Q&A: How Who What Wear uses generative AI to capture the attention of highly-engaged beauty and fashion shoppers

Last month, Future’s leading fashion and beauty media brand Who What Wear debuted the beta version of ISA (short for “Intelligent Shopping Assistant"), a generative AI chatbot trained on Who What Wear’s industry-leading editorial expertise that aims to provide shoppers with tailored fashion and beauty product recommendations. 

For the latest article of our LinkedIn AI series, we sat down with Nicole Shoohed , Group Executive Director of Social Strategy and Emerging Platforms at Future’s in-house branded content studio Future Creative, to learn more about the thinking behind introducing a chatbot to Who What Wear’s audience, and how ISA fits into Future’s overall AI strategy. 

Why did Future decide to launch a Who What Wear chatbot?

Nicole Shoohed: At Future, we’re constantly evolving the way people consume content and commerce, whether it be leveraging influencer marketing, podcasts, newsletters or social media platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Our aim is to reach audiences exactly where they go to look for shopping recommendations online, something this brand in particular has excelled at for 18 years. Experimenting with AI and creating a new way for our audiences to engage with our content and shop felt like a natural next step. 

Consumers come to Who What Wear every day with high intent, seeking practical information and inspiration about specific fashion and beauty buying needs before making a purchase. And according to our internal research, the transition into a new season is the #1 shopping motivator for our audience, making the fall a prime moment to launch this offering. 

With ISA, we’re expanding the ways that Who What Wear readers can discover and shop editor-curated content, with recommendations tailored to their exact specifications, such as price, style and retailer. The ultimate goal is to make shopping more accessible and serve users exactly what they’re searching for – faster. Further, our insights show our audiences are likely already using AI!

Are there plans to potentially bring in advertisers or partners into the chatbot environment? 

NS: With the highly-engaged communities at Future come a prime environment for brands and advertisers to align with our content in bespoke ways - and get creative! We see firsthand how Who What Wear positively changes perception around the brands we recommend throughout the funnel – not only converting readers to purchase, but inspiring them to share with their own friends and followers. 

Right now, we are exploring ways to make ISA a win-win for both our advertising partners interested in experimenting with AI-driven platforms and the passionate audiences that come to Who What Wear every day for the latest tips on fashion, beauty and style.

We also have the ability to produce custom, standalone chatbots for partners interested in leveraging ISA technology for bespoke use-cases, such as a bot dedicated to generating gift ideas from a sole retailer during a popular shopping season or holiday. 

Future also has another chatbot in Tom’s Hardware’s “Hammerbot.” How did those learnings and successes apply to the creation of ISA?

NS: Tom’s Hardware - which has its own passionate, highly engaged audience of technology enthusiasts - was a great brand to test out the chatbot tool at Future. 

While there's not too much crossover among the Who What Wear and Tom's Hardware audiences, Hammberbot allowed us to realize the opportunity of this technology when it came to the fashion and beauty lovers that make up the Who What Wear audience. 

The common thread is the trust users across the Future portfolio have in the expertise of our editorial team.

Additionally, from the beginning, the teams at Tom’s Hardware and Future were transparent about the limitations of the beta version of Hammerbot and its room for growth, soliciting feedback from community members through a public forum. 

We are taking a similar approach with Who What Wear, collecting feedback to continue to improve the tool and evolve it to meet our readers' needs.

Audiences can start engaging with ISA here. Future will continue to improve ISA over time, taking user feedback and insights into account. Users interested in learning more about ISA can find details on Who What Wear.