As customers continue to demand more personalization and transparency from retailers, Nick Kramer highlights how AI can make this easier for companies in this Retail TouchPoints article.
Nick outlines what customers expect from retailers, “All consumers are not created equal; each comes with their own specific communications preferences, so this expectation of transparency and the various vehicles through which it can be achieved creates a real minefield for brands.”
He lays out strategies for retailers to employ to meet these expectations, “To navigate that minefield, brands should put the control back in the customers’ hands. Consumers are more savvy with technology than ever before, and that crosses demographics. More and more consumers expect to be in control of their communication with brands. Like, for example, being able to open up the Shop app and find out what the status [of a delivery] is.”
He continues highlighting the potential for AI in this process, “AI also has the potential to make this process easier on retailers. The ability to drive heightened personalization toward the ‘segment of one’ concept that we’ve always longed for, where we genuinely treat each customer differently — every brand is trying to experiment with AI to see how it will help create that. It’s all still very nascent though, more failed experiments than successful ones so far.”
He emphasizes how fueling AI engines and the customer experience “The kind of responsiveness consumers are demanding — and that companies want to deliver — is possible today by “creating visibility through the data into your performance. Make these decisions data-driven and have a culture of visibility into those data decisions based on facts. That I do think is entirely feasible now. And in fact, it’s an imperative to do this now because AI is thirsty for data. Enterprises that are diving into AI are learning this lesson the hard way, which is that the quality of the AI depends on the volume and quality of the data that you use to train it. The companies that lay that groundwork by becoming data-driven are the ones that will be ahead of the game with AI.”
