Retail CX practitioners may be excited about the applications of AI, but for many consumers, the only thing that matters is how it affects their shopping experiences.
As a result, retailers will apply AI technology in significant but mostly invisible ways, experts said on a Capgemini webinar Tuesday. The underlying tech stack is evolving rapidly, but ideally all the customer sees is their journeys getting a bit easier.
“As people who work in the industry, we're very focused on the power of AI and the technology that will bring new experiences and new ways of doing everything,” said Mark Ruston, VP and global retail lead at Capgemini. “But fundamentally, customers just want the same as what they’ve always wanted, which is that seamless, frustration-free experience.”
While it may be best practice to keep AI invisible, that doesn’t mean companies should be silent about its use, according to Ruston. Customers’ trust in the technology is on the decline, which may stem from concern about how companies are harvesting and using their data and businesses' lack of transparency.
Half of consumers are worried about their data and cyberattacks, according to an upcoming Capgemini survey cited by Ruston. Transparency about how consumers’ data is being collected can help businesses earn their trust.
That finding echoes research from Genesys, which found that 4 in 5 consumers want businesses to deploy AI with robust guardrails because they don’t trust the technology.
“We believe [consumers] don't really mind when AI is plugged in as long as, one, it provides the experience they're looking for, and two, brands and retailers are being transparent when asked about how their data is being used,” Ruston said.
AI will achieve new levels of personalization
Invisibility doesn’t mean AI won’t have a significant impact on the customer experience, according to Jess Leitch, head of frog North America, which is part of Capgemini Invent.
“We're moving towards this world of ambient AI or invisible AI, where intelligence just quietly surrounds us as consumers, and it anticipates our needs rather than waiting for us to click or command something,” Leitch said.
Digital journeys will no longer be about navigating static pages, according to Leitch. Modern features like personalized recommendations and predictive search are the starting point, and future waves will hyperpersonalize the interface to the customer and enable journeys that move fluidly between devices and contexts.
While there are a number of ways to invest in AI to achieve these invisible experiences, the key point is to look at it as a tool that solves pain points for the business and its consumers, according to Dreen Yang, EVP and global industry lead of consumer products and retail at Capgemini.
Companies shouldn’t focus on implementing AI for AI’s sake. “My opinion is that AI should not be the hero,” Yang said. “The consumer or the business is the hero.”
Transparency assists data collection
Advanced AI experiences will require plenty of information about the customer, and honesty may be the best policy when it comes to collecting it.
Businesses should be clear about not just the fact that they are collecting customer information, but that it’s being used to power AI-driven experiences, according to Ruston. He has seen evidence that consumers are 2.5 times more likely to share data if companies are open about how they plan on using it.
Trust is also a matter of consistency in price and availability of support, according to Leitch. If customers feel good about how they’re interacting with a company, they’re more likely to trust that company with their personal information.
Businesses should also balance how their experiences come across to different consumers, according to Ruston.
A level of personalization that feels cool to some consumers may come across as creepy to others, which can degrade trust, according to Ruston. It’s up to each company to determine the level of personalization their customers want, and what data is needed to achieve that.
