AI will not replace marketers: Sanjoy Roy, Gupshup

“AI is a tool that you cannot afford to ignore anymore,” said Sanjoy Roy, VP - Retail CX, Gupshup. He was delivering a keynote address at the recently held CMOs’ Charcha – Bengaluru Chapter 2023, organised by Adgully. “You cannot afford to sit back, wait, and observe while I assess my peers’ actions and determine if it provides a return on investment (ROI),” he added.

“This is because the current pace of development is unprecedented in human history,” he further said. To illustrate, he examined OpenAI’s journey to reaching 1 million users, which occurred within just five days back in November. By the time we reached February, that one million had already skyrocketed to 100 million, and it continues to grow without any signs of slowing down, he noted, adding that nobody can afford to underestimate or delay taking action in response to this tremendous opportunity.

He observed that the emergence of ChatGPT in December didn’t occur suddenly; it was the culmination of decades of development. Over the span of 60 to 70 years, Sanjoy Roy added, various forces were at play, albeit largely beneath the surface.

According to Roy, these included the construction of high-powered algorithms, the creation of publicly accessible large datasets at a population scale, and the exponential growth of computing capabilities. He added that while all these elements had been simmering in the background, what ultimately triggered this transformation was the role of consumers. The democratization of the internet and the fact that we all now carry smartphones and gadgets, keeping us perpetually connected, shifted the power dynamic. Consumers have become a potent force, demanding businesses to treat them like royalty. Businesses can no longer afford to deny this request, as failing to do so would risk alienating and losing their customer base, he said.

Trends

Touching upon the trends and what is leading this sort of a paradigm shift in consumer preferences, he said: “One is Internet-plus device. If we are connected we are demanding. Even my 82-year-old dad has started ordering medicines online and just last week he switched between the apps. The reason being that one of them is giving same-day delivery and the other is not, and he is 82 years old. That is the demand that the customers have.”

Roy mentioned the meeting he and his colleague Amit had with the head of retail from a brand that, while not necessarily massive, is a strong contender in the men’s underwear category. He said that the key takeaway from their conversation was that this brand is positioning itself as a challenger, directly competing with established and top-tier brands in the market. Even though they have only been in business for the past five years, their differentiation lies in their innovative use of technology and cutting-edge fabric materials. Initially an online venture, they've had to pivot towards establishing a physical presence in stores, he added. According to him, this shift underscores the growing importance of the customer experience.

“So, it is no longer about the product, how great you are or the product is. It is all about the experience which the customer wants and lastly it is about the emerging technology, AI is leading from the front,” he said.

Touching upon the messaging part, he said: “Go back to decades back we saw this sort of a phenomenon on the web experiences side. Think of the 1990s. Exactly the same thing is now happening.”

“You can reach my 82-year-old dad in a far easier way just by sending a WhatsApp message. Imagine asking him to get to download your app or go to your website to figure out something like a same-day delivery. This phenomenon of conversational experiences that you see is largely driven by emerging markets. We are all in India. So, in emerging markets we just leap frogged. In the traditional Western world it has been stored then in phone or email, then website, then mobile app. In India we straight away move to mobile with internet connectivity and then you have messaging apps available. So, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are now easily accessible to all of us, as long as we understand how to use this technology, which is again something new.”

Roy provided some statistics to highlight the opportunity that lies ahead. He added that marketers often focus on metrics like open rates and click-through rates, and the numbers here are quite striking. He used the case of email, the traditional communication method. It typically boasts a 22% open rate. However, he added, when you choose the right messaging channel, such as through a mobile app or other platforms, you can achieve an impressive 98% open rate. He mentioned that it is important to note that these figures may vary depending on the geographical location and the country in which you are operating.

“In India, it is clearly WhatsApp; a fabulous job done by Meta. Another Meta survey says that approximately 80% of customers say they would prefer businesses interacting with them over messaging. Lastly, Juniper research says conversational commerce is worth $290 billion,” he added.

As regards the channels, he said that in India, clearly WhatsApp is the number one and same for some of the other countries like Brazil.

“I would wrongly recommend all of you to also look for working with someone who can handhold you through this process because whatever you are used to working with the same philosophies will not apply here. So I keep telling customers that it is a great tool technology to have but then don’t misuse it. Use it responsibly. You do not want to have another spam inbox look like WhatsApp. Because that is what probably has happened to Gmail today. From that standpoint there are certain best practices; there is some unlearning and relearning for some of you to do. I compare it to the analogy of having a sniper versus a machine gun. I mean one is to spray bullets. I have a new tool messaging campaigns with AI, let me spray it and see where it hits; the other is to have a very targeted approach towards your marketing campaigns, which is the Sniper version and messaging channel is all for that,” he explained.

As a partner, he said, Gupshup offers a comprehensive range of services across the marketing, commerce, and support funnel. It assists customers in navigating the complexities of these areas. He listed some key use cases:

Marketing:

• Lead generation:Can aid in generating leads, as mentioned earlier.
• Promotional campaigns:To provide support for running effective promotional campaigns.
• Loyalty programs:To assist in fostering customer loyalty through strategic initiatives.

Commerce:

• Onboarding and registration:Streamline the onboarding and registration processes.
• Catalog browsing:Help optimize catalog browsing for your customers.
• Digital storefront:Facilitate the creation of a new digital storefront using messaging channels.

Support:

• Collaboration with Field Agents:Enhance collaboration between your field agents.
• Call Center support:The solutions improve support for agents in call centers.
• Chat-based support:Enable efficient chat-based support to better serve your customers.

According to him, the new tool Gen AI is a buzzword, not many people understand it. “While we, as technology leaders, strive to stay abreast of advancements, I want to offer a word of caution from your perspective. AI is not a plug-and-play technology. You can’t simply take existing options or models and expect them to seamlessly fit your business. It requires a significant level of contextualization. At Gupshup, we understand this challenge. Working closely with top industry groups, we've taken base models and customized them to ensure they align with the specific needs and contexts of businesses. We have applied the domain data, our own proprietary data and launched ACE LLM, which is a very vertical focus, for retail, for banking and that helps in generating faster ROI,” he said.

Roy concluded his keynote address by mentioning a few success stories.

Maggi is an example of lead generation through conversational ads; this was during Ramadan time and they saw maybe 3x-4x jump in their organic data. In terms of a first-party database which again means they can do a far better job out of retargeting.

Next is Chayoos, which is all about product discovery and customer life cycle using AI. In Chaayoos case, it was about gauging the mood of the user and then let AI suggest which tea among the catalog would be best suited for them.

EMAAR in Dubai, which is all about tourist booking. Booking tickets for Burj Khalifa or some of the entertainment rights that you have. It is available on messaging powered by AI, very personalised. You know this is a tourist coming from this country, and accordingly you can send the campaign, send those offers and have him book right then and there at the airport itself.

Grocery brand Spencer Retail has made it easy using messaging channel WhatsApp, where if you click on the next one, you can see the screen rolling. The entire catalogue is now available on the mobile app of the user on the messaging channel itself.

He then cited the example of Wolford, a premium women’s bodywear brand in Europe. According to him, what makes them stand out is their approach, which not only focuses on the choice of messaging channel, but also on fostering collaboration between humans and AI. Think of your agents receiving suggestive responses automatically as customers ask questions. This service is available around the clock in multiple languages, right at the fingertips of your marketers.

He further said that the outcomes you see here are not hypothetical; they are real-life examples. According to him, “It is crucial not to remain passive and wait for your peers to surge ahead, as catching up might prove to be exceedingly challenging.” Talking about some remarkable results, especially on the conversion side, he gave the example of Tata Cliq, which achieved 2x to 3x higher outcomes through a campaign that generated over half a million additional revenue in just one month. These, he added, are tangible, real numbers, and they demonstrate the power of AI in action.