How Retailers Can Sell More by Reading Emotions With AI

One of the best ways to sell products is to engage the customer on an emotional level, and now there is a new tool to help.

Emotion AI technology, with its potential to apply computer vision, facial recognition and emotion analytics, has the potential to help retailers and brands understand how shoppers really feel about what they are buying—or not buying.

Here’s how it works: Emotion AI systems use small cameras or sensors that record and detect the facial expressions of individual shoppers, and the computer vision and AI analytics components recognize, classify and interpret the emotions they appear to be expressing at a given moment, according to a recent report.  

The result could be a compilation of various emotional responses retailers and brands could access, such as product pricing, packaging and branding. 

If emotional responses skew negative, it might be time to lower prices. If shoppers examine packages and appear confused, it might be time for a redesign.

As for inventory availability and replenishment, if shoppers appear happy about certain flavors, perhaps stock more of those and less of the flavors they frown at and push aside. And for shelf placement and store layouts, if emotional responses suggest frustration, perhaps a reconfiguration of product displays or a move to a different aisle is in order.