Think AI Is Outperforming Agents? Wayfair’s CEO Disagrees

From fashion to medical fieldwork, every organization in every industry is considering what the ROI is–or can be–on incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into workflows. For some, automation is a money-sucking gamble capable of overrunning not just departments, but entire organizations. Yet for others, AI is the secret sauce that keeps workflows and operations running at not just top speed, but top accuracy. 

Here at CCW Digital, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the red flags, green flags, and beige flags that AI (predictive and otherwise) raise as its use cases expand. Not only this, but we are also doing our open research, studies, online events, news reporting and analyses on the trends and challenges that automation currently presents. On our radar lately has been ecommerce usage, where some companies report they’re crushing call volumes, product sales and inquiry numbers with the agent assist of AI. 

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Automation’s Role In CX Can Be As Big–Or Small–As You Want It To Be

The development of e-commerce tech allows customers to virtually try on everything—clothes, makeup, jewelry, hair colors, and even furniture. Virtual vision boarding your home or office space is a handy way to make sure your purchase matches your interior decor dream, and it’s also one of the best ways to build a dynamic consumer experience. For furniture e-retailer Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah sees that connection touchpoint as exactly what allows the company to not just follow the CX curve, but build a future where AI pushes products forward.

“What we want is for the customer to come back more often and spend more time with us, so we don't focus on any one purchase,” 

he said at the 2023 Collision Conference. 

“We want them to come back a second or a third time, whether it's a small thing or a big thing.”

While the ability to envision a sofa in your living room via the Wayfair mobile app is a “big thing,” even AI’s implementation in the small operational aspects of e-commerce can yield impressive outcomes. Aggregation of customer data via AI can inform agents of all the product specificities consumers consider important, from make and model of furniture piece to what life event customers are preparing for with their purchase. And for a brand that has seemingly limitless options, that’s essential. 

Product Sales Is a Numbers Game, And So Is An Organization’s Customer Satisfaction Rate

According to Wayfair’s website, the brand services over 22 million customers who will be sifting through millions of items on the website catalog. To cut through the time it takes to review every product, machine learning algorithms help the organization and its customers understand the descriptive information of products. Since 2017, AI has been crucial in solidifying Wayfair as a go-to lifestyle e-commerce site.

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"The more we're the solution, the more [customers are] going to do more and more with us, moving through different phases of life,” Shah explains, “getting married, having kids, buying a new house, life events that trigger major purchases.” When agents can gather information from every part of the customer journey, they can then use automation and artificial intelligence to advance their email customer service capabilities.

As an organization, Wayfair sees the majority of its customer contact come through from chatbots and emails. AI helps agents cut through volumes and inquiries by offering them AI email models and templates. “Basically take in the question from the customer, craft a response that it thinks is ideal, then show the agent a draft of the response—that agent can then change or edit it,” says Shah. 

AI’s Quick Turnaround Can Run Some Numbers Up, And Others Down 

Although the use of AI has been a game changer across customer-centric companies of all industries, it also has its drawbacks when it comes to data security, privacy and legal concerns.

According to VentureBeat, from the start of its AI implementation Wayfair has had a team in place with the sole focus on addressing potential risks and exploring automation’s potential. 

Wilko Schulz-Mahlendorf, head of Wayfair’s pricing and marketing science, explained that the organization is keeping close tabs on what AI can do–and can’t do–when it comes to its use as a tool to support agents:

“At Wayfair, we have exacting standards on quality and we don’t want to put any content in front of our customers or suppliers that could involve hallucinations. We have really placed a premium on humans in the loop.”

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While many companies and internal teams are still grappling with the emotional and financial impacts of pandemic demand for digital, supply chain disruption, and inflation, ensuring that automation is something that doesn’t spread any person or product out too thin is essential to surviving in the current ecommerce landscape. 

Despite Wayfair’s efforts to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to agents and AI, the company still has its share of struggles: reports this year show that Wayfair revenue has dropped more than 13% YOY and stocks are already down by 75%, even with a hiring freeze in May of 2022. 

Financial Factors Can–And Will–Limit AI’s Impact On Organizational Success

With less demand, fewer employees and minimal regulation on AI, Wayfair may still have a fighting chance in bolstering its value and addressing customers with acute attention to detail.

Brick and mortar stores are already popping up, and as the company further develops its training for teams the opportunity to combine the online AI experiences with face-to-face customer communications might just be what Wayfair needs to bounce back. 

Photo by Virender Singh on Unsplash.