Zone’s Mark Sylvester handpicks and shares the five best news stories on digital trends, experiences and technologies…
1. Why brands can’t give up the ghost
It only takes a handful of negative experiences for consumers to abandon brands without so much as a ‘goodbye’. These days, rather than complain, a customer is likely to ‘ghost’ the brand and move on. And while the most digitally native generations are a bit more tolerant, Gen Zs will still walk away after two to three bad incidents.
The stats come from AI platform Coveo’s 2023 Customer Service Relevance report and are a stark reminder that exceptional, proactive customer experience is crucial across all channels throughout a customer’s engagement.
2. One small step for accessibility
Poundland is the latest brand to employ the Recite Me toolbar technology for opening up websites to users with disabilities. The toolbar is aimed at the retailer’s employees and job applicants with a spectrum of needs, allowing Poundland to adapt the design and function of the site’s features in a way that suits them best.
It’s a reminder that the internet must be open to all, and since disability affects one-in-five people in the UK, doing the right thing comes with a side order of business sense.
3. Help tech reboot the UK
A detailed plan to support the digital sector can reap massive rewards for the UK, according to techUK. The trade association, which represents around 1,000 members, has called on any future UK government to put digital at the heart of a host of projects, including economic growth, public service reforms, and tackling climate change.
TechUK’s newly unveiled Tech Plan says that properly supported tech can add £200bn to the economy annually boosting society and planet Earth.
4. CUR8’s to-do list: Save the world
While we all need to cut carbon emissions to help tackle climate change, stripping the atmosphere of the carbon that’s already there is crucial. CUR8 is a London-based start-up at the cutting edge of technology aiming to remove 10 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050 to meet international targets.
While many organisations are developing carbon removal tools, CUR8’s approach combines technology and natural solutions that make it both more accessible and hugely scalable. We made the mess, now we need to clean it up.
5. AI success is a data game
It’s been another big week for AI, with agency holding company Publicis Group the first in its field to join the Coalition for Content Provenance Authority, formed for the responsible use and management of AI.
Meanwhile, MMA Global released a study looking at marketers’ adoption of the technology. And both are clear that clean and correct data is the key to AI’s safe use. So, in the world of bots, we need to get our data house in order people, or as Vassilis Bakopoulos, head of industry research at MMA Global, says, ‘it’s still kind of broken… what could go wrong?’
