AI bloat has flooded the inbox and customers have stopped listening
Implementing AI in customer communications can sound like a win–win. Tools promise more relevance for customers, plus better insights and more efficiency for stretched comms teams. In many places, that’s happening, with AI helping to test messages faster, adapt content for different channels and automate repetitive drafting.
But when AI is layered on top of already complex communication stacks without coordination, there’s a downside. Instead of more intelligent, streamlined conversations, customers experience clutter, confusion and overload.
Today’s customers are victims of AI bloat, receiving streams of inconsistent and often impersonal messages – sometimes from the same brand in the space of a few hours. This turns comms into an overwhelming blur of order confirmations, surveys and reminders.
Research from Constant Contact shows that 69% of consumers believe they receive too many emails from brands and global stats from Emarsys show 60% of consumers believe most marketing emails they receive aren’t relevant.
Ultimately, when everything is labelled “important”, nothing is. And while AI hasn’t created this problem, in many organisations, it’s making it worse.
What is AI bloat?
One of the ways AI bloat shows up is clashing notifications. Within 24 hours, the app might say that an order is delayed, whereas a separate email insists it’s out for delivery, and an SMS arrives asking the customer to rate their experience.
Another sign is an influx of automated messages. A customer who browses a product and then buys it might still receive a cart reminder and a generic “we miss you” campaign, which doesn’t acknowledge the purchase they already made.
Then there’s brand tone. Unchecked AI-generated copy can swing between formal, to casual, to robotic. Sometimes in consecutive messages about the same issue. Each message may be “on brand” in isolation, but for the customer, it doesn’t feel like a coherent conversation.
Beyond being irritating, this has real consequences. Overload makes it harder for customers to spot critical communications, such as a fraud alerts, payment failures or changes to terms and conditions. This creates a trust issue as well as a CX issue.
Regulators, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are already taking action when brands over-message without clear consent or opt-outs, imposing significant fines on organisations that do not comply. But regulators can only step in once the damage is done.
What causes “AI bloat”?
No brand intentionally drowns its customers in information. Instead, AI bloat is usually the accidental by-product of several forces colliding.
First, technology being layered up over time. Marketing clouds, service platforms, CRM, and now generative AI tools all send messages semi-independently. Each system has its own rules and success metrics, and few organisations have a single view of everything a customer receives.
Second, success is often measured in volume. Teams are rewarded for more campaigns launched, more journeys configured, and more personalised variants created. Generative AI makes it easy to produce extra content, so the path of least resistance is to send more.
Lastly, “shadow AI” has infiltrated many organisations, with individual teams adding tools to optimise subject lines or generate copy without always involving the right people. This causes a fragmented tone of voice, overlapping automations and contradictory messages.
At a customer level this can feel chaotic. If every interaction feels like a bombardment, critical messages get ignored and customers switch off.
More than a content problem
Early research shows that well-designed and well-governed AI can improve satisfaction and loyalty in CX. But that requires customers who feel informed, respected and in control.
Brands often think fixing AI bloat means fixing content: rewriting templates, refining prompts and tidying up language. But AI bloat is fundamentally an architecture problem. Too many systems are allowed to talk directly to the customer, and too few people can see the whole conversation. AI should be used to orchestrate and simplify output, not just accelerate it.
This is where customer communications management (CCM) comes in. CCM platforms sit above individual systems, giving organisations a single view of what customers are actually receiving. They provide the controls to design, sequence and govern outbound communication in one place. Used alongside AI, they ensure that every message has a clear purpose, is consistent with the wider journey and doesn’t clash with existing comms.
Using AI to reduce noise
To overcome AI bloat, brands must decide what needs to be communicated and when. That means mapping journeys from the customer’s perspective and setting rules about which messages are essential and how often communications are sent. A CCM layer can then apply those rules consistently across every customer touchpoint.
AI still has a role to play. The technology can summarise complex processes into a clearmessage, turn legal language into plain English and adapt messaging for different channels. Done well, that means fewer touchpoints that are easier to understand and act on.
Brands must also put guardrails around frequency, tone and data use. Limits on how often a customer is contacted and templates that cover brand style help ensure that automation supports trust instead of undermining it.
AI is not going away, nor should it. Used thoughtfully, and anchored by strong CCM, it can help organisations design clearer journeys, react to customer needs in real time and make complex information understandable. The brands that will stand out in an era of AI bloat won’t be those that shout loudest, but those communicating less often and more clearly, but are still heard.
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