The Green Room podcast
What make us feel confident in what we buy?
AI is redefining the ways we discover, choose and engage with brands in the most dramatic way since the 90s dot com boom.
When everyone has access to AI, what makes you stand out?
Differentiation can be a human skill built with technological support
What’s the best…
Which brand is better…
Help me find…
AI isn’t just changing what we buy, but how we decide. We’re increasingly turning to it for inspiration and advice as we crave a personalised touch.
But are we removing the need for human connection? Or does a traditional buying experience, powered by new technology, become a brand’s differentiator in a crowded market?
New, widely available, capability means that consumer experiences can start to feel the same and technology alone stops being a meaningful point of difference. So the challenge for brands is being able to combine the human and technical elements within their business to make experiences better, and connection with their consumers stronger.
Watch below, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Read the transcript here.
How do you take that to the next step and really make sure you can lead consumers into thinking about what they don’t know they need? We all know what we think we need, but how do you stand out? How do you make a tool deliver something that’s quite unique to that brand?
Julia Lo Bue-Said – CEO, Advantage Travel Partnership
“They want to know there’s someone there that’s got their back.”
Not every consumer journey is the same.
Sometimes it’s about speed and simplicity. A quick search, AI prompt or summary of consumer reviews feels enough. But when it’s more personal, expensive or important, we need more. We need the human connection.
Travel brings the distinction between how we buy into focus. Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of Advantage Travel Partnership, explains, “with travel you’re buying something that you can’t physically, tangibly touch.”
If you’re spending on a honeymoon, rather than a new phone charger, the influences on our decision are widely different. Consumers are creating memories to live on and buying experiences they can’t inspect in advance.
At the core, it feels a more important buying decision, so consumers need a higher sense of trust before they’re happy to make the purchase. And often – especially with something like a honeymoon – we want to know there’s someone who can help us should something go wrong. A human who understands us.
So when it comes to trust, Julia says: “whatever that brand is, the trust that you have in that brand or the person behind it is so important, now more than ever before.”
Want to learn more? Listen to our episode, “What does it take to build trust?” now.
Although the tool may be widely available, the experience doesn’t have to be generic.
Tom Astill, director at Deloitte Digital, who works with retail and consumer organisations on delivering digital experiences, notes that many AI-enabled consumer journeys are appearing “typically on experiences that are already digital.”
As AI becomes more expected by consumers to ease their experiences, Julia Lo Bue-Said is aware of the challenge facing firms. “We’re in an environment right now where it’s really tough to run a business. Costs have exponentially increased and therefore the investment in technology to help support your long-term business is really difficult. But our role is to really showcase the importance of investment, the important of technology and the important of actually how you interact with the consumer.”
The key, according to Tom Astill, is to ensure these experiences aren’t forcing AI into the experience but to make already digital experiences “feel even more human”.
Because if brands can get that right, while matching human and technical capabilities together, they’ll start to differentiate themselves in the market too.
How can you make trust your competitive advantage?
Hear more from Julia Lo Bue-Said and Tom Astill, in our special live recording of The Green Room. They discuss how AI is reshaping decision-making and brand experiences while also exploring the difference between convenience and confidence.
What does it take to set businesses apart? What will define the brands that people choose in the future? And will the human connection be replaced or become more valuable as time goes on?
Watch below, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Read the transcript here.
It’s about providing them with the information so that they can feel they are making the right decision.
Tom Astill – Director, Deloitte Digital
Let’s make this work.
To view this video, change your targeting/advertising cookie settings.
