“Internet Shminternet”- Using AI to Craft Personalized User Experiences
“It doesn’t matter to me whether we’re a pure internet play . What matters to me is do we provide the best customer service. Internet Shminternet!”
This quote perfectly encapsulates the relentless nature of Jeff Bezos that made him the person he is today. Most importantly, it highlights the disparity between and lack of direction businesses have today when it comes to building interfaces with the end user in mind.
This classic interview is especially relevant today in the age of artificial intelligence, seemingly infinite compute and more advanced software and algorithms then businesses have ever had access to.
The true value of AI lies not in the technology itself, but in how it enhances the user experience. The goal must always remain clear: to improve and personalize the interaction that customers have with products and services. This requires a thorough understanding of the end user and their needs, preferences, and behaviours.
In this article, we discuss a few of the ways a business of any size can use the copious amount of data they have as well as technological resource to create tailored end-user experiences.
The Background
Many companies and start-ups today are striving to establish their foothold with generative AI, and rightfully so. Some of the largest deals in recent years have involved companies making early AI plays. Here are a few notable examples:
- OpenAI
- Valuation: $86 billion
- Highlight: Known for its advanced AI models, including ChatGPT, which have revolutionized natural language processing.
2. Anthropic
- Valuation: $18.4 billion
- Highlight: Focuses on AI safety and research, ensuring the development of ethical and secure AI systems.
3. Databricks
- Valuation: $43 billion
- Highlight: Specializes in data analytics and AI deployment software, helping businesses harness the power of big data.
It’s hard not to follow the money and try to establish your company as an AI superpower capable of bending technological possibilities to sway potential investors. However, it may be more rewarding for both your customers and your business to focus on pragmatic AI applications.
The market for AI software providers is evidently becoming increasingly saturated, with larger providers having the talent and resources to create superior models and tools. Instead, focus on your customers and utilize the latest AI tools to keep them satisfied without overemphasizing AI marketing.
Jeff’s clear disregard for market trends is directly relevant here!
Leveraging Generative AI for Personalization
Generating personalized user experiences means providing each customer with interactions that feel uniquely tailored to them. This process begins by deeply understanding your user base — analysing data on their behaviour, preferences, and feedback. This data is the raw material that fuels generative AI algorithms.
Netflix
Businesses can leverage generative AI in various ways such as using it create automated smart suggestions for content viewing similar to what Netflix does right now.
While Netflix, does not explicitly cite specific use of generative AI or LLMs to support the content recommendations, they have historically used sophisticated ML algorithms to power this feature. Thus, its assumed that they are one of the many companies providing personalized services using generative AI.
Expedia
The travel website has integrated ChatGPT into its app to function as a virtual travel agent. Users can ask for recommendations on destinations, accommodations, and transportation, receiving personalized suggestions based on a vast database of travel information.
They’ve likely tuned it to churn out responses in-line with the customer acquisition process. Encouraging the user based on the input to select different countries or types of holidays.
In addition, your customer data such as previous bookings and reviews is used to inform the AI to produce more relevant solutions to your queries.
In a way, they have constructed an always available holiday advisor which is a great example of using generative AI to tailor user experiences.
Wealthsimple
I was not too familiar with Wealthsimple so I asked the site chatbot for a simple explanation of their business.
With a simple website chatbot, you can create customized user experiences adding another layer of communication between your brand and the customer.
Depending on the query, you might point the user to different parts of your website leading to more page views. Most importantly, you are decreasing the wait time for users question to be answered.
How Do You Do It?
Ready to Channel Your Inner Jeff Bezos? Here’s how you can become relentlessly customer-obsessed and transform your user experience. Follow this simple yet powerful framework to put your customers at the heart of everything you do.
Understand Your User
- Deep User Analysis: Begin with a comprehensive analysis of your user base. This involves gathering and scrutinizing data on user behaviours, preferences, and feedback. What are the most clicked pieces of content on your website? What do users find most interesting based on units ordered or category of product and service? What questions or issues do they commonly come across when interacting with your business? You want to identify the key areas of improvement for the user experience.
- Customer Segmentation: Divide your users/customers into segments based on their behaviours or preferences. This makes it easier to tailor experiences more accurately to different user groups.
Gather the Data
- Data Collection: Implement robust data collection mechanisms across your digital platforms. Use analytics tools to capture detailed information about user interactions on websites, apps, and social media. If you run a blog, use Google Search Console to obtain data about most clicked content. Collect data on your most ordered products and write reports about it. This will be useful when training AI models to understand your customer. For example, at Asycd, we categorise artworks based on the interaction statistics like likes, shares and views.
- Data Integration: Ensure that your gathered data is integrated and accessible. Create a system where data from different sources (e.g., web analytics, app usage, social media interactions) can be brought together for a holistic view of the user. Creating a historical store of customer or user data such as reviews, statistics and more will be crucial in the next step.
Build the Software
- Develop AI-Powered Tools: Use the data to power generative AI algorithms that can offer personalized recommendations and interactions. For instance, you could build chatbots for customer support or recommendation engines for products and content. Use a custom AI chatbot to generate more relevant product descriptions or optimize listings for more search traffic using your data about the most clicked content.
- AI Implementation: Implement these AI tools across your digital platforms. For example, use personalized content suggestions on your website, custom notifications on your app, and targeted ads or content on social media.
- Prompt Engineering: For recommendation systems, refine the AI through prompt engineering. Adjust the parameters of your AI models to balance randomness and familiar suggestions, ensuring relevance while occasionally introducing novel content.
Test and Gather Reviews
- Continuous Testing: Regularly test your AI-driven solutions to ensure they are meeting user expectations. Is it improving your KPI’s? Are you receiving more traffic to your website? Is your customer service improving? You can measure this in all sorts of ways.
- User Feedback Loop: Actively solicit feedback from your users about their experiences. Use surveys, direct feedback forms, and monitor social media for candid user opinions.
- Iterate and Improve: Use the feedback and testing results to iteratively improve your AI systems. This continuous cycle of testing and refining helps in aligning the personalized experiences more closely with user needs.
Thank you for reading. If you would like to find about how we can benefit your business by creating custom-built AI chatbots for your business, find our contact page here. We are offering free consultations at the minute to discuss your project vision!
Learn about Asycd by visiting our website where we post art, article, and research for you to deepen your understanding of some of the concepts discussed in this article.
