At this very moment, artificial intelligence is providing value and efficiency to industries all across the world. This may be surprising to people who have not realized how commonplace AI has become. One industry where AI is already making waves is digital marketing. In fact, 80 percent of organizations believe that AI will change marketing as we know it in the years to come.
AI allows digital marketers to free up time normally spent on routine tasks and the technology learns so quickly that it can minimize or eliminate mistakes. The best part of AI is that it can analyze massive amounts of data and glean valuable insights from that data to any scale. This is work that would take humans hours, years, maybe even decades to complete. Yet an AI system can analyze mass amounts of Big Data in a timely manner and for a wide range of purposes, which is only the beginning.
The fact is, marketing for all industries is about to be transformed by artificial intelligence in all new ways. Matt Murphy, CMO of Chime, an AI-powered real estate CRM, predicts that, “in the next five to 10 years, AI and specifically deep learning will enable robots to do some of the basic tedious and time-consuming tasks that we do each day.”
AI chatbots are also predicted to save the Insurance, Financial Services, Sales, and Customer Service industries $174 Billion over the next few years.
Here are a few insights into what’s to come in regards to reaching out, establishing relationships, and enticing conversions for your prospects and customers as we move into a world powered by AI.
1. Ultra-Personal Customization
Personalization in marketing is nothing new. Any software can plug the recipient’s name into an email before it’s sent, but AI is capable of so much more. AI will already know your visitor’s name by the time they land on your site, which means that live chat can greet the person by name if they need assistance. Emails and social media messages will not only use the person’s name, but they’ll speak to the person’s needs.
Most importantly, AI will be able to mention elements from the customer’s account history, such as the time spent on site, times visited, and purchases made.
AI is the next best thing when it comes to talking to a human being, even digitally. This technology will soon be arriving at an office near you.
2. The Social Equalizer
AI uses powerful behavioral targeting methods to seek out prospects, engage with those individuals on a personal level, and create sales opportunities. Just to give an example, AI can determine when a person – on any platform – is looking for cyber security software, allowing the system to engage and convert.
3. A Guard Dog for Fraud Prevention
This year, over half of all companies will experience one or more successful cyber-attacks that could compromise their data or IT infrastructure, making it increasingly important to guard your customers against sophisticated fraud schemes. For example, AI can leverage automation and use machine learning, along with natural language processing, video recognition, and speech pattern recognition to determine if the person is legit and able to safely access the account and make a purchase.
4. Customer Behavior Predictions
As AI gets more intelligent, businesses will be able to detect if a customer is willing to make a purchase. The neural network will also be able to predict when a person requires support, wants to switch to a different provider, wants to opt out, or whatever the behavior might be.
When this technology hits the mainstream, customers will feel more intimately engaged with brands, even though it’s a machine on the other end.
5. Round-the-Clock Support
Customer support can be a challenge, but machines are getting smarter and more capable of handling any size CS job. One great example is that AI is up for working whenever, no quitting, break, or sick time required. If a customer needs help, AI will be on the job and ready to work. That’s great news for all organizations, as more than half of all customers expect businesses and their support centers to be open all the time.
AI technology is also efficient and can save up to 4 minutes for each inquiry, when compared to a traditional call center. On top of this, the system will be gathering data, entering information into your CRM, and analyzing that data to provide even more insightful advice and predictions for an exceptional customer experience.
6. Big Data Analysis
Humans and some automated systems can become overloaded the larger a company gets. AI makes scaling easy, and all the data collected can be analyzed instantly and in real-time. Google Analytics Intelligence feature is just one example. No longer do marketers need to be skilled in crunching the numbers. Now you can ask simple questions and you’ll get the answers you need.
Domo is another example of AI that uses machine learning and predictive analytics to help formulate marketing strategies based on the constant data coming in.
Taking things a step further, People.ai uses predictive analytics to run through all forms of communication between the organization and its customers to determine the very strategies that lead to the most successful conversions. AI will also be able to determine which strategies failed, allowing the company to avoid those mistakes in the future.
7. Personal Shoppers & Assistants
We already see this technology in action to some extent with Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Echo, for example. As this tech spreads, we’ll see more consumers having meaningful conversations with AI systems to search for products, make purchases, and troubleshoot problems, including facilitating returns, all while gathering data and using that data in unique and insightful ways.
8. Intuitive Lead Generation & Nurturing
Let’s get down to what truly matters; attracting new leads. According to Marketing Profs, businesses that implement AI boost their sales close rates, revenue, traffic, engagement, and conversions by more than 50 percent. That effectively constricts the marketing funnel so that lead generation and nurturing along with the conversion become a seamless affair.
This sounds amazing, considering that prospects need to see your product multiple times before committing to a purchase. With AI, you don’t have to worry about a thing. It will learn when your prospects are most open to your brand, and when to proceed with the close. While this is something that would take a person days, months, or years to perfect, AI can do it quickly and with any size audience.
9. Intuitive Content Distribution
AI technology can predict whether an introductory white paper would be the best offer for a prospect, or a coupon offering a discount on the first purchase might be the better move to make. The system will not only be able to dispense any type of content at a moment’s notice, but also when it’s needed most to boost interest or facilitate the sale.
10. Augment the Marketing Team
Some marketers fear artificial intelligence and think it will lead to massive layoffs everywhere. Gartner predicts that while 1.8 million jobs will indeed be eliminated by machine learning technology, but it’s also predicted to create 2.3 million jobs by 2020.
Deep Varma, Vice President of engineering at Trulia stated that AI will augment jobs rather than replace them. He said, “As companies’ AI capabilities get stronger and grow larger, we’ll see AI augment existing software and applications and actually enable humans to be more productive, effective and accurate.”
Conclusion
With the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence, goals like creating awareness, generating leads, nurturing leads, closing sales, and retaining customers will soon be cheaper, faster, and available everywhere. As we’ve seen, AI should support marketing teams instead of replacing key people. Machine learning technology is simply best for all involved, including customers.
With AI set to power 85 percent of customer service interactions and drive $33 trillion of annual economic growth by 2020, now is the time to jump on board with this innovative technology.
