A major ecommerce client asked us:
What do our users want from a shopping experience powered by conversational AI? How could an AI assistant address their needs while they shop?
We answered:
AnswerLab designed a study to understand what users want and need when shopping online to identify opportunities for AI to add value and to inform their AI development. To ensure a diverse representation of experiences, we recruited 25 participants across the U.S. who shop for women’s clothing, men’s clothing, and gender neutral/non-conforming clothing as well.
In 90 minute one-on-one remote sessions, we tested a series of design mock-ups and concepts showing participants how the AI chatbot would help them throughout the shopping process. The primary goals of the research were to validate the need for an assistant like this, understand if it met the primary goals of users, and identify potential concerns and privacy considerations. We also spent some time exploring what tone and personality traits participants wanted from an AI assistant.
Outcome:
Through our research, we uncovered their candid reactions and first impressions of the AI shopping assistant concepts, as well as detailed findings about shopper habits and routines the team will use to inform their AI plans.
Findings included:
- Top expectations participants had around the types of tasks a shopping assistant could help them with
- Feedback on the overall branding including the name and logo of the assistant
- Scenarios in which participants would prefer to use typing versus voice communication
- Potential features that could be added to meet their needs
Additionally, we were able to uncover critical findings on the implications of this assistant on gender non-conforming users and how specific features would need to be built to match how they shop.
Our recommendations helped the client make key feature decisions and informed the direction of the working prototypes for further research and testing.
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