Spice up your CX

That’s right folks, it’s Pumpkin Spice season again!

Whether you love it or hate it, you have to admit, it’s one of the biggest modern-day success stories. Trendy gimmicks tend to come and go, stirring up a social media storm before being swiftly forgotten. (Remember cronuts?) And yet Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice has become a different beast altogether.

Launch week for the Pumpkin Spice Latte is consistently the busiest sales week of the year for Starbucks. You can buy Pumpkin Spice candles, Pumpkin Spice beers, Pumpkin Spice dog treats, and even Pumpkin Spice toothpaste! It shows no signs of slowing either, with analysts anticipating the Pumpkin Spice market to keep growing by 8% year-to-year.

All these Pumpkin Spice spinoff products are hardly pioneering, but the retail industry has simply adapted to what the data told them. The people want Pumpkin Spice!

But why are we talking about Pumpkin Spice?

Well, because it’s a masterclass in product innovation.

Take AI deployments. It’s tempting to think that doing something innovative with AI means doing something nobody has done before. But just like Pumpkin Spice, sometimes the smarter move is to look at what’s already working.

Organisations are increasingly under pressure (both from within the business, and from customers) to use AI to improve customer experience and outcomes, and fast. Oh, and without spending too much money of course. With so much on the line, it’s daunting trying to figure out the best way forward when faced with thousands of AI products, all promising different things.

But there’s no need to try and reinvent the wheel. Because let’s face it, you’re probably not the first business to come up against your challenges.

Instead, start by identifying the biggest service or operational problem you want to fix, then look at how AI is already being used to tackle these kinds of issues.

No idea where to start?

An AI assessment can help you work out your biggest opportunities, which problems are worth tackling first and whether your systems, data and processes are ready for AI.

Perhaps you’ve got a problem with customers that keep coming back (and not in a good way!) about the same refund, booking change or account issue? Agentic AI can handle processes like these, even making required checks, taking action in the moment, or passing tricky situations to a human team member when needed.

Or maybe you’ve been watching complaints pile up before realising you have a service problem? AI is already being used to analyse interactions, spot developing patterns and trigger action before more customers need to reach out and tell you there’s an issue.

These aren’t hypothetical examples; they’re established ways AI is already being used in customer service. By focusing on your biggest problem and using a proven approach, you can start small, show value, and then scale from there without risking your budget on something new and untested.

That brings us back to Pumpkin Spice.

Every copycat Pumpkin Spiced Latte, or seasonal Pumpkin Spice cake, or toothpaste (no, we still don’t like it) is an example of a business taking something that’s been proven to work and adapting it. And remember, Starbucks didn’t invent cinnamon, nutmeg or coffee. They just found a combination that worked.

Sometimes innovation is less about creating the next big thing, and more about recognising when you already have the right ingredients and making the most of them.