Using AI to personalize your marketing strategy
Consumers are looking for quick, accurate, relevant information. Using AI can bring personalization to marketing at a scale that humans alone can't reach.
AI can help make customer experiences more personalized, accurate, and effortless. Through audience segmentation, customer communication, and product recommendations, AI is able to enhance marketing strategies at scale in a way humans can’t by themselves.
In a world where customers are looking for smooth experiences and information at their fingertips, AI-enabled tools can make the difference in marketing.
Experience that’s personal and effortless
For a long time, marketers talked about the need to “surprise and delight” customers. Now, the tune is changing. Customers have had enough surprises and delights. Mostly, we’ve just had enough. We’re tired, overwhelmed, and can’t keep up with inboxes flooding by the minute.
Now, many consumers just want a personalized experience that’s as effortless as possible.
A few months ago, I searched Google for “black suede pointed toe 1 inch ankle boots.” As specific as I thought that search was, I nonetheless scoured endless pages for hours and found nothing that suited my fancy.
To no one’s surprise, for the next three months, images of sub-par black ankle boots trailed me around on Google like the plague. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not that I necessarily mind they’re aware of what I’m searching for. I understand the value exchange of using a powerful, expert, and fine-tuned search engine at no monetary cost.
It’s that I wanted them to be better.
I do enough browsing online that some AI tool out there should know exactly what my preferred style and price point is. Some machine should be able to say, “oh, you’re searching for black suede pointed toe 1 inch ankle boots? Here are the top 5 pairs you’ll probably like.”
Instead, I had to manually check back in over the course of several weeks until I found them myself. Effortless and/or personal? Not even close.
As marketers, this is of course far easier wished for than achieved.
The good news? AI can help us get there.
AI can give accurate, quick, personal information to consumers
As many avid online shoppers, I have a few sites I frequent based on selection, price, and of course, free shipping and free returns. One of my go-to websites for clothing, Asos, recently added a size prediction feature. I entered in my rough measurements, selected which body shape looks most like mine, and how loose or tight of fit I prefer.
Now, every time I’m looking at an item, this AI-enabled tool tells me, “We recommend size X for you” or “X% of customers like you bought size X and didn’t return it.” It also takes into account my own purchase history — which sizes I’ve bought and kept, and which I’ve returned.
In the world of online shopping, this information is gold. Before this feature, the only information from the customer end was “The model is 5’10” wearing size 0,” which, unless you fit that bill, does not necessarily provide the best assistance.
I don’t care that it’s sometimes wrong — 85% of the time, it’s right. It also never makes me buy that size — I can still choose what my intuition says will fit best. And if it doesn’t work out? No worries, free returns.
This is just one example of how AI can bring incredible personalization, accuracy, and speed to marketing strategies.
Most consumers don’t mind — or are even eager to be — interacting with AI
By 2020, it’s predicted that customers will manage 85% of their relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human.
At one point, marketers and consumers alike wondered if it would ever really catch on — but like many technologies, all we needed was time and market penetration.
Now, we’re looking at a world where:
- AI is getting better.
- Consumers are more demanding.
- The human-AI relationship is becoming standard.
In fact, 74% of consumers now are willing to share their personal data to get a more personalized experience. However, 69% of marketers rate their AI vendor’s performance as poor. Clearly, there’s a disconnect. And brands who are figuring this out sooner are getting ahead.
Want to learn more about using AI in your marketing strategy?
To learn more about how AI can bring personalization to your marketing, tune into our webinar on November 7th. We’ll dive into these three specific ways teams can use AI :
- Segment audiences beyond gender and age, and instead by past purchases, browsing behavior, product feedback, and returns.
- Communicate with each customer through their preferred channel at their preferred time.
- Recommend customized, specific products based on custom, specific preferences.
In these ways and more, AI can bring personalization at a scale and precision that humans alone can’t reach.
