Mark, John, Miles and Ava.
These four names belong to the latest team members to join the customer service team at Truck Moves Australia.
As you navigate to different pages on the truckmoves.com website the smiling faces tied to one of the four-some are there to greet you, encouraging visitors to join a call, and let them know what they are looking for.
These four are not “real” people, rather they are carefully crafted Avatars designed to provide website users with a name and a face to interact with. Their existence elevates the chat bot cartoon bubble style functions we’ve become used to, to another level.
When you join a call with Ava, Mark, John or Miles, you’re asked to allow access to your microphone as part of the process.
Ava then asks you what particular element of the business you’re interested in enquiring about, you answer by talking, and she then responds seeking clarification or confirmation of your wishes and reassuring you a job has been logged and your order taken.
At the back end, the details of those conversations make it to the operations team, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they are then able to allocate next steps.
In a world where the impact of AI continues to be a hot topic of conversation, this innovative approach by Truck Moves Australia hints at a way the tech can be used to bolster service, rather than taking away jobs.
Truck Moves Australia managing director Matt Whitnall says the interactive approach is a step up for customer service.
“The truck relocation industry has traditionally been very transactional – someone needs a truck moved, they fill out a form, and they wait,” Whitnall says.
“We wanted to change that experience entirely. The AI Avatars give users an immediate, conversational point of contact the moment they land on the site.
“Instead of staring at a form and wondering whether anyone is listening, they’re greeted by a knowledgeable presence that can answer questions, qualify their needs, and guide them through the process in real time – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“In an industry where timing is everything and trucks don’t wait for business hours, that’s a genuine operational advantage for our customers.”
Whitnall says the team had approached the concept of conversational Avatars by posing the question – “what would it look like if every person who visited our site felt they were talking to someone who genuinely understood the industry?”
He says rather than following the rigid decision trees traditionally linked to chatbots answering Frequently Asked Questions, the conversational AI Avatars were trained to understand the nuances of truck relocation, the pressures operators are under and the kinds of questions that actually matter to OEMs, dealer networks, fleet managers and sales people who implement and require new truck moves to customers.
There has also been plenty of thought put into each of the Avatar’s appearance and conversational tone.
“This took more thought than people might expect,” Whitnall says.
“We wanted characters that felt credible and approachable to a transport industry audience – people who work hard, are no-nonsense, and have zero tolerance for being talked down to.
“We went through quite a few iterations, testing different personas, tones, and visual presentations. Ultimately, we landed on characters that feel professional but not corporate – the kind of person you’d trust to give you a straight answer on a job site.
“The visual design was equally deliberate; we didn’t want anything that felt gimmicky or out of place in a working industry context.
“In the Drive For Us section, you meet ‘John’ who is about 60, was a driver and now ‘works’ in onboarding drivers of a similar age and experience – so it’s not a traditional persona people would expect, it’s like a mirror for older drivers, someone they can really talk to and find out how driving for Truck Moves works for them.”
The AI Avatars are no overnight sensations either. Bringing them to life for the project has involved countless hours of testing, with feedback still being taken today.
“Before we went live, the system was put through hundreds of simulated enquiry scenarios covering everything from straightforward single-truck relocations to complex multi-vehicle, multi-state movements,” Whitnall says.
“We stress-tested edge cases – unusual routes, time-critical requests, situations where the user wasn’t sure exactly what they needed.
“We also ran the Avatars past people actually working in transport and logistics to get unfiltered feedback.
“The goal was that by the time a real customer interacted with the system, it would feel seamless – and any rough edges would already be behind us.”
For the operation’s team, the Avatars present an opportunity to serve customers immediately, whilst also gathering information and filtering queries to the right human to take up the task and finish the job.
“It’s a genuinely collaborative model,” Whitnall says. “The Avatars handle the front end of the enquiry process – gathering information, answering questions, and qualifying leads – but our team is always in the loop.
“When an enquiry reaches a point where a human decision or relationship is the right next step, the handover is smooth and the staff member receives a full picture of what’s already been discussed.
“It means our people aren’t spending time on repetitive information-gathering; they’re spending time on the conversations that actually require their expertise and judgment.
“It’s made the team more efficient without removing the human element that clients in this industry genuinely value.
“What the AI Avatar system has allowed us to do is scale our responsiveness without scaling headcount proportionally.
“Every enquiry gets an immediate, informed response regardless of when it comes in, which has had a noticeable impact on conversion – people don’t drop off because they couldn’t get an answer quickly enough.”
For Whitnall, the system is not just technology for technology’s sake, it is a response to the pressures of today’s transport environment where time is critical.
“The transport and logistics industry is under real pressure – driver shortages, fuel costs, tight margins – and anything that reduces friction and improves efficiency matters.
“AI Avatars on truckmoves.com are a practical response to a genuine industry need.
“We’d encourage any fleet manager, transport company, or truck dealer who’s ever needed a vehicle relocated to come and experience it for themselves at truckmoves.com which is the dedicated AI Avatar website set up for this task.
“I think they’ll be surprised at how different it feels from anything else in this space.”
When it came to finding the right tech partner for the project, Whitnall says they worked with the team at www.controlshiftai.com.au.
“The brief was always function first – it had to work flawlessly in the field, on mobile, and for people who didn’t have time to fumble around.
“They were excellent partners in bringing this to life.”