Archer Chiang, Founder/CEO at Giftpack.
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Despite the surge of AI applications across the technology spectrum, there is limited awareness of its impact on enhancing the corporate gifting experience. As the landscape of corporate gifting evolves, I have seen through my own company how AI is reshaping the way in which businesses express appreciation. This increasing role involves AI's capacity to personalize gifts at an individual level, enhance visual presentations, generate innovative packaging designs and efficiently handle troubleshooting aspects. By underscoring AI's expanding role, I believe businesses can harness its capabilities to not only streamline processes but also elevate the overall corporate gifting journey, helping to create a more tailored, efficient and impactful experience for both givers and recipients.
Applications Of AI Tools In Gifting
• Gift Personalization
By analyzing individual preferences, AI can go beyond surface-level customization. This granular tailoring, whether it's the selection of colors, styles or interests, can help a business create a curated experience that resonates more deeply with recipients.
Picture a super-customized experience where everything is crafted just for you. This idea, known as hyper-personalization, is being applied actively throughout real-world supply chains across the corporate gifting industry. Think of it like having a personal chef who knows everything about you. When whipping up your meals, the chef considers external factors like weather, season or special occasions, and starts preparing and cooking at the perfect time so your meal is ready when you’re ready. Such a blend of extreme personalization and smart AI processes could take the gifting industry to a whole new level, linking personalization with the practical side of the supply chain.
• Enhanced Presentation For Buyers And Recipients
Enhanced gifting presentation involves using AI to elevate the aesthetic allure of a company's gift options, transforming the presentation both physically and in the gift marketplace. Despite its seemingly subtle nature, the importance of presentation is underscored by a survey conducted by Etsy, revealing that 90% of consumers consider the quality of product photos extremely important in their purchase decisions.
Additionally, generative AI can be used to produce detailed item descriptions. Given that keyword searching remains a predominant method in online research, crafting a well-written gift description can help the right audience more easily discover the perfect gift through effective online searches, and help ensure that the appearance of that gift fits their expectations.
• Innovative Packaging Design
AI's ability to explore and analyze vast design possibilities can be used to generate innovative and creative packaging concepts. Predictive algorithms can also help guide businesses in selecting sustainable materials for both gifts and packaging, which can help them align with growing consumer expectations and corporate sustainability initiatives. This dual aspect of AI in packaging can add value both visually and environmentally.
• Streamlining Customer Experience
According to Zowie, 80% of customers who interact with an AI chatbot have a positive experience. I have found that AI can particularly improve experiences in troubleshooting scenarios, especially when it comes to delivery and quality control. By leveraging AI to identify, assess and rectify delivery issues in real time, disruptions and late deliveries can be reduced. And, once gifts are received and rated, AI can be used to look for patterns in recipient feedback to make sure the quality of gifts is where it should be.
Best Practices For Incorporating AI Gifting Tools
Similar to adapting any tools, it's important to approach this process with thorough planning. Based on my own experiences in the industry, here is a checklist to help you find the perfect AI gifting tool, emphasizing the importance of detailed preparation.
• Service Coverage
Thoroughly explore the potential AI system's website, read reviews from other users, and request a demo to assess if their service meets all your requirements for gifting occasions. The challenge here is that it's easy to be led to believe one gifting platform can do it all. But the truth is that each gifting service has its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, while some excel in global delivery, others may be better suited for supporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. Therefore, taking some time initially to evaluate is definitely worthwhile.
• Customer Service
Ensure that there is a responsive, professional team available, preferably 24/7. In corporate gifting, I have found prompt customer service to be vital due to inevitable logistical and quality issues. Timely resolution is especially important for time-sensitive gift deliveries.
• API Integration
Evaluate the user-friendliness of the AI gifting tool by examining its automation capabilities. Ensure that it is capable of seamless integration with your CRM and communication software to avoid spending excessive time learning a new tool. Most corporate gifting services should be compatible with major CRMs and HRIS platforms; if not, you may want to reconsider their suitability.
• Scalable Personalization
Though personalization has been a norm in building strong relationships, it's typically not an easy task, especially if you are thinking about scaling. At the least, you should collect a good amount of data on the recipient to create a meaningful personalized experience. Ensure that the gifting service you choose provides both personalized experiences and scalability. I recommend inquiring about their maximum output per gifting event to prevent potential limitations as your needs evolve. Discovering scalability constraints later on can be regrettable.
In addition to these points, there are a couple of other tools to keep in mind that I believe can further enhance your gifting process:
• Augmented Reality (AR) Integration: I expect the incorporation of AR into the corporate gifting sphere to become prevalent. Think about incorporating AR technology to allow your recipients to virtually interact with potential gifts, so they can really get to know the product and avoid any instances of buyer's remorse.
• Predictive Analytics: Consider harnessing AI's analytical capabilities to analyze market trends, consumer behavior and cultural shifts. Businesses can gain valuable insights into upcoming gifting trends, as the guidance from AI can help you select gifts that align with the current cultural landscape, ensuring your gifts are both exciting and desirable to recipients.
Beyond mere automation, AI's capacity for personalization, enhanced presentation, innovative packaging and streamlined customer experiences can positively impact how your business approaches gifting practices. As AI evolves within the corporate realm, embracing its capabilities has the potential to reshape the landscape of corporate gifting to create a more customized, streamlined and impactful experience for all parties involved.
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