How to launch an AI virtual assistant for your customers
By Gary Knight, CEO of WOLF
Does our brand need an AI virtual assistant? If so, exactly what are the benefits and what kind of commitment does that involve? These are burning questions that many brands are now asking. As the head of WOLF Qanawat – the British audio entertainment communities app for the MENA market, which launched its first customised AI virtual assistant, named Yasmine, in October – I can shed some light using our experience.
Introducing an AI virtual assistant has been a major development for our UK-based start-up, which has become one of the largest online platforms for Arabic-speaking MENA communities to create entertaining audio content and programmes.
Yasmine offers a seamless and convenient means of communication in Arabic, informing and amusing users while helping them find content, connect with others, and navigate the platform. We are always utilising the latest technologies that will have a real tangible benefit for our consumers. So, following the launch of our new VR feature, introducing an AI Virtual Assistant was a natural progression but it required thorough planning and preparation. Based on what we learned during this process, here is some advice that will help you launch an AI experience for your customers.
Why do brands need AI?
The use of AI in many areas has now become inescapable. Thanks to Large Language Models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, there’s an exploding number of uses for AI. AI will become an ever greater part of our society in future so it’s important that brands are well aware of AI and the benefits it can bring.
For instance, AI can take some images of a customer, and then depict them visually in all kinds of entertaining settings and scenarios to bring their profiles to life. Plus, it can create music tracks that are completely unique, and even ‘banter’ with a customer in funny, natural language, rather than talking in a boring robotic manner.
Also, AI can be used to increase productivity and operational efficiencies, avoid mistakes and ‘human error’, and offer insights to predict customer preferences to offer them a better, personalised experience.
Brands can use AI to further personalise content and recommendations for each customer through the form of products like a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants allow customers to quickly and easily access information about the company’s products and services in an engaging way.
The virtual assistant serves as a support staff member that never gets tired or needs to take a break. It offers superb levels of customer service and keeps human resource costs down. Thus an AI virtual assistant can get through a huge, never ending amount of work, providing an invaluable resource for brands.
For example, for new users to our WOLF Qanawat app, our AI virtual assistant Yasmine can answer any questions users have about how to use the app using natural language, rather than reply using robotic, unnatural language.
Could your brand benefit from introducing an AI experience?
If your brand is focussed on younger audiences, then the answer is probably yes. Because younger audiences are comfortable engaging with a synthetic form of customer service representative for brands, AI virtual assistants are particularly popular with this age range. For instance, Alexa and Cortana were early forms of AI virtual assistants already being used by brands to offer quick, high-quality information to younger audiences.
Using AI as a virtual assistant is ideal for brands that have customers who typically have a lot of questions and need information regularly and quickly. A virtual assistant provides a superb interface to meet all these customer needs instantly without a customer having to search for it or contact someone who works at the brand. Not only does this meet the needs of customers, it also helps to reduce the cost of servicing these consumers.
Even banks are getting in on the act now, with NatWest recently introducing what it describes as a new ‘digital human’ called Cora+. This second iteration of Cora not only offers basic information about NatWest’s products and services, but also uses generative AI to have natural conversations with customers so they can easily find help, on top of the bank’s usual in-branch, telephone and online services.
What should you begin when considering AI?
At the beginning of the process you should consider how your customers currently get information about your brand. This means thinking about the following types of questions. How easy is it for customers to find all the information they will find useful? What kind of cost and effort do you need to put in to give them that information? When you deliver this information to customers, is it done in the quickest, easiest and cheapest way possible? If the answers make you feel like the process needs improving, then creating an AI virtual assistant for your brand could provide the ideal solutions.
Next you need to consider who can build this for you, how much will it cost and what effort is required to feed the AI with all the data it will need to comprehensively service the needs of your customers.
What skills do you need to implement this?
To tackle a project like this you either need an in-house software engineering team with specialist skills and experience in AI, or you need to find an external partner to provide this for you. Either way, your IT department will need to provide data feeds to the AI engineering team.
Also, your marketing team will need to decide what information to feed into an AI assistant and what tone of voice and brand guidance you can give the virtual assistant to customise it to represent your brand. This needs to be considered with close attention to make sure that your brand’s values are baked into your AI assistant, including the language and tone of voice it uses and all the information it offers your customers about your products and services.
How long can it take to introduce an AI virtual assistant?
The timescale to move from starting with the idea to having a fully functioning AI virtual assistant is likely to be around two months. However, you also need to factor in ongoing maintenance and the iterations process with your software engineering team, as your virtual assistant will require ongoing support throughout its whole life cycle after it has been launched.
AI is maturing and progressing incredibly fast, continuously creating new developments that can offer more potential benefits for your customers and your brand. You need to keep incorporating these ever-changing benefits to keep up with your competitors and maintain and grow your position in your market.
Ultimately, it certainly won’t be the case that an AI virtual assistant is the right thing for all brands to introduce. But it’s definitely something to consider if your brand is aimed at younger consumers that want to be able to access lots of information quickly, while helping you to keep customer service costs under control.
Author Biography
Gary Knight is CEO of WOLF, which comprises of WOLF Qanawat, an entertainment and community social network, and WOLF Technologies, which builds online community platforms for partners. He is an executive leader within the entertainment and technology sector, with specific experience in games and the gamification of social network communities.
Earlier in his career, Gary helped grow SEGA Europe for five years, before he was promoted to CMO for SEGA West, where he was responsible for all brands experiences across Europe and North America.
Jesse Pitts has been with the Global Banking & Finance Review since 2016, serving in various capacities, including Graphic Designer, Content Publisher, and Editorial Assistant. As the sole graphic designer for the company, Jesse plays a crucial role in shaping the visual identity of Global Banking & Finance Review. Additionally, Jesse manages the publishing of content across multiple platforms, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune.