Vimeo sees AI deliver tailored, efficient CX to its massive global user base

Vimeo is the world’s most innovative online video experience platform. The company provides software and services for video creation, collaboration, and distribution to millions of users globally.

Vimeo’s platform is used by small-to-midsize businesses, large enterprises, marketers, agencies, filmmakers, and creative professionals. The average number of videos uploaded to Vimeo each day is more than 350,000, which contributes to billions of video views served up by the platform each month.

Looking to scale CX with intelligence

The company’s commitment to world-class customer support is at the heart of Vimeo’s user experience. With a global customer service team of over 100 employees and a lean Digital Support unit of just six people, Vimeo’s mission is clear: deliver efficient, personalized, and scalable support.

However, as Vimeo’s customer base diversified and the company’s business product offerings expanded, so did the volume and complexity of support inquiries. Those challenges, along with providing 24/7 service to a global user base of millions, prompted Vimeo to seek options for elevating its CX at scale.

“We’ve always had this sense that there has to be a better way,” reflects Noah Kardos-Fein, Director of Digital Support at Vimeo. “Answering the same questions again and again, especially at scale, made us ask how we could improve the experience for everyone.”

The company experimented with virtual agents several years ago, but those early solutions—relying mostly on natural language processing (NLP)—offered limited functionality and rigid, keyword-based interactions.

Generative AI initially seemed risky due to concerns about hallucinations and unpredictable outputs. But by 2023, advancements in safety guardrails and backend control mechanisms convinced the Vimeo team to reconsider using AI for customer service.

A pivotal move to Zendesk AI

Vimeo’s decision to implement Zendesk AI agents represented a pivotal evolution in its support strategy. With a keen focus on conversational capability and backend flexibility, Vimeo found Zendesk’s hybrid model—combining generative replies with customizable flows—ideally suited to its needs.

“Zendesk offered us the ability to build structured, guided experiences for things like billing issues, where we need consistency,” explains Kardos-Fein. “At the same time, we could lean on generative AI to handle the long tail of FAQs in a way that felt natural and conversational.”

To ensure success, Vimeo partnered closely with Zendesk Assist solution consultants over several months. The team meticulously tested workflows, implemented SSO-based personalization, and used APIs to tailor experiences based on account type.

The detailed work and testing ensured the AI agent could recognize the user’s identity and plan level and deliver contextually relevant support—or seamlessly escalate to a human agent when needed.

Vimeo hits “play” on several AI use cases

Key use cases Vimeo tackled with Zendesk AI include:

— Billing and subscription inquiries: A high-volume category where scripted flows ensured uniform, accurate responses.

— Video management: Generative AI helped guide users through complex tasks like embedding, uploading, or sharing videos.

— Account and plan management: Personalized experiences driven by real-time API integrations.

— Core product segmentation: Search rules and intents helped distinguish user types and deliver relevant support content.

But the AI agent wasn’t just a reactive tool. Vimeo began using the AI conversation logs as a rich source of Voice of Customer (VOC) data—surfacing product feedback, common pain points, and even bugs.

“There’s a wealth of information in these conversations,” says Kardos-Fein. “We’re using them not just for support, but to improve our product and strategy, too.”

Self-service, automation, and personalization

Since launching Zendesk AI agents, Vimeo has seen measurable improvements in several key areas, including:

— Self-service increased by 18 to 20 percent, driven by higher engagement with help center content and the AI agent.

— The volume of AI agent conversations grew by 36 percent, as customers began to trust and adopt the AI-based support over traditional ticketing.

— The automated resolution rate improved by two to three percentage points compared to Vimeo’s previous solution, with 43 percent of AI agent interactions now coming from authenticated users, enabling more tailored support.

— The automation rate stabilized between 30 and 40 percent, and plans are underway to increase it through deeper integrations and proactive resolution mechanisms.

But equally important were the qualitative outcomes. The AI implementation process fostered cross-team collaboration, from content writers to developers.

“Your AI agent is only as good as your content,” notes Kardos-Fein. By embedding the AI agent optimization into content workflows, Vimeo made support team innovation a company-wide effort.

Agentic AI and multimodal CX

Looking ahead, the Vimeo team is enthusiastic about exploring next-gen capabilities like Agentic AI. Zendesk’s AI agents with agentic AI are resolution-first, built to understand and autonomously resolve even the most sophisticated customer issues on any channel, with no scripting or training required.

Agentic AI agents remain completely dynamic, adapting to new contexts, asking follow-up questions, and identifying the next task to accomplish–all while following business processes to ensure a complete resolution every time.

Video is also a central focus of Vimeo’s CX roadmap. The company plans to embed help videos directly within the AI agent experience—-aligning its help strategy with the medium that defines its brand.

“We’re a video company, so that’s a big one. We want to get proficient at this, so a big goal for us this year is to incorporate more and more videos directly into the AI agent.”

Speaking of Vimeo’s AI journey to date, Kardos-Fein says, “Our goal is to surprise and delight customers with useful, conversational answers. With Zendesk AI, we’re finally seeing that vision come to life.”