You’ve seen the headlines about how AI is going to change everything from healthcare to education to transportation, altering expectations across countless industries. Some have questioned what those changes will look like in floral, but we have an answer to that with the announcement of DAISY, a new AI powered plant care assistant from Bayview Flowers that is designed to provide convenient and comprehensive plant care information to people through an always active chatbot.

The Bayview Flowers team was at Floriexpo to talk through how Daisy can understand and respond to queries in a specific way that will make sense to plant enthusiasts. Daisy is now integrated on www.livinghouse.ca, so you can see for yourself why Daisy is more than a standard AI chatbot. More info is also available at www.livinghouse.ai.

To learn more about what went into the development of Daisy, we caught up with Stewart Cameron and Evan van Staalduinen from the Bayview Flowers team. They provided insight related to the creation of Daisy, what makes it unique, the one thing that all readers should know about Daisy and much more.

Floriexpo: We’ve previously talked about how Bayview Flowers has invested more resources in your retail experience support team, but what can you say about how customer needs drove that commitment?

Stewart Cameron: Bayview’s commitment to improving our retail experience and post purchase support have been primarily driven by consumer feedback and our company values.  One of the largest barriers preventing consumers from buying houseplants is a lack of confidence in being able to keep them live. According to the Consumer Houseplant Purchasing Report conducted by the Floral Marketing Fund in 2021, 15% of those surveyed do not purchase houseplants for themselves because the plant will die (source).

The investments Bayview Flowers has been making in it’s LIVING HOUSE® platform (livinghouse.ca) have been designed to empower consumers to feel more confident in their journey of becoming a plant parent. Providing excellent service is also a core company value of Bayview Flowers and we seek to constantly improve the way in which we support both our customers and the end-consumers of the products we supply.

What about these customer needs and the state of the industry as a whole has impacted your decision to create Daisy?

Evan van Staalduinen: Generative AI is reshaping the world of customer experience. Research by Google Cloud has revealed that 97% of retail decision makers believe that Gen AI will have an impact on customer experience (source).  The article goes on to share that today’s customers will be expecting better, more personalized experiences and recommendations; and that Gen AI will be a powerful tool to better enable businesses to offer these services.

Bayview Flowers was eager to explore this emerging technology in an effort to make improvements in these areas. For the last 6 months, Bayview has been building an AI powered plant care assistant that integrates with the Living House website. Customers are now able to submit their plant care questions to Daisy via a chat feature and receive instant support tailored to their needs.  

And are those customer needs more about gathering information, or do they need instant support that could be connected to their purchasing behavior?

Stewart Cameron: The lack of confidence in being able to keep their plants alive is currently a barrier to purchase.

We see, firsthand, how important plant care support is based on how much engagement we experience on livinghouse.ca. We typically get anywhere from 5 – 25 chats a day from consumers looking for plant care support and these numbers tend to spike around floral holidays. There are over 50,000 registered users on the Living House platform.

What can you tell us about the trusted data and content sources that Daisy relies on to formulate answers?

Stewart Cameron: Daisy was created using a closed LLM (large language model) environment. Unlike Open-source LLMs, all content is developed and maintained by Bayview Flowers and vetted for accuracy. This way, users are receiving the plant care directly from the vendor of the product as opposed to a third party. As a grower ourselves, we have a lot of direct connections with industry expertise, such as care guidelines from breeders – which we can use in the creation of the plant care content.

Evan van Staalduinen:  Additionally, since this LLM environment is being “trained” specifically for plant care we also believe it will only get better and more specialized compared to other sources. We are able to monitor the responses Daisy provides and, in the event, where we aren’t satisfied with the answer, we can update Daisy so that it improves next time the question is asked. The tool will only get better and more accurate the more it is used through this ongoing feedback loop process.

In situations where Daisy is unable to provide a satisfactory response, customers can request and seamlessly connect with a representative from Bayview Flowers to help answer their plant care questions to the best of our ability.

Given the integration of human support and range of functionalities aimed at enhancing user experience, Daisy is a bit more than a standard AI chatbot. In what ways will users really see and feel this difference?

Evan van Staalduinen:  Each plant purchaser will have their own unique plant care needs and desired formats for communication. For some users, Daisy will be a source that can curate information for them quickly (24/7) with the knowledge that the plant care tips are coming directly from the vendor. Other users will prefer to switch to Daisy’s live agent option. Another segment of users will prefer to look up the information on their own utilizing articles, plant care pages and other resources made available at livinghouse.ca.

Stewart Cameron: We want users to see Daisy as one of a few different paths for experiencing post purchase support offered through livinghouse.ca. We want users to experience a space where they can feel better equipped in the journey of plant parenthood and Daisy is another tool that is part of that overall experience.

Do you envision Daisy will change or evolve as the market and customer needs do? 

Stewart Cameron: Yes, we think Daisy and the livinghouse.ca support platform will continue to change and evolve as the market and customer needs do. We plan to regularly connect with the userbase to better understand if Daisy is effectively meeting their needs. If we discover that we need to modify our approach, we are prepared to do so. Ultimately, we want to be providing extra value and service to the customer base.  

What’s one thing you want new or established plant parents to know about how they should think about utilizing Daisy as a resource?

Stewart Cameron: We think it would be helpful for users to see Daisy as an added benefit and not a final solution. Even now, Daisy is functioning in a public beta stage where we continue to update and iterate as we get some initial feedback on the tool.

Evan van Staalduinen:  As we mentioned, we realize that each plant purchaser will have their own unique journey and needs. Some users will naturally gravitate towards this resource and others will prefer to transfer to Daisy’s live agent option or seek information through a different resource found at livinghouse.ca. We want everyone to know we’re here to support these paths and any other that helps give them the confidence they need to keep their plants alive and healthy.

Chat with Daisy now as the feature is integrated in the bottom right corner on http://www.livinghouse.ca