If I were to ask you in which industry segment you see digital humans thriving, many would probably answer 'in customer service.' But the folks at UneeQ would go beyond that assessment. They've developed sophisticated digital humans. And while the customer support space seems like a natural fit - and it is - UneeQ felt their digital humans were more suited to situations in which they can not only assist customers but delight them, such as when they purchase a new product. 

And that's why UneeQ created a particular type of digital human, the Product Genius: a digital human trained to act as a knowledgeable salesperson that can answer pretty much any question you throw at it.

Before we delve into the world of Product Geniuses, let's provide a bit of background on the company.

Who is UneeQ?

UneeQ first made headlines for its involvement with Nadia, a digital human designed to provide disabled people with improved access to information. The model was voiced by Cate Blanchett, and it was a resounding success.

From there, UneeQ realized they had just created something rather unique (easy pun, fully intended) that could help people in various contexts, such as finance, health care, and entertainment. But simplifying complex customer journeys quickly emerged as a key use case. And that's where its Product Genius comes in - and that’s the focus of this post.

After a rigorous R&D process and countless iterations, UneeQ's team has grown to become international, and its digital humans have been deployed by some of the world's biggest brands, such as L'Oreal, Deutsche Telekom, and UBS; helping them create memorable digital human experiences that customers love - and that help grow the brand.

How do Product Geniuses Work?

A Product Genius is a generative AI model that can respond to voice prompts, and that's embodied in 3D space. While being CGI, it looks just like an actual human - complete with facial expressions and body movements. It's multilingual and can be (quite easily - as we'll see) trained on any topic, product, or service and in virtually any language. Case in point, UneeQ supports more than 70 languages and over 140 dialects.

It should be noted, as well, that UneeQ's Product Geniuses aren't modeled after cartoons. They need to reflect the context in which they're deployed. And most people don't want to buy expensive electronics, for example, from a cartoon chipmunk.

Product Geniuses comprise a generative AI model (based on ChatGPT) - its mind. But they also include a tool called Synapse, which "conditions" the text to be pronounced by determining things like the spoken words' rate, debit, prosody, and emotion. Synapse works in conjunction with another tool, Synanim, that determines how the model will move to convey naturalness and emotion.

The result is an utterly convincing - and useful - digital human, or Product Genius, that assists customers with their purchases, just like an actual human salesperson. Think Apple Geniuses - they’re the ones in the store that know everything about the products and it’s their job to listen to your needs and guide you through your shopping experience. Digital human product geniuses are just that, but at scale and on digital platforms (apps, websites, VR, etc.).

The Deutsche Telekom Example

European telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom deployed one of UneeQ's Product Genius on its website to assist customers. The result was a two-fold sales conversion uplift and a four-fold increase in up-sell. It also resulted in higher digital containment rates - meaning that the customer journey was handled from end-to-end by the Product Genius without branching out to a human agent.

With UneeQ's Product Genius, Deutsche Telekom found that engagement with digital humans was much higher than regular chatbots, averaging around eight minutes vs. 1.7 minutes. Users were also more willing to listen and more comfortable asking additional questions. They bought more stuff, too.

In Action at VOICE & AI

Tyler Merritt, VP of Platform Development at UneeQ, joined us at VOICE & AI this year, which took place September 5th through the 7th at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, to present and demo UneeQ's Digital Humans. And we, along with the rest of the attendees, were impressed.

After explaining the fundamental concepts behind UneeQ's Product Geniuses, he dove right into a hands-on demonstration. And his demo highlighted two critical features:

• Product Geniuses are easy to interact with
• Product Geniuses are easy to train

Out of the box, UneeQ's digital humans are rather generic. You need to provide them with data they can use and move from a generic AI model to Product Genius. Tyler wanted o demonstrate the power of Product Geniuses using a real-world use case. He asked the audience whether anyone works in the product space, and chose the example of someone looking to purchase an Epson printer. To train the model, he simply went to the Epson webpage, copied the printer information page (in JSON format), and literally just pasted it into the Product Genius' code. Now, in a matter of minutes, the generic digital human is a Product Genius who knows all about Epson printers.

When Tyler states that he's looking for an Epson printer, the Product Genius follows up by asking him what he's looking to do with his printer. "I want to print photographs," he retorts, and the Product Genius recommends a suitable Epson printer using natural and engaging language, complete with price and product specs.

Product Geniuses are not search engines; they're virtual salespeople. They don't search, they match. Tyler went on to show a real-world example of a digital human specialist, Clara, who works for Dell Technologies to help people choose a laptop that suites their lifestyle. 

The session really is worth watching. You can do that here.

Wrapping Up

You're likely to see a growing number of digital humans for numerous vendors, spanning the web as we move forward. But only UneeQ can provide you with a Product Genius that will delight your customers while guiding them through their purchasing experience. They're easy to train, deploy, and use.

Whether or not your organization is currently using digital humans, it may be time to look into deploying a Product Genius. You can learn more here.

About Modev

Modev believes that markets are made and thus focuses on bringing together the right ingredients to accelerate market growth. Modev has been instrumental in the growth of mobile applications, cloud, and generative AI and is exploring new markets such as climate tech. Founded in 2008 on the simple belief that human connection is vital in the era of digital transformation, Modev makes markets by bringing together high-profile key decision-makers, partners, and influencers. Today, Modev produces market-leading events such as VOICE & AI and the soon-to-be-released Developers.AI series of hands-on training events. Modev staff, better known as "Modevators," include community building and transformation experts worldwide. 

To learn more about Modev, and the breadth of events offered live and virtually, visit Modev's website and join Modev on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.