SharkNinja Kicks Off Its Salesforce AI Adventure

“It’s not feasible to keep increasing our workforce. The calculations simply don’t add up,” remarked Velia Carboni, Chief Information Officer at appliance firm SharkNinja. “What sets Agentforce apart from classic chatbots is its ability to provide authentic interactions. Agentforce enables us to engage more personally, facilitating a conversation rather than merely providing a straightforward question-and-answer format.”

The discussion around AI agents—whether referred to as assistants, copilots, or something else—is currently prevalent in the realm of customer experience, especially regarding their role in supporting human representatives or interacting directly with customers. Unlike conventional chatbots, AI agents can take a more adaptive approach to inquiries by being trained not only on internal data but also by leveraging a robust language model. Salesforce’s agentic AI can utilize data sourced from the Salesforce Data Cloud.

When does a shark become a ninja?

To clarify for those unfamiliar with SharkNinja, it functions as a single entity with two distinct brands: Shark and Ninja. Shark focuses on home cleaning appliances, while Ninja specializes in kitchen gadgets.

“Our team is innovating extensively, often producing 30 to 50 new products at a time. I believe this division allows them to concentrate better on their respective categories,” Carboni shared. “Currently, we operate within 33 categories, each with a vast array of products.”

A critical inquiry that arises is whether data services and software are fragmented between Shark and Ninja or consolidated. “They are centralized,” stated Carboni. “We provide services for both brands; while we are one company, there is significant overlap. Consumers have both cleaning and kitchen requirements, which allows us to capitalize on shared resources. We do maintain two separate websites, however.”

One of SharkNinja’s goals with Agentforce is to build upon its history of infomercials, a popular strategy for customer engagement (with a dedicated infomercial channel on YouTube). “The essence of these informercials was to animate the product and clarify how it could serve consumers’ needs,” Carboni noted. “I aspire to infuse that authenticity into how we enhance the consumer experience.”

Connecting with Salesforce

Is Agentforce merely an add-on to SharkNinja’s existing Salesforce framework? “I joined SharkNinja seven months back, but have been a long-time user of Salesforce myself,” Carboni explained. “I’ve engaged heavily with Service Cloud and chatbots.” Prior to her arrival, SharkNinja had not utilized Salesforce.

“We are in the process of replatforming several elements at SharkNinja. Salesforce will serve as our primary platform for commerce and customer service. To me, Agentforce represents the icing on the cake, elevating our operations significantly. We offer a plethora of products—how can I assist consumers in exploring what we provide? We aim to delight them so much that they’ll return for future purchases,” she conveyed.

Although SharkNinja has a solid footing in large retail stores, it is now focusing on direct-to-consumer strategies, emphasizing social media, which is a significant aspect of Carboni’s role. “It’s not merely about how purchases are made, but how we integrate you into a community. Our revitalization efforts around Salesforce are centered on creating a sense of community—a welcoming space for people to feel part of the SharkNinja family. Social media plays a crucial role in this,” she stated. Harnessing agents on social media and various other channels presents a substantial opportunity to achieve these aims, according to Carboni.

Customer service also represents a vast potential area of improvement. “I believe we can address many of the queries people typically call in about through the enhancements we will implement on our website alongside Agentforce. Issues that reach my live agents may be more intricate,” she mentioned.

Explore further: Salesforce unveils a new generation of ‘more trustworthy’ AI bots

The future layout

Even though Salesforce emphasizes the rapid development of Agentforce agents, Carboni had conveyed during the Salesforce World Tour event her hopes for SharkNinja to integrate Agentforce within its Salesforce suite by early to mid-next year.

“I definitely wish to clarify that,” she stated. “This isn’t because constructing agents is a challenging endeavor. It’s a very deliberate choice we’ve made. We could potentially rush into developing a few agents, but our consumer-centric approach demands that we execute this diligently. You only get one chance to revamp your digital strategy, and this is ours.” In fact, Carboni intended to create a quick agent herself during the World Tour’s Agentforce kiosk, confirming that SharkNinja had already conducted preliminary tests and trials.

Change management is another crucial factor. According to Carboni, the technological aspect is straightforward. “The more challenging task lies in guiding people through this transition. I am striving to engage more individuals in this journey, irrespective of their direct involvement. If I were a product engineer at SharkNinja, I would expect us to be as diligent in crafting exemplary experiences as we are in producing our remarkable products.”