The transformative potential of generative AI – Salesforce Connections 2023

The US team recently attended Salesforce Connections in Chicago – discover their top takeaways from the conference.

In the spotlight

The transformative potential of generative AI in the retail industry (amongst others), showcasing how generative AI can revolutionise the way retailers engage with customers and better deliver personalised shopping experiences. Salesforce introduced Marketing GPT and Commerce GPT, two products specifically designed to address the needs of retailers. 

• Marketing GPT enables marketers to create audience segments quickly, reduce writing workload through automated email content creation, improve marketing ROI with segment intelligence, and deliver personalised experiences using rapid identity resolution and engagement. Features like these should provide retailers with the tools to enhance customer targeting, improve engagement, and attain even better results. 

• Commerce GPT on the other hand, focuses on empowering customers to automate growth and conversion strategies. With the help of Data Cloud, Einstein AI, and Flow, Commerce GPT allows businesses to set goals and receive actionable insights and recommendations on how to achieve them. This can range from improving margins to increasing average order value to pricing strategies.  Additionally, Commerce GPT offers dynamic product descriptions that can automatically fill in missing catalogue data, revolutionising the customer experience and enabling personalised interactions.

The essentials

Retailers attending the event expressed their interest in leveraging generative AI for various use cases like building out product maps, content creation, SEO optimisation, and image generation, all of which can help retailers scale their operations and create more interesting and engaging experiences. At the end of the day the focus on AI came down to saving time where possible, so that said time could be reinvested into driving greater value to everyone in the supply chain. 

There was a massive emphasis on the importance of privacy, security, and quality of data that also bears mentioning. While conversations around “AI being the new UI” were mentioned in keynotes and repeated throughout the week, there were also just as many conversations around how to leverage emerging tech in responsible ways. The importance of AI not being meant to remove human involvement was also clearly conveyed.

Conclusion

Salesforce emphasised the need for a human in the loop, where AI-generated content is reviewed and approved by marketers. This ensures that the content aligns with brand guidelines and meets the specific needs of customers.Overall, Salesforce Connections 2023 highlighted the potential of generative AI to transform the retail industry. By leveraging the power of AI, retailers can enhance their marketing efforts, optimise customer experiences, and drive growth. However, it’s crucial for retailers to prioritise data quality, up-skill their teams, and choose trusted AI platforms to fully harness the benefits of generative AI in the retail space.