Contributing Author
Gladly Team
With over a decade of customer experience focus, Gladly is the only customer experience AI that delivers the cost savings you need AND the customer devotion that drives lasting business value. Trusted by the world’s most customer-centric brands, including Crate & Barrel, Ulta Beauty, and Tumi, Gladly delivers radically efficient and radically personal experiences.

Read More from Gladly Team

Free help desk software for growing teams
Compare the best free and cheap help desk software.

Help Scout alternatives for growing teams
Compare the top Help Scout alternatives by use case.

Best knowledge base software for customer support in 2026
Comparing knowledge base software for customer support? Here's what to look for, the mistake most teams make, and the tools worth evaluating.

5 best ecommerce customer service software in 2026
Compare ecommerce customer service software and see why Gladly ranks first for personalized CX and customer lifetime value.

Who Should Own AI in a Customer Experience Team?
Why the most successful CX AI programs have a single, named owner inside the customer experience team — and what that role actually does.

Call center scripts
Your essential call center script for e-commerce and retail.

The customer experience roles worth hiring for
The CX and support roles a growing team hires as it scales, what each one does, the skills to look for, and when you actually need one.

Millennials hold the biggest wallet, and their loyalty is still up for grabs
Millennials outspend every other generation and shop across every channel, yet only one in five rarely switch brands. What CX leaders need to know to earn and keep them.

The best Gorgias alternatives for ecommerce customer service in 2026
Compare six Gorgias alternatives for 2026, from Gladly to Zendesk, with honest notes on pricing, AI, reporting, and where each platform fits best.

The best Kustomer alternatives for customer service in 2026
Compare six Kustomer alternatives for 2026, from Gladly to Zendesk, with honest notes on pricing, setup, AI, and where each platform fits best.

VP and Head of customer experience career guide
What a VP or Head of customer experience actually does, what it pays in 2026, the skills you need, and how to land the role. A candidate's guide.

7 signs of bad customer service and how to fix them
The seven patterns behind bad customer service, from the ticket trap to the dead-end bot, and what customer devotion looks like instead.

What a help desk manager actually does in 2026
A clear guide to the help desk manager role: responsibilities, skills, salary, how to become one, and how AI is reshaping the job.

Live chat agent job description & hiring guide
Everything CX leaders need to hire a live chat agent: responsibilities, skills, salary, KPIs, and a copy-paste job description template.

Gen Z is rewriting the rules of loyalty for CX leaders
Gen Z shops social-first, expects AI that actually works, and walks after one bad experience. What CX leaders need to know to serve them and earn lasting loyalty.

Customer service automation best practices
How leading brands automate support without losing the human touch, with real examples and pros and cons.

7 best customer support platforms for small businesses in 2026
Compare seven top customer support platforms for small businesses, with Gladly ranked #1 for people-centered service.

AI customer service for ecommerce brands: what it is & what good looks like
How AI customer service works for ecommerce brands, what separates resolution-first AI from deflection bots, and what to look for when evaluating options.

Your AI made a thousand decisions today. See every one.
Gladly's Conversation Review Panel gives CX teams full visibility into every AI decision — trace what happened, understand why, and fix it without filing a ticket.

What Shoptalk Spring 2026 revealed about retail's AI moment
Gladly was at Shoptalk Spring 2026. Here's what the AI conversation in retail looks like — and what's next at Gladly Connect Live.

Customer service response templates that actually work
The highest-value response templates in 2026 are for the moments AI hands to a human: escalations, bad news, de-escalation. Lead with what you know.

Customer service phrases that build loyalty in 2026
Customer service phrases that build loyalty, by scenario, plus the lines to avoid and what to say instead.

5 ways AI shopping agents raise the stakes for customer loyalty
AI shopping agents are transforming customer loyalty. Here are five ways the stakes are rising for CX leaders and what you can do to prepare.

Does your business need Whatsapp customer service?
Many customer service teams around the world are asking themselves the same question

Best enterprise help desk software in 2026
Most enterprise help desks win RFPs but miss on outcomes. Here's how to evaluate for customer loyalty, not just deflection rate.

Do more AI integrations lead to better performance?
In Gladly's 2026 data, companies with more integrations often achieved lower AI coverage than those with fewer. The metric that actually matters isn't count — it's coverage.

How to use WhatsApp for customer service without losing the personal touch
WhatsApp is where your customers already are. Here's how to add it to your support mix without turning it into another disconnected inbox.

The answers are in your data — now you can just ask
Insights Agent lets you ask plain-English questions about your Gladly data and get answers — summaries, charts, and tables — in seconds. Now in free preview.

Best Zendesk alternatives for enterprise CX teams
Compare Zendesk alternatives for enterprise CX teams on architecture, AI, and predictable pricing. See how Gladly and others stack up.

Agentic AI in customer service for CTOs
A deep-dive interview for CTOs on the architecture, ROI, and rollout strategy required to make agentic AI work across voice and digital channels.

Customer service AI agent vs. chatbot: the question nobody asks
Chatbots resolve 30–40% of conversations; true AI agents 65–85%. But the handoff to a human is where loyalty is won or lost. Here's how to evaluate both.

NLP in customer service — what it is and how to win with it
Natural language processing helps customer service AI understand what customers really mean. See how NLP works, where it's used, and how to choose a tool.

What Freshdesk actually costs, a 2026 pricing breakdown
Freshdesk's $19 headline is real, but AI and omnichannel push the true cost to $55–$119 per agent before add-ons. Full math at 50, 100, and 200 agents.

How AI is revolutionizing customer experience analytics
Learn how AI is transforming CX reporting from a rearview mirror into a predictive engine for customer satisfaction and business growth.

Best Freshdesk alternatives for teams ready to scale
Compare Freshdesk alternatives for growing teams on AI pricing, unified customer context, and reporting depth. See the cost-at-scale math.

Best customer support software for small Shopify stores: Top 5 for 2026
Compare the top 5 customer support platforms for small Shopify stores and see why Gladly ranks first for personalized, multi-channel service.

CSAT, NPS & CES for small businesses
Unpack the CSAT vs. NPS debate for small businesses. See how to combine these customer satisfaction metrics to prevent churn and boost loyalty.

How to tell if your AI is actually working
Why reopen rate, addressable resolution rate, topic coverage, and workflow update frequency tell you more than deflection rate when measuring AI performance in customer experience.

AI benchmarks in ecommerce — why conversational assistants are becoming essential
Discover ecommerce benchmarks that prove why AI shopping assistants boost conversions, increase order value, reduce cart abandonment, and build loyalty.

3 critical moments for customer loyalty in the age of AI shopping agents
When AI does the shopping, customers judge brands on three moments AI can't control. Here's what earns loyalty and keeps them coming back.

Gladly wins VIP Award for Best Unified Customer Experience
Gladly won the 2026 VIP Award for Best Unified Customer Experience. Learn how customer experience AI built for engagement drives devotion and value.