What can GEN AI do for the customer experience?

MSIM Sunday Reading is a weekly publication highlighting a current and relevant topic chosen by a professor of the Master of Science in International Management for their courses. The Franklin community gets an inside look at the coursework and specializations offered at MSIM and expert commentary on international issues affecting our world today. This week's MSIM Sunday Reading is in conversation with Giulia Miniero, Chair of the Academic Division of Business & Economics and Associate Professor of Marketing at Franklin. Her article addresses how generative artificial intelligence (GEN AI) can be successfully integrated to improve customer experience, a topic addressed in her Strategic Marketing course. 

About Professor Giulia Miniero

Giulia Miniero is Associate Professor of Marketing and Chair of the Business and Economics division at Franklin University Switzerland in Lugano. Before joining Franklin University Switzerland, Giulia obtained her PhD in Business Administration and Management from Bocconi University where she still teaches in graduate and executive programs. After her PhD, she obtained a post doc scholarship at Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. Her research interests are in consumer behavior with specific reference to experiential marketing and consumer brand relationship evolution. Her works have been published in major international academic outlets such as the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, International Journal of Consumer Studies and Journal of Consumer Marketing. 

What can GEN AI do for the customer experience? 

Companies today are wondering how to best integrate the power of generative AI into their daily activities to leverage the knowledge brought by increased data, customer insights, and easier interactions with customers. The purpose of integrating Gen AI in marketing and sales is to support companies’ efforts in delivering an improved customer experience, as suggested by the report that McKinsey released in May 2023. 

One of the exciting messages of the report is the possibility of offering customers a personalized experience based on dynamic audience targeting, segmentation, and journey mapping. Delivering a great customer experience is a priority for companies who want to differentiate themselves from competitors and keep offering value to their customers (Grewal et al., 2017). A compelling experience centered on customers’ preferences boosts sales, return on the investment for the company, and the lifetime value of the client base (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016).  

Creating and implementing an effective customer experience is more challenging than one might think, suggest Hinds and Gupta in their article on Harvard Business Review (2023). Indeed, companies are now facing the challenge of integrating data and insights from different touchpoints, both online and offline, collecting and analyzing them (data) in a way tailored to the different brand personas to make managerial decisions that impact different target groups. This customer-centered approach, which puts the customer at the heart of each activity and decision, is what companies across industries are trying to embrace and is what pushes 60% of managers to use AI-related applications in their activities (Statista, 2022). 

Customer-centric strategy, customer experience, and the importance of data enhanced by technology will be the concepts addressed during the Strategic Marketing course at MSIM. Students will develop an understanding of these concepts through a deep dive into academic and managerial literature. They will apply their knowledge by working with managers of two companies: a tech-based firm mainly operating in the business-to-business sector and a world-famous luxury brand. Students will have the chance to deep dive into two distinct cases to acquire the most up-to-date and much-needed experience in the fascinating world of customer experience.