In this article:
- Nestlé USA wanted to improve the experience of customers who called in for help on baking.
- Creating an AI-powered persona proved the solution to assure consistency for customer satisfaction, personalization, and deeper levels of consumer engagement.
Why develop a persona driven by AI to engage with customers looking for baking guidance? Orchid Bertelsen, Nestlé USA’s head of digital strategy & innovation, explained it in a recent interview with ClickZ.
For years now, those puzzled by problems along the route to getting homemade cookies out of their own ovens would resort to the Nestlé helpline. But the level of customer satisfaction depended very much on the luck of the draw.
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Brtelsen said that the lucky bakers would hit on someone with a great deal of experience who would be really helpful. But others sometimes got someone who didn’t know that much about it, which increased rather than relieved their frustration.
If you want perfect consistency, you need a level of uniformity that is beyond human capability. That’s why in February 2021, Nestlé rolled out what was described as “a digital human” who was named for the inventor of the Toll House chocolate chip cookie, Ruth Wakefield.
You can see the “Ruth” in action, asking the user to identify what dietary restrictions apply and which texture is preferred, in this video:
As demonstrated, Ruth asks and responds to questions orally rather than through written text. That is due to the company has noted that people with queries usually express them via voice. The challenge was to deliver on the expectation of voice interaction with consistency and that’s why an AI-powered solution capable of personalized responses was selected.
In terms of engagement metrics, Ruth has been a hit for Nestlé. Conversations average nine to 13 minutes, reports ClickZ, “a rare achievement for any marketing channel.” Overall feedback indicates that customers are also somewhat intrigued by Ruth and would like to get to know more about her.
Nestlé does plan on responding by “developing her back story and making her multi-lingual.” It also plans to continue improving experiences by enhancing Ruth’s recall to be able to not have to always start from scratch with customers who had already interacted with her and deliver greater levels of personalized engagement.
Not to mention the data-injection potential of this new “channel,” and how it can help with enriching CRM Marketing data-driven efforts.