Tech Talk: Connecting with your consumers using tech ideas

I have always loved star gazing. As a child I would lay on my apartment roof terrace gazing up at the night sky, trying to make some sense of the stars and figure out the constellations. Later as a student, I imagined myself as an astronomer, studying the skies and knowing lots more about the stars and being able to identify them through a telescope.

I loved visiting the planetarium in Mumbai where there would be interactive tools to learn about the night sky. I even started looking at the charts drawn out in books to see if I could use them and chart it. That made me think it was not going to happen. It seemed that I would need to study and do lots more to fulfil my wish of being well versed regards the night sky. So I did not pursue it. 

But recently, well into adulthood, I discovered an app called ‘Starwalk’. All one needs to do is aim this app to the night sky and lo and behold! The night sky can easily be deciphered.

 In the past year, I have been living out my childhood dream. I am starting to make some sense of the amazing night sky. Discovering and learning about constellations, learning about stars, planets, the moon and the sun.

It is often said that the ‘device’ takes you away from nature. But in my case the device and the technology has bought me much closer to fulfilling my dreams – that of learning and getting to know more of the night sky. I am now a regular user of the ‘Starwalk’ app. And happy to evangelise it. The experience of using this app fulfils a need I have had from childhood – a need to learn, and experience the sky. And the brand ‘Starwalk’ is my new muse.

Integration of technology in everyday life

Brands are increasingly turning to technology to meet real consumer needs. Through an engaging experience, consumers are able to fulfil inherent needs and are thereby creating new bonds of loyalty with brands.

My father-in-law finds ‘Alexa’ very convenient. Just recently it was installed so he could use this ‘Amazon’ innovation to play music or movies on the TV set or via the speaker system. And recently he was heard having this full blown conversation with Alexa – he said, “Alexa, please play a Mohammed Rafi song” there was a pause and Alexa replied, “Please repeat.” He said, “Please play Mohammed Rafi song.” And Alexa said, “Sorry I am not able to find this.” To which he said, “Come on Alexa, you can’t find any of my songs”. To which Alexa said “Sorry”.

Obviously, Alexa was not getting his accent too well. But that my father-in-law is now engaging with Alexa in such a direct and interactive way, is a testament to the role ‘she’ plays in his life. It gives him the invaluable convenience of not having to search for a song and play it separately. Just on voice commands, Alexa can activate much needed entertainment. A great way for a brand to become part of the daily conversations at home. 

Brands are increasingly turning to technology to meet real consumer needs. Through an engaging experience, consumers are able to fulfil inherent needs and are thereby creating new bonds of loyalty with brands.

My father-in-law now engaging with Alexa in such a direct and interactive way is a testament to the role ‘she’ plays in his life. It gives him the invaluable convenience of not having to search for a song and play it separately. Just on voice commands, Alexa can activate much needed entertainment. A great way for a brand to become part of the daily conversations at home.

The new versions of luxury car brands come equipped with fancy additions. They have AI enabled features and an Alexa-like voice that talks to you. If you sync your mobile phone to the car, every time you receive a message while driving, the car asks you, “You have received a message from...would you like me to read it?” If you say yes the voice will read out the full message.

 It will then say, “Would you like to reply?” If you say yes, it will ask you, “What would you like to say?” If you then read out a reply, it will read out your reply for confirmation and then ask, “Ready to send?” If you say yes, the voice in the car will say, “Message has been sent.”

Your car now has a voice and interacts with you, helping you with things that make your life easier and safer. Your car brand experience has now extended from the driving experience to the interactive experience with the brand’s voice that is available for you at all times and can assist you in many ways when driving the car.

Smarter devices 

One of the things I have always wanted when I get home is a piping hot cup of tea. As of now, one gets home and either gets the help at home to sort one for you, or one gets home, boils water, dunks the tea bag or brews a tea for oneself.

Enter ‘Smarter’ devices. This exciting new brand has changed all that. It’s literally an iKettle and connects to your mobile phone via an app.

All one needs to do is set it up via your WiFi and you can connect with it anytime on your app and get the water ready and piping hot as you get near your home. You can now literally have piping hot cup of tea as soon as you enter home.

The Smarter brand also has a new tech innovation - a Fridgecam which allows you to see what’s not there in your fridge. You can now replenish your fridge in real time by connecting to Fridgecam, it figures out what’s missing and orders it from the Fridgecam app which connects to online groceries that home deliver. These are all great technology ideas that fulfil needs of consumers and create bonds with them.

Brands across the world are capitalising on AI technology to engage and create greater loyalty with their customers. Examples in the FMCG sector range from Kraft that has an app which is AI enabled and answers your “What’s for dinner?” question by giving you recipes and tips for these and learns from your choices to tailor specific things to do – like how to use your leftovers even.

Brands use the weather report to offer you ‘hot soup’ as a on a rainy day tempting offering – great example of catching the prospective customer when they need you the most. All thanks to data analytics and digitisation.

So the things to really think about from the above examples are:

1. How can we use technology to enhance our brands interaction with the consumer? Can we use simple yet smart AI to add new enriching experiences in our consumer’s journey? Can we add value by addressing some of their needs in small but interesting ways? 2. Can we hook up with existing tech brands to become part of something aspirational and future oriented? Can Alexa order your brand from the supermarket if asked? 3. Does your customer service include voice or other AI enable extensions that enrich his experience of your brand? And provide additional value to him. It’s time for ‘Tech Talk’ in your organisation.

antosh Menon is a marketing communications expert with 20 years of experience in multi-national locations. He can be reached at [email protected].