Asia Pacific consumers believe brands should be doing more with generative AI to deliver value
As more Asia Pacific (APAC) brands embed generative AI into customer experience delivery and content production workflows, many leaders are rightly focused on how to measure its impact.
Marketers want to know if their generative AI initiatives are living up to the hype in consumers’ eyes. In the boardroom, leaders are asking if the experience uplift is driving commercial metrics such as customer conversions, retention and advocacy.
However, Adobe’s new State of AI-driven Customer Value report shows marketers and consumers across APAC aren’t always aligned on the impact of generative AI. While many consumers are already seeing improvements to their shopping experiences, they also see lots of untapped potential for generative AI and want brands to move quickly – but also responsibly – with adoption.
The research highlights key pathways to increasing mutual value and how this differs across Australia, India and Japan.
Consumers give brands permission to move faster, with conditions.
First let’s look at the baseline for organisational adoption and how far down the path consumers expect brands to be.
Across the Asia Pacific, Indian brands are the fastest adopters of generative AI, with two in three marketers regularly using it. This compares to 44% of Australian brands and 29% for Japan. While most marketers believe their careers and organisations will be disadvantaged if they don’t use generative AI, not all are moving as fast as consumers expect.
In Japan, 58% of consumers expect brands to have embedded generative AI into customer experiences by the end of 2024, compared to just 49% of marketers. In Australia, expectations are much higher, but the gap between marketers and consumers isn’t as wide (80% of consumers verse 72% of marketers). India has the highest expectations, with marketers’ outpacing consumers (81% of consumers verse 92% of marketers).
When marketers and consumers expect brands to have incorporated generative AI into their customer experience
Amid the immense public profile of generative AI, it’s no surprise that consumers expect it to aid customer experience delivery in the short term. However, they aren’t demanding speed at all costs. Instead, the most important aspect of brands’ AI adoption is establishing trust, especially through transparency of AI usage and sources, and data security.
Where consumers see untapped value for generative AI
While brands are moving to adopt generative AI to make the shopping experience easier and more personalised, consumers believe there is still plenty of opportunity to harness AI’s potential.
Take the online shopping experience, for example. A high number of consumers in India (90%), Australia (55%) and Japan (51%) have already seen the online shopping experience improved by generative AI. However, an even higher proportion are open to sharing their data if it means making experiences even more relevant to their needs.
How consumers’ feel about the use of Generative AI to improve online shopping
So, where are the opportunities for improvement? At a sector level, excitement is building around specific enhancements for online shopping and travel. For ecommerce, consumers are most excited by generative AI’s ability to help design custom products, automatically filter products based on personal needs and facilitate chatbot-based service.
Another feature on consumers’ wish lists is being able to produce images of them wearing a product. Most customers in Australia (69%), India (91%), and Japan (73%) said this would likely boost their confidence when making a purchase.
Consumers are also enthusiastic about the impact of generative AI on travel planning. Generating price comparisons for travel options is the most appealing use case among Indian (96%), Australian (93%), and Japanese (93%) consumers. Other top preferences for travel applications include finding nearby amenities, discovering hotel and restaurant working hours, and mapping out travel options based on personal preferences.
Strategies for marketers in the era of generative AI
Generative AI can be a valuable tool for marketers, helping to transform the customer experience to be more relevant, engaging, and performant. However, adopting a consumer-first mindset will ensure a richer value exchange. Building trust through transparency is equally important; educating consumers on how AI is used will foster confidence in the brand.
Maintaining authenticity is vital; training custom AI models on existing brand materials ensures that AI-generated content reflects the brands’ unique identity.
Lastly, aligning initiatives with business goals through a unified data strategy and clear KPIs empowers cross-functional teams to scale AI solutions effectively.
By adopting these strategies, marketers in APAC can seek to close the gap in their customers’ expectations.
To learn more, download the short report for Australia or India.
Research Methodology
The State of AI-driven Customer Value Australia research was derived from an online survey of 400 marketers and 1,000 consumers conducted between February and May 2024.
Duncan Egan leads Marketing for Adobe’s Digital Experience (DX) Enterprise and Commercial business in Asia Pacific and Japan. He is responsible for overseeing all regional marketing activities spanning strategic planning, demand generation, digital marketing, communications, PR and thought leadership.
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