AI is for More Than Just CX: Optimizing Engagement, Strategy, and Product Development

brought to you by WBR Insights

As customers become more reliant on digital technology, retailers are becoming more sophisticated in how they personalize and contextualize experiences. Additionally, just as retailers are accelerating AI adoption ahead of their competitors to optimize CX, they are leveraging AI to optimize operations and technologies that help with product development, strategy, and initial customer engagement.

In a recent study, WBR Insights and eTail surveyed enterprise and mid-market companies concerning their adoption and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). 80% of respondents represent enterprise companies with over $500 million in annual revenue. Nearly all other companies in the study are mid-market companies, with $100 million - $500 million in annual revenue.

Already, next-gen technologies are a key part of these retailers' customer engagement strategies. Today, 93% acknowledge they've become a long-term priority to create more personalized, streamlined experiences for customers.

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AI has become one of these priorities. In fact, the vast majority of retailers (85%) are already accustomed to AI as an operational part of their business. Among them, 71% are already using AI as part of their personalization strategies; 14% are using AI in other areas, and only 15% are not using AI at all.

AI-deployed tech enables digital experiences to feel more human, offering higher quality interactions across channels. Retailers can leverage AI to help customers with decision support, product selection, and seamless ordering in any vertical.

But providing assistance along the customer journey is only one of AIs functions. Among the majority of large retailers, AI is now a key contributor to customer engagement and product development, driving improvements to intelligent marketing operations.



Currently, 66% of retailers use AI to receive insights that will help with future product development--the most popular application of AI in the study. And while 61% use AI to develop automated, customer-facing systems that feel more authentic and human, another 61% of retailers use AI to improve how they market and advertise either their business or products to customers. (Six related data points have been omitted from this chart.)

You can find additional answers in our upcoming report, Accelerating AI Adoption to Build Better Customer Interactions. It takes a deeper look into retailers' data and personalization maturity, their perspectives and adoption of AI, and how they believe AI will affect their customers and businesses. You'll find answer to the most critical questions--"What problems am I trying to solve?" "Will this do more harm to the customer experience than good?"--as retailers step further into this inevitable digital future.

The report is scheduled to be published on the eTail West website on January 21, 2019.


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