As retailers invest in interactive experiences across multiple touchpoints to enhance service and build loyalty, how can a conversation with a bot deepen customer relationships and unlock new opportunities along the way?
Talking to robots has become an increasingly common part of daily life. Whether interacting with customer support centers, organizing tasks with virtual assistants, or feeding prompts to ChatGPT, these exchanges have seamlessly integrated into everyday routines. As the use of AI-powered chatbots grows alongside technological advancements, the line between human and bot interaction continues to blur.
Often seen as simple problem-solving tools, these dialogues can also become gamechangers for the customer experience. Conversations can go beyond addressing issues to create meaningful interactions, and even unlock new revenue opportunities, whether customers are engaging with a virtual assistant, sommelier, recruiter, or beyond. But how is the industry tapping into this potential, and what truly defines a meaningful interaction?
Cult of personality
McKinsey & Company’s study How to Scale Gen AI in Retail identifies chatbots as a key tool for enhancing customer engagement, thanks to their versatility across the entire customer journey. But for chatbots to deliver real impact, companies must first define their purpose and ensure the experience aligns with their brand identity. That was the purpose of U.S. c-store chain Casey’s with the launch of Darn-ell, a generative AI-powered chatbot created to promote its new ‘Darn Good Coffee’ blends.
Centered around humor and brand personality, the initiative invited users to ask Darn-ell to ‘roast’ an acquaintance, with each roast cleverly linked to one of the coffee blends. Its character was designed to resonate with Casey’s audience, particularly reflecting their ‘great sense of humor and Midwestern charm.’ To achieve this, extensive research was conducted to develop a playful and humorous personality, that not only entertains but also serves as a marketing and research tool.
“We created the tone of Darn-ell based on our ‘It’s not Crazy, it’s Casey’s’ brand platform, which was developed after several rounds of market research and insights based on guest data. This helped us understand the guests who know and love Casey’s, as well as our new guests, and how our brand resonates with both audiences,” explained Katie Petru, Director of PR, Communications + Community at Casey’s.
Darn-ell was active for a limited time last March, creating an engagement platform for the retailer to continue developing its new coffee line. However, the core challenge lay in creating a compelling reason for customers to interact with the bot, as the initiative relied more on an engaged and loyal audience than on addressing an immediate customer need.
At your service
When the need is clear, it opens the door for companies to develop their own strategies for converting interactions into meaningful outcomes, be it loyalty, engagement, or transactions. In this context, mobility supplier E.ON introduced ‘Electra,’ an interactive translator designed to support electric vehicle (EV) drivers navigating foreign countries and address language barriers.
Beyond simply translating charger instructions, the service is designed to address a wide range of scenarios, all with a focus on delivering a consistent customer experience. From locating the nearest charging station to providing context-aware responses, and even facilitating handovers to live agents for more complex support. Problem-solving becomes experience-enhancer.
“As a global e-mobility business our EV charging stations span multiple countries, therefore you would normally encounter customer service interactions being in the local language. Electra is a multi-lingual digital assistant which removes this as a barrier to enable one consistent experience for quick customer resolutions,” stated an E.ON spokesperson.
Powered by a large language model, Electra is designed to assist EV drivers facing uncertainty on the road, offering not just assistance but reassurance. For E.ON, this type of interaction goes beyond traditional customer service, it’s a step toward a more seamless and accessible e-mobility experience. The challenge now lies in how each company defines and nurtures the meaningful connection it aims to build with its customers.
Defining what matters
These interactions are shaped not only by how companies engage with customers, but also by what they can learn from those exchanges. Information is the driving force behind both the purpose and execution of chatbot implementations, and access to that data ultimately defines their true value. While Casey’s is considering ‘exploring new blends and caffeine levels’ for its beverage line based on guest feedback, E.ON is analyzing insights to improve accessibility in the transition to e-mobility
Data collection can help guide the future of these tools or even inspire entirely new ones, but it also poises challenges for both customers and companies amidst evolving regulations. Privacy and data protection are central concerns, growing increasingly complex as consumers become more aware of their rights. A proactive, transparent approach is essential to ensure compliance and safeguard what matters most: customer trust.
Chatbots will evolve from simply simulating conversations to serving as bridges to deeper, more personalized customer experiences. In the future, success won’t depend on how human they seem, but on how effectively they deliver value in ways that feel intuitive, thoughtful, and aligned with brand purpose. The true goal is to foster genuine connections.
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