We’re in the midst of probably our first AI-powered festive season: Meghna Apparao

In conversation with Adgully, Meghna Apparao, Director of e-commerce (India) at Meta, delves into the intricacies of enhancing customer experiences through personalisation in the digital landscape. She sheds light on Meta’s commitment to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for tailored content, collaborations with brands, and the ethical use of data. The discussion also touched on key findings from Meta’s festive trends study, offering valuable insights for brands navigating the dynamic Indian market.

Personalisation is crucial for enhancing customer engagement and loyalty. What are some of the key technologies or approaches that Meta employs to achieve this in the ever-evolving digital landscape?

Every day people discover new content and brands on our platforms, and AI is at the heart of driving these personalised experiences. AI enhances personalisation by curating content more effectively and tailoring it to user preferences. This enables people to discover brands and content that they find most relevant.

"A Meta-commissioned online survey by GFK indicated that 82% of the surveyed online shoppers in India have discovered products and brands on Meta technologies."

This quarter is turning out to be a big one for digital marketers, and we’re in the midst of probably our first AI-powered festive season. AI is taking center stage across the advertising industry with more tools available to marketers than ever before – from AI-powered automation tools to early-stage generative AI tools. 

In fact, our festive trends study by YouGov revealed that 69% of Diwali shoppers find personalised content on Facebook and Instagram helpful, underscoring the impact of AI-driven personalisation.

Could you share some insights into how Meta India collaborates with brands and businesses to help them effectively leverage the data and tools available for their e-commerce and retail strategies?

We’ve seen strong momentum this year, especially during the ongoing festive season, from our e-commerce and retail advertisers. A significant share of this momentum is coming on the back of Reels, business messaging, and our suite of AI solutions. 

Reels, for instance, is redefining storytelling in India and transforming the dynamics of consumer engagement for brands. A study that Meta got done by research firm Factworks demonstrated that Reels can spark action amongst users, with 82% of the surveyed people saying that they follow a business, and 77% saying that they purchase a product after watching Reels. Nearly three out of four people also message a business after watching Reels.

The shift to messaging is driving the next chapter of digital transformation for India’s businesses, and Meta is playing a role in this shift. WhatsApp is deeply entrenched in the daily lives of Indians, making it a natural choice for how people and businesses get things done.

"More than 60% of people on WhatsApp in India message a business app account, and revenue from Click-to-Message ads in India has doubled year-over-year. These are powerful opportunities for e-commerce and retail businesses to connect with their customers."

Furthermore, AI is playing a transformative role in helping advertisers achieve their goals more effectively and efficiently. Alongside our recent introduction of Generative AI ad features, we have developed AI-powered tools like the Meta Advantage Suite, which is our portfolio of automated ad products. These solutions assist businesses in automating various stages of the ad creation process, further accelerating their campaign performance. Globally, more than half of our advertisers are already using one of our AI powered solutions demonstrating the significance of these tools for business performance.

With the growing concern for data privacy, how does Meta ensure that customer data is used ethically and in compliance with regulations while still delivering personalised experiences?

Privacy is paramount to us, and our terms of service are crystal clear about how we handle user data while delivering personalised experiences.

"We adhere to our stringent privacy policy that explains how we collect and use data to determine some of the ads that users come across on our platforms."

People can also go to the settings page of the relevant Meta product at any time to review their privacy choices and control the way their data is used.

"Giving people control over what they share is very important to us, and on our platforms, people have a say in the ads that they see. They can review and change the things that influence what ads they see in their ad preferences."

For instance, when they see an ad, they can hide the ad, hide all ads from the advertiser or let us know about a problem with the ad. Or they can choose “Why am I seeing this?” to get more context on why they might be seeing it. We’ve also built tools to give people more transparency and control over things like Off-Facebook Activity, which empowers users to see, control, and disconnect the data that other apps and websites share with Facebook. 

We’re constantly improving these tools all the time and we design every new product and feature with privacy in mind. 

Could you share key findings for brands from Meta’s festive trends study?

The festive period is the most important for brands across India and plays a key role in the expanding digital economy of the country. What we’ve learnt is that this period goes beyond Diwali, starting as early as August, and continuing broadly until the New Year’s. 

The study showed the increasing influence of influencers, messaging, and AR in driving purchases during the festive season. Nearly two-thirds of the surveyed shoppers said that they are highly influenced in their purchasing process by influencers and content creators. 66% of Diwali shoppers also said that they are more likely to consider purchasing from a business if they can contact them via instant messaging.

"And with AR and VR disrupting the shopping experience, three out of five shoppers said that AR experiences help get them into the Diwali spirit and ultimately influence their purchase decisions."

We believe that these insights are not just key for the festive season, but will define how brands engage with their customers in the years to come.