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Hotline of the future
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to create more customer-centric industries.
Financial services firm Klarna has launched an AI-powered CEO hotline, providing its customers with direct access to an interactive avatar of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
The service allows consumers and merchants to provide product feedback, raise concerns, and ask questions in a one-on-one conversation with “AI Sebastian”— an avatar trained on the real CEO’s “real voice, insights, and experiences.”
Each call is instantly transcribed and summarized by a large language model, with actionable insights sent to Klarna’s product and engineering teams. The fintech firm claims customer suggestions can be incorporated into their products as soon as possible.
Adios, long survey forms
The innovation aims to replace the confusing and repetitive survey forms that companies ask their customers to complete. We get it. Those questionnaires are designed to reduce bias, standardize data collection, and accurately identify trends. But some of those surveys have become so complex that customers either ignore them or “shotgun” their responses.
Most customers would rather express their experience regarding a product or service forthrightly, rather than completing an overly complicated survey form, simply because it’s so much easier. They don’t have to read through ridiculously loaded questions and pore over equally mechanical choices.
Allowing customers to choose their own words to narrate their experiences could lead to a more accurate representation of a product or service’s stature in the marketplace.
Read and react
This initiative could prompt other industries to adopt a similar scheme. Customer feedback is a valuable form of data that businesses continually collect and analyze. Businesses need to understand their customers so they can create products that match needs and wants.
Several businesses have suffered because they failed to align with their customers. In a fast-paced world, executive vision is not enough. People’s tastes and preferences change at different rates, and businesses must stay on top of these trends.
This innovation could enable businesses to respond quickly to market demands — a win-win for both businesses and their clients. Additionally, businesses can predict upcoming trends once they have enough data sets to analyze. They can even combine customer insights with sales data or market research to paint a more accurate picture of the market.
They can respond to these changes either through simple tweaks or by introducing a new product or service altogether. Through the help of AI, businesses can consistently meet their customers’ needs and stay ahead of the competition.
The question for your business
How do you stay on top of your customers’ evolving needs?
