Brands affected by a trust deficit is perhaps wary of adding latest tools to customer experience. There’s reason to consider genAI, when done right, can construct trust — when done transparently.
Sixty percent of consumers said due to advances in AI, brands need to enhance trustworthiness, in keeping with a brand new Salesforce survey, “State of the AI Connected Customer.”
The trust gap. Trust is tanking, the Salesforce study found. Close to three-quarters (72%) of consumers said they trust firms lower than they did only one yr ago.
Bad experiences result in customers losing trust in brands and leaving. Over a 3rd of consumers said bad experiences for purchases, in addition to for services like returns, will make them look elsewhere. And 69% of consumers said they expect consistent interactions across departments.
Customers assume brands are using a complicated data architecture and expect this to translate into higher experiences. So they’re upset when it doesn’t.
Gen Z. Salesforce found that customers are favorable toward AI along generational lines. Gen Z is the most receptive, while Boomers and Silent Generation-ers are the most cautious.
- Thirty-four percent of Gen Z consumers said they’d share their personal information with an AI agent, 37% are neutral about it.
- Millennials are nearly as receptive — 33% agree; 35% are neutral.
- Thirty-nine percent of Gen X disagree with sharing personal info with an AI agent.
- Fifty-one percent of Boomers disagree and 60% of the Silent Generation also decline.
AI transparency. Over a 3rd of consumers said they’d engage with an AI agent to avoid repeating themselves at multiple touchpoints of their experiences. This shows a giant upside for introducing an AI-powered agent, but brands have to be transparent.
Nearly three-quarters need to know upfront in the event that they’re communicating with AI. And 45% of consumers usually tend to use an AI agent if there’s a transparent escalation path or off-ramp that results in speaking with a human agent, if and when that’s needed.
“We encourage retailers [when they’re using an AI agent] to obviously call out that that is AI and the way to pull the ‘rip cord’ if [customers] have to go and check with an actual person,” said Michael Affronti, SVP & GM, Commerce Cloud at Salesforce.
Why we care. If customers already expect some sort of AI behind the scenes, it’s value it for brands to handle the issue and use AI transparently. Personas are also an awesome way for brands to welcome the technology to customers. Bank of America’s Erica and the Saks chatbot Sophie are good examples.
Dig deeper: How to make use of genAI to cut back friction and convert automotive buyers
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