Five years back, online shopping had a linear routine: search on Google, skim a few review sites, compare options across open tabs, price check on retailer pages, and maybe complete the purchase.
Now? Consumers simply ask AI.
A statistic found out that nearly 42% of shoppers are turning to tools like ChatGPT instead to bypass search engines altogether.
With a single prompt, they get the best alternative to any specific product, as the AI tool instantly gets a list of options, pros and cons pulled from real reviews, and links to the most competitive offers.
For them, this level of convenience reigns supreme. And this alone makes their shopping experience much smoother.
This shift indicates that the spray-and-pray tactics of traditional engagement or shallow personalization won’t cut it anymore.
To keep up, you need a customer engagement strategy that’s fast, flexible, and deeply intelligent—built on behavioral signals, powered by predictive analytics, and ready to act in real time.
This is where you can use Agentic AI to take your service quality up a notch.
Agentic AI proactively anticipates customer needs, takes autonomous actions, and continuously optimizes for outcomes, without waiting for instructions. Instead of reacting to past actions, Agentic AI operates in the moment, adjusting strategies as the customer customer journey unfolds.
As a result, you can spot churn risk before it’s too late. Surface the right offer at the perfect moment.
In this article, we’ll explore what happens when AI agents take the wheel of customer engagement, how Agent One helps you increase customer retention, and the real impact it can make on every touchpoint.
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How AI Agents help you keep customers coming back for good
Consumer behavior is more fragmented than ever, expectations are higher, and attention is harder to earn, let alone keep. A report from Emersya reveals 71% customers feel frustrated when the shopping experience is impersonal.
Credit: Emersya
These numbers might not surprise you, but they explain exactly why people stay with brands that show up with relevance, empathy, and lift off additional efforts from their shopping experience.
Additionally, Attentive found out that 81% of consumers ignore irrelevant messages in their recent customer trend report. Even worse, 1 out of 4 customers is less likely to buy from you when a brand’s messages don’t match with the customer’s context.
But the problem?
Most brands are still relying on outdated systems that can’t deliver that kind of experience at scale. And the gap between what customers expect and what most companies deliver keeps getting wider.
That’s where AI Agents can be a game changer.
These agents act without waiting to be told what to do. They are autonomous in nature, can anticipate needs, and take action without human oversight.
Whether they’re browsing, buying, or looking for help, customers today expect brands to meet them with speed, empathy, and relevance.
AI Agents rise to that challenge by pulling signals from every click, chat, past purchase, even the moments between interactions, and instantly turning them into personalized, context-aware responses that feel human.
When new users feel supported through clear guidance, easy-to-find FAQs, or quick-start tips, they gain early momentum and are far more likely to stick around.
The best part is that these Agents are always listening, learning from every conversation, and evolving with every interaction. As a result, you can develop genuine emotional resonance with your customers. Not the kind that happen once and vanish, but the kind that make people come back, again and again.
Meet Agent One: your autonomous AI Agents for human-like customer engagement
Agent One is Insider’s solution of purpose-built AI agents designed to power superior customer engagement at scale. They’re autonomous, outcome-driven agents that think, act, and adapt in real time, and make every interaction feel effortless and personal.
Whether it’s a shopper trying to find the right product, a customer looking for post-purchase help, or a marketer trying to optimize a campaign, Agent One takes prompt initiative.
It senses intent, reads context, and responds with precision.
With Agent One, you can skip extensive customizations.
The best part is that these purpose-built Agents solve industry-specific problems right off the bat, like turning frustrating keyword searches into intuitive, conversational product discoveries or proactively guiding marketing teams to hidden insights.
Traditional tools leave data scattered, which leads to superficial customer experiences. Agent One taps into an integrated loop of CDP, CRM, and real-time metadata.
They ensure every interaction deepens your understanding of customer emotions and intentions and turns standard touchpoints into hyper-personalized engagements that foster genuine loyalty.
Insider has spent over a decade pioneering predictive, generative, and now agentic AI.
How to use Agent One to retain customers in unstable times
This year, consumer sentiment and spending habits rebounded in a positive direction. But then the U.S. President’s new tariff policy and the looming fear of recession shifted the direction of the wind. The impact varied by industry.
But one theme was noticeable: consumers became more selective with their spending.
While market volatility creates pressures for brands, successful marketers are using this downturn as their competitive advantages that will serve them long after the tariff impacts stabilize. This includes:
- Deepening customer relationships with a personalized shopping experience
- Showcasing value in communications to encourage more purchases
- Using behavioral segmentation to target high-intent customers
If you’re ready to turn this shaky time into your competitive edge, see how Agent One can help you make it happen:
- Make product discovery effortless with Shopping Agent
If customers can’t find what they’re looking for, they won’t stick around. Unsurprisingly, the No. 1 priority for shoppers is finding products easily.
This is especially true for products that require more research—like supplements or wellness tools—where buyers are actively searching for trustworthy answers about safety, usage, and benefits.
Most brands still expect customers to do all the work, dig through product filters, compare SKUs, and hunt down details buried in FAQs.
But in a world where attention spans are short and expectations are high, that’s a fast track to abandonment.
In situations like this, Agent One suggests relevant products and bundles based on customer data. They pick up on behavioral cues, search intent, and contextual signals in real-time, then guide each shopper through a personalized journey to the right product, faster.
So instead of “other customers also bought,” your shopper sees exactly what they want, before they even know they want it.
This proactive guidance increases your average order value (AOV) and lays the groundwork for long-term retention.
2. Make support feel like a real conversation with Support Agent
The quality of customer support dictates whether the brand loyalty is won or lost.
Insider’s Support Agent taps into real-time Customer Data Platform (CDP) and CRM context to deliver emotionally intelligent responses that adapt to a customer’s tone, history, and needs in the moment.
From resolving tickets autonomously to managing post-purchase workflows and follow-ups, the agent transforms traditional support into a trust-building engine.
The best part? While it works the frontlines, your human teams are freed up to focus on high-impact interactions that deepen relationships.
3. Know your customers better with Insights Agent
Engaged visitors are more likely to return, and they leave behind rich behavioral data that can fuel smarter retargeting down the line.
Track how long someone stayed, what they hovered over, or when they dropped off, so you can serve up follow-ups that actually feel relevant.
Whether it’s tailored ads, curated reminders, or a well-timed offer, you’re not just guessing, you’re building on a real interaction.
Our Insights Agents constantly scan performance across channels, flag underperforming journeys, and alert your marketing teams about the hidden risks and opportunities to optimize gaps before they snowball.
It gets even better as Insights Agent helps:
- Identify top-performing strategies and replicate them automatically
- Learn from past results and suggest data-backed improvements
- Analyzes subscriber behavior, seasonal trends, and performance patterns in real time
Go the extra mile with Agent One, even when resources are tight
Customer retention isn’t magic, it’s the result of countless micro-moments where people feel seen, supported, and understood.
It’s getting answers right when customers need them, timely nudges, seamless handoffs, and conversations that feel like someone actually gets you.
From first click to long-term loyalty, Agent One helps your team do more with less, guiding customers to what they need, resolving issues before they escalate, and giving marketers real-time insight into what’s working (and what’s not).
Whether you’re short on bandwidth or ready to scale what’s already working, Agent One is built to step in and elevate your strategy from day one.
Brands like L’Oréal, Philips, and Virgin are already using it to spark human-like conversations, strengthen trust, and drive retention that compounds.
Ready to see what happens when every customer moment builds a loyal customer base? Book a demo with our growth team.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is AI used for customer engagement?
AI enhances customer engagement by analyzing behavioral signals and customer data in real time to deliver personalized, context-aware interactions across multiple channels. It enables proactive and autonomous responses, personalized recommendations, and human-like conversations, which help brands meet customer expectations for relevance, speed, and empathy at scale.
What are the 5 types of AI agents?
The five types of AI agents commonly used in customer engagement are:
1. Shopping Agents help customers discover and select products through personalized, intuitive guidance.
2. Support Agents automate customer service by responding empathetically and resolving issues autonomously.
3. Insights Agents analyze customer behavior and campaign data to optimize marketing strategies and identify risks or opportunities.
4. Conversational Agents engage customers in natural, real-time two-way interactions via chatbots or voice assistants.
5. Predictive Agents anticipate customer needs or potential churn and trigger timely retention or cross-sell campaigns.
What common retention challenges do AI agents solve?
AI agents tackle:
1. Fragmented consumer behavior and rising expectations for personalization.
2. High customer frustration caused by impersonal or irrelevant interactions.
3. Inefficient support that delays issue resolution and harms loyalty.
4. Lack of real-time insights to identify churn risks early and act proactively.
5. Marketing and support resource constraints limiting timely, meaningful customer engagement.
How does Insider’s Support Agent boost customer loyalty?
Insider’s Support Agent uses real-time CRM and CDP data to deliver emotionally intelligent, personalized responses that adapt to a customer’s tone, history, and needs. It autonomously handles support tickets and workflows, which provides faster resolutions while freeing up time for human teams to focus on higher impact tasks. This consistent, empathetic support builds trust, improves customer satisfaction, and fosters long-term loyalty.
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