AI did not start as a big strategy for us. It started as a problem. Our Customer Support team at HeyReach was spending too much time answering the same questions every day. These tickets were easy but repetitive, and they took energy away from more important work. At the same time, we had complex tickets that needed real investigation, back-and-forth with the dev team, and clear explanation of customer frustration. Mixing these two types of work was exhausting for the team. So we added one AI agent. This AI agent was built to answer only simple and repetitive questions and do basic troubleshooting. It works 24/7. Nothing more, nothing less. The goal was not to replace people, but to remove noise. The impact was clear very quickly. Ticket volume dropped, and weekends stopped being a constant pressure for the CS team. Reps could focus during the week, rest on weekends, and come back with more energy. That alone improved morale in a fast-growing startup where burnout is easy. But the bigger change was in behavior. Once repetitive tickets were gone, CS reps started paying more attention to patterns. They reported which questions the AI could also handle, which help articles were confusing or outdated, and which product issues kept coming back in tickets. Support became a real feedback loop for the product team instead of just a ticket queue. After that, we added an AI tool that measures sentiment in customer conversations. This helped us see when users were frustrated, confused, or close to leaving. It also showed which replies worked well and which ones made things worse. With this data, the team started asking for very specific improvements. They wanted better training for difficult conversations, mentorship for handling angry customers, and more focused one-on-one meetings with leadership. The goal was simple. Turn negative conversations into neutral or positive ones. Additionally, our team had time to initiate instant meetings with customers to solve issues in real-time, and this helped us gain an amazing reputation. We started seeing customer messages like: “I know this feature isn’t working properly now, but your support is fast and clear, so I’m staying.” That’s the real value. One AI agent didn’t change our product. It changed how our CS team works, thinks, and feels. The lesson is simple. Good AI does not start with tools or dashboards. It starts by listening to the people who answer tickets every day and fixing the problems that slow them down.
