Featured Article

Replicating Human Interaction with Guided CX

As terrible as this pandemic has been in terms of loss of human life and livelihoods, it is technology that has gotten us through it with far fewer deaths and destruction that what we might otherwise have had to endure.  From ordering food online to social media and collaboration tools to keep us connected and able to work, tech has made a terrible situation more tolerable.

Thanks to the latest innovations, millions of people were able to work safely, from their homes and continue earning a living.  A mere 25 years ago, we did not have the tools to effectively keep people working – let alone to rapidly produce vaccines.

Shopping is another area that has changed forever.  We might just say the transition has accelerated.  The growth of ecommerce mas been steady, but the pandemic really accelerated it.

Couple that with the closures of numerous retail outlets and we have a situation where the critical mass needed for much shopping is not always there.  A mall with 40 stores is far less attractive than one with 100 or more, for example.

So, online sales – having surged beyond expectations last year will not see massive losses to brick and mortar because so much brick and mortar has been wounded beyond expectations.  Still, online shopping, as good as it is, cannot beat in-person experiences for many things, such as impulse shopping and discovery.

A great example is the popcorn aisle at your local supermarket.  There seem to be new kinds of popcorn every month and, if you are inclined to try new varieties, there is no easy way to do this online.  Of course there are specialty shops and online searches you could perform to potentially find the new selections but that is now how impulse shopping is generally done.

In-person, you walk down an aisle, notice a new package, read it, evaluate it and potentially place it in your cart.  Online, this is difficult to pull off.

Higher value shopping allows a retail establishment to have knowledgeable salespeople who can help customers based on their known interests.  Some e-commerce sites approximate this with “Customers like you also bought” selections, but this can be hit or miss.  People’s tastes change and these changes may come up during in-person conversations, but they are tough to replicate online.

The collaboration market has evolved fairly quickly as a result of COVID-19.  Companies like Miro have raised large amounts of money to add whiteboarding functionality to online meetings, for example.

What about online shopping though? Can it be improved?

The answer is absolutely yes!  First off, by integrating collaboration tools and AI, customers can be guided effectively through their shopping experience.

Humans working with AI, in-fact are a cost-effective way to help consumers in the manner in which they want to be helped.  Chatbots are an example of automated tech that can help with relatively simple requests like, “What are your holiday hours?” but can allow escalation to live agents as needed.  For example, if a customer asks, “Do you expect to get those mauve colored leggings in next week?”

Ecommerce sites have a lot of potential to evolve into experiences – similar to how retail stores have made the transition.  But online, personalization can really come into play as analysis of past buying habits and even mining of past conversations can be done instantly and presented to live agents who can guide the customer experience to maximize the customer journey.

This has the dual effect of improving customer satisfaction and revenue – basically a win-win for all concerned.

FINRA compliance disclosure: In addition to his role as CEO of tech media company TMC, Rich Tehrani is CEO of RT Advisors and a Registered Representative with and offering securities through Four Points Capital Partners LLC (Four Points) (Member FINRA/SIPC). RT Advisors is not owned by Four Points.

Rich Tehrani may potentially be in discussions with any companies mentioned above regarding investment banking services such as funding, M&A, SPAC merger, IPO, etc.

The above information was strictly a technical/business news article/review regarding the company(ies) mentioned. The information contained should not be considered and is not a recommendation to invest in or sell short the securities of the underlying company(ies).

Edited by Erik Linask