The most recent Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report shows that people have very mixed feelings about, well, almost everything. (Sounds about right, right?)
While Edelman reports that trust in many institutions and industries isn’t totally solid, 67% of people surveyed said they trust the technology industry to do what’s right.
“What’s right” can take on many different meanings, of course. These could focus on safely handling data and privacy, to adhering to environmental standards, to ensuring the AI solutions you implement are responsible and ethically sound.
For retailers specifically, a hot topic of conversation focuses on trust and AI, a technology Edelman reports consumers are wary of. With so much apprehension surrounding the topic of AI in the news and on social media, it’s no surprise that wary feelings are at the forefront of peoples’ minds.
Here, we look into how to build consumer trust in AI . . . and how the right AI can help consumers feel more confident and trusting of your retail brand.
Do People Think Trustworthy AI Is Possible?
Despite the AI-focused apprehension we just laid out, trust in the technology sector is quite high! 76% of people surveyed by Edelman expressed that they trust the tech industry. And yet, when it comes to trusting AI’s innovations, people are skeptical.
Artificial intelligence is at a crossroads. 35% of people surveyed say they reject the technology, while 30% say they embrace it.
So what can tech-savvy retailers and enthusiasts do to make people trust in AI?
Edelman tells us that, when AI is perceived to be well-managed, people are more likely to be enthusiastic about it. Those surveyed also said that they feel they need to perform their own research to get responsible and accurate information on new technologies and innovations. To address these feelings, brands should strive to be up-front and transparent about the AI solutions they implement.
Key Takeaway: When implementing an AI system, be proactive and tout its ethics, trustworthiness, and reliability.
If retailers use Lily AI as a solution in their tech stacks, they can feel comfortable and confident in relaying this message to their customers. Lily AI doesn’t handle any sensitive consumer data or personally identifiable information (PII), but rather, it handles the retailer’s product data. Therefore, customers and prospects have no need to feel any privacy concerns.
Additionally, for the retailer’s confidence, Lily AI is trained by a team of experts across fashion, home, and beauty industries to ensure its outputs are accurate and of high quality.
The Right AI Makes Your Life Easier
Because of the common feelings of unease surrounding AI, people expressed to Edelman that they want more control over how it impacts their lives, stating that they need confidence on how it will influence their futures.
The right AI will make your life easier, plain and simple. With Lily AI, our solution augments the work of retailers, making their forecasts and product descriptions more timely and accurate. It saves teams time and hassle, and ultimately, improves retail processes by connecting more consumers to products and driving sales.
This means that—for retail teams and consumers alike—Lily AI makes things easier for everyone. It connects people to what they want to buy, ultimately driving retail revenue.
People Just Want to Be Seen and Heard
In order for retailers to earn trust, 82% of Edelman’s survey respondents report that they need businesses to hear their concerns and listen to their questions. (These demands are just second to product affordability, which is consumers’ top priority.) Few verticals is this more imperative for than the fashion industry. Fashion is the third least-trusted industry in the Edelman report.
Consumers are practically shouting from the rooftops that they want to be seen. They want to be heard. And they need retailers to meet them where they are.
Lily AI aims to do just that. The technology solves retailers’ needs to boost profitability, save costs, and enhance teams’ work, while also bringing humanity to shopping and connecting with consumers. It injects customer-centric language throughout retailers’ entire ecosystems, maximizing Google Search, product recommendations, on-site search, and more.
Most importantly, at its core, Lily AI brings empathy to shopping by listening to and responding to consumers. Our technology understands people and uses their language. However consumers are describing what they want to buy, it’ll be accounted for via language in Lily AI’s robust taxonomy.
In turn, your brand benefits from their sale and enhanced loyalty, thanks to this enhanced trust.
Who Is Responsible for Trustworthy AI?
The Edelman report tells us that 62% of people want CEOs to address the issues of AI’s innovations in society. This is the exact stance leadership at Lily AI takes.
Lily AI was founded by two women who started the company to solve a personal problem. Shopping experiences felt bad. Their retail experiences were uninspiring and left our founders feeling unseen and unheard. When starting Lily, their first priority was to solve these problems. In time, they discovered that artificial intelligence was the best, most innovative technology to make shopping a more human-centered experience.
All this means that Lily AI was founded with empathy at its core, and that is exactly what consumers are clamoring for.
By being transparent with our story, clean with our data, and trustworthy with our clients who are the world’s largest retailers, Lily leadership is striving to build an AI-focused trust with both retailers and consumers.
