experiences by moving operations to the cloud

        • Improve Compliance

          Protect your consumers with pre-built compliance solutions

        • Proactive Customer Engagement

          Elevate customer satisfaction with proactive conversational AI

      • Integrations & Custom Solutions

        Integrations & Custom Solutions

        • CXexchange Marketplace

          Discover partner solutions to extend capabilities on our platform

        • Pre-Built Integrations

          Seamlessly connect your business systems with our platform

        • Developer Tools & APIs

          Endless customization options with RESTful APIs and robust SDKs

        • Partner Ecosystem

          Embark on a journey of shared success and collaboration

        91% of customers recommend NiCE as a preferred CCaaS vendor

        Gartner® named NiCE the only Customers’ Choice CCaaS vendor in its 2024 Peer Insights™ “Voice of the Customer for Contact Center as a Service” report.

        Get report


      • View All Products
    • Services
      • Explore all Services

      Professional Services

      • Professional Services

        Industry-leading expertise, tools and know-how

      • Implementation Partners

        NICE-certified implementation partners

      • Business Consulting

        Your partner for successful transformation

      Training

      • Contact Center Training

        Tailored education delivered by CX experts

      Support & Assistance

      • Customer Support

        Global support you can depend on

      Make the smartest buying decision with the latest Gartner analysis

      NiCE has been named a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for Contact Center as a Service for the 10th consecutive year and is positioned furthest on Completeness of Vision.

      Get report

    • Resources

        Knowledge Base

        • All Resources

          Whitepapers, datasheets, demos and more

        • Analyst Perspectives

          Contact center reports from third party analysis

        • Terms Glossary

          Detailed descriptions of industry-related terms

        • FAQs

          Contact center focused frequently asked questions

        • Guides

          Expert insights for superior CX

        Learning & Insights

        • On-Demand Webinars

          Browse our extensive webinar catalog

        • Interactive Product Tours

          Explore the complete platform with our self-guided demos

        • Blog

          CX industry guidance by contact center experts

        • Why NiCE? Video Series

          Step Inside The Room Where It Happened to see CX AI in action

        • NiCE & Simple: Video Demo Series

          Brilliant, bite-sized videos from our top product pros

        Community

        • Events

          Upcoming events and webinars

        • Customer Stories

          Our customer's success is paramount. Read case studies about real CX transformation

        • NiCE Clubs

          Collaborate, learn, and share best practices for customer service excellence

        Discover the full value of AI in customer service

        Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

        Calculate your savings

      • Company

          Company

          • About Us

            Powering seamless cloud experiences

          • Investors

            Investors relations, reports and filings

          • Global Offices

            Interactive map of locations worldwide

          • Careers

            View job openings and learn about our culture

          • NiCE Leadership

            Meet our global leadership and executive team

          News & Media

          • Events

            Upcoming events and webinars

          • Press Releases

            Find the latest updates from NiCE

          • Media Center

            Media contacts and resources

          Corporate Governance

          • NiCE Trust Center

            Securing your trust with every interaction

          • Market Leadership

            Discover why NiCE is the market leader

          • Corporate Responsibility

            In a world where you can be anything, be NiCE

          Make the smartest buying decision with the latest Gartner analysis

          NiCE has been named a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for Contact Center as a Service for the 10th consecutive year and is positioned furthest on Completeness of Vision.

          Get report

          • ENLanguages
            • English
            • Deutsch
            • Français
            • 日本
            • 简体中文
            • العربية
            • 한국
            • Español
          • Get Started
            • Login
            • Status
            • Support
            • Partners
            • Pricing
            • Careers

          Company

          • About Us
          • Careers
          • Global Leadership
          • Media Center
          • Investors
          • Awards
          • Global Office Locations
          • Contact Us
          • CCaaS
          • Customer Experience
          • NiCE Public Safety
          • NiCE Actimize
          • NiCE RPA

          Partners

          • NiCE Partners Overview
          • Developer Partners (DEVone)
          • CXone Mpower Partner Portal
          • NiCE Help Partner Portal
          • NiCE User Group

          Customer Support

          • Customer Support Overview
          • CXone Mpower Support Login
          • NiCE Customer Support
          © 2025 NiCE
          • Terms of Use
          • Site Map
          • Privacy Policy
          • Legal
          • Cookies Settings
          • Accessibility

          Stay Connected

          © 2025 NiCE
          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction

          by Jennifer Wilson
          May 24, 2023
          Share

          If you think about it, your customers put a lot of faith in your brand and the ability of your employees to care for things that matter to them. Whether it’s their financial security, their access to healthcare, or their ability to care for a loved one—they depend on you.

          While many customer journeys begin via self-service, the human agent is not disappearing and shouldn’t be ignored. After all, if a customer has reached an agent about an issue they cannot resolve through self-service, that agent needs to earn their confidence quickly.

          How the agent responds represents your brand’s promise. How quickly and efficiently they can solve the problem or find the answer will either build or diminish brand loyalty. But to exude the necessary confidence, your agents need to feel empowered to find the best solution for the customer.

          Companies that implement best-in-class practices for agent engagement and performance management outperform other companies in terms of customer satisfaction by 70%.[1]

          We are all looking for ways to set a higher bar and exceed customer expectations. Empowering your front-line staff, whether outbound or inbound, to deliver the unexpected can surprise and delight your customers and foster brand loyalty. And studies show that making your customers happy is what satisfied agents love most about their jobs. It’s a win-win!

          So, let’s talk agent empowerment! Here are five tips to get you started.

          Tip 1: Ensure your agents appear educated and credible

          Having the right information is key when it comes to enabling and empowering your agents. That means you need to understand customer expectations so you can build a CX strategy to exceed those expectations. Keep in mind those expectations are not a one-size-fits-all situation.

          For example, some pet owners are concerned with having the money they will need to care for their pets, while others want the very best options for their pets, no matter the cost. That’s why personalizing the experience and knowing who the customer is will always be key.

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - Pit Bull Dog Midair Running

          Customers value different experiences, and those values can evolve based on the type of inquiry or even as the journey unfolds. For example, a customer might be willing to pay the top price for their pet’s healthcare needs, while following a tight budget when it comes to recreational products like toys.

          Technology, like conversational AI, provides agents with customer expectation insights to help agents exceed those desires. AI can also help agents feel more empowered to respond to expectations because they know they can find the information and tools they need.

          Contact centers with defined agent engagement and empowerment programs realize superior business results such as a 10% annual improvement in customer retention.[2]

          Tip 2: Complement agent skills with AI-driven knowledge

          The best way to empower your agents to respond creatively to customer expectations is to give them insight into the complete customer journey. For example, imagine how delighted a pet owner would be if an agent already had detailed information about their pet, enabling them to arrive at a solution faster. If the agent knows what questions to ask and what the pet needs most without the customer having to repeat information, this will quickly build trust.

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - Beautiful Portrait Young Asian Woman

          But it’s important to provide agents with relevant, contextual information. Do not overwhelm them with superfluous information. Instead, enable them with the information they need based on the customer’s current journey and previous experiences as well as the context of the conversation unfolding.

          61% of Americans are willing to go through the trouble of switching brands or companies because of just one very bad customer service experience.[3]

          This key information is not limited to contact center or CX data. In order to see the end-to-end customer journey, you must blend the data from CRMs and other backend systems—in addition to in-the-moment insights for agents to help them provide the best possible experience.

          You can do this with a customer journey analytics solution. Customer journey analytics solutions do a wonderful job of providing this visibility and help bridge together every step of the experience. With the right AI, agents can access a holistic, cross-channel view of the customer experience to help them personalize service. 

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - Young Woman Playing Cat

          Invest in proactive, AI-driven agent-assistance tools like real-time interaction guidance to provide in-the-moment insights to agents and helps ensure the best possible experience. Other tools such as knowledge management and automated attendants can also help expand agent skills naturally and keep them happy and informed.

          Tip 3: Personalize the customer AND agent experience

          Imagine if a cat parent was automatically connected to an agent who also loves cats. There would be an immediate connection through shared experience. The interaction would be more enjoyable for both the customer and the agent.

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - Young Man Holds Tabby Cat

          With CX technology, it is possible to delight customers by connecting them with the best agent to resolve their issues. AI routing expands routing beyond availability and basic skills, using the power of data from all available sources, to improve the interaction between the customer and the agent.

          74% of B2C customers and 86% of B2B customers expect customer service to be well informed about them.[4]

          It’s also important to adjust the experience as the journey evolves. Interaction analytics can identify where improvements can be made and provide coaching to agents to help them adjust and expand their skill set in real time.

          Tip 4: Automate while maintaining the human value

          Wouldn’t you be delighted if you contacted a brand about a concerning issue your pet is having and the agent knew everything about your pet, their habits, health issues, and preferences. You wouldn’t have to waste time bringing them up to speed with information you’ve already given them in the past. Instead, the agent can focus on the issue at hand, actively listen, empathize, and quickly provide solutions. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - Young Man and His Labrador

          The secret to creating this ideal interaction is having the right AI tools in place. After all, agents need to feel well-equipped and informed before they can respond to customer needs. An omnichannel customer service platform can help agents deliver natural and focused interactions, which are the best way to reduce customer and agent frustration. It’s also the best way to delight them both.

          Employees who receive daily feedback from their manager are 3x more likely to be engaged than those who receive feedback once a year or less.[5]

          You can also help agents adjust their approach where needed by leveraging agent-assistance tools to provide guidance in real time. This can help agents show empathy, develop soft skills, and even increase the likelihood of resolving an issue or making a sale.

          One of the best ways to delight agents and customers is to leverage desktop attendants and RPA to free agents of mundane tasks and allow them to focus on the customer. RPA also allows agents to easily view a summary of all customer action items on their CRM dashboard so they can actively listen and provide useful product information or suggestions in a personalized, timely manner.

          Tip 5: Keep customers and agents coming back for more

          When agents know they will be recognized for delivering a delightful customer experience, they are more likely to do so. This is obvious. But just think how pleasant an interaction would be with an agent who is excited to ask about your pet, and truly seems to care about the information you share.

          Showing your agents that they are appreciated is a crucial factor in meeting your customer service KPIs. Charlene Li, a Digital Transformation and Disruptive Leadership Expert, says, “People don’t want to get paid more. They want to be recognized. They want to feel like they matter, that they make a difference. And we want people to understand our purpose, our strategy, who we are serving, and their personal role in making that strategy happen.”

          Organizations that care about employee well-being have 2X the customer satisfaction as reflected in their net promoter score.[6]

          Provide visibility into their performance and give them the tools to help them grow as an employee. These tools can include coaching and interaction analytics. It’s important to pinpoint high-performing agents and recognize them. This helps retain the agent and encourages them to continue exceeding customer expectations.

          Motivate agents through incentives, gamification, and friendly competitions based on CSAT and other KPIs. This is a fantastic way to drive engagement and increase productivity and performance.

          Learn more about how to use gamification in your contact center with this eBook.

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - Gamification Playbook

          Delivering the expected is no longer enough! Brands need to surprise and delight their customers in order to grow business and revenue and build brand loyalty. Your agents play a crucial role in your ability to successfully reach these KPIs. Empowered agents will go the extra mile for your customers, and they will be happier as well.

          Wherever you are in your agent empowerment journey, this eBook provides insights on how you can harness technology to create a more personalized and delightful experience for your customers.

          Get the eBook

          Surprise and delight your customers through agent empowerment to foster brand loyalty, increase satisfaction - 14 innovative personalization

          [1] NiCE: Agent Engagement & Empowerment 2022: Building Blocks to Boost Agent Retention & Performance (2022)
          [2] Aberdeen: State of the Contact Center (2022)
          [3] Shep Hyken: The 2021 ACA Report (2021)
          [4] Gartner: Future of customer service (2022)
          [5] NiCE CXone: Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Benchmark (2020)
          [6] Gallup: What is Employee Engagement and How Do You Improve It (2020)

          About the Author

          Jennifer Wilson

          Jennifer is a software technology veteran who serves as a Senior Product Marketing Manager at NiCE. In her current role, she’s responsible for assisting in the promotion of NiCE’s complete CX platform. Jennifer brings more than 20 years of experience in software technology that includes solution and vertical marketing, implementation services, and product management for contact center, customer engagement, knowledge management, and process automation solutions.

          See All Blogs

          Follow Us

          Follow us to get the latest news from your preferred Social Network

          linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin

          Popular Posts

          June 17, 2025

          Building a NiCE world: The stories making the world brighter

          Read

          June 12, 2025

          Turning customer service happiness into a competitive advantage

          Read
          Woman on her phone, excited with the launch of NiCE New World

          June 3, 2025

          Welcome to a NiCE world

          Read
          9 ways to unlock scheduling flexibility and gamify shift management

          May 28, 2025

          9 ways to unlock scheduling flexibility and gamify shift management

          Read

          May 20, 2025

          10 NiCE Interactions experiences everyone will be talking about (And why you’ll want to be part of it)

          Read

          More from the blog

          AI

          Building a NiCE world: The stories making the world brighter

          June 17, 2025

          AI

          Turning customer service happiness into a competitive advantage

          In a world shaken by political instability, economic headwinds, and societal anxiety, one encouraging trend emerges from NiCE’s 2025 Global Happiness Index: customer service happiness is on the rise.

          June 12, 2025

          Woman on her phone, excited with the launch of NiCE New World
          AI

          Welcome to a NiCE world

          At NiCE, we believe great service doesn’t just happen, it’s something we create. Together. People and AI, united on one platform. That’s how we raise the bar for experiences every single day.

          June 3, 2025