Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating waves across industries. At first thought, the use cases that come to mind might primarily be associated with the vast fields of science, finance and technology, but AI has also turned fields like marketing more productive and efficient.
Artificial Intelligence is what is at work behind the scenes at major streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify when their users are recommended shows, movies, music and playlists exactly in line with their specific tastes, resulting in a delightful user experience. But AI has now moved beyond just optimising customer experiences on one platform and into making the whole customer journey seamless and customised by being integrated into marketing.
Artificial Intelligence in marketing communication has been developing over the years. It can give a business a competitive edge over the others. According to Adobe Experience Index 2019, India is witnessing intense competitions across brand categories, leading to Indians having highest expectations across the world for personalised customer experiences. The study found 82% of Indian consumers with a demand for tailored experiences.
To address the Indian consumers’ evolving needs, use of AI becomes essential to enable businesses to vastly improve customer journeys and increase the return on investment of marketing campaigns. Big data analytics, machine learning and other processes are a part of AI that allow businesses to gain intricate insights into their target audiences and deliver the right messages to the right segments.
Customer segmentation
Identifying one or more target groups for a business’ marketing activities is crucial.
Traditionally, businesses listed down their marketing objectives such as increasing awareness, profits, customer retention, or others, and then estimated their target groups accordingly. With AI, marketing communications are more accurate and quicker in identifying target groups.
AI can not only gauge our wider audience types but, with deeper analytics, can identify more precise customer behaviours. For instance, segmenting those customers who would buy higher-end products and services and those who prefer to be on a tight budget or those who would prefer one line of a business’ offerings to others. AI can also help businesses identify new customer segments that have similar attributes to their existing target audience. By studying user interactions with marketing campaigns, AI can customise the call-to-actions for each customer segment to get optimal results.
This accurate and dynamic segmentation can help businesses leverage the knowledge to tailor campaigns and communications to each sub-segment and only deliver useful content to the consumers which will help build more durable relationships.
Utilising the right channels
Identifying the accurate customer segments and customising the marketing communications respectively is a great start to effectively using AI. But, for a business to establish strong customer relationships on the customers’ preferred terms, the right messages through the right channels need to be delivered.
AI marketing can help businesses analyse the messages sent to clients via different channels and the responses received to figure out the active customers and their preferred mode of receiving marketing communication. Along with channels, AI can also help determine the frequency of messages and the time at which a message is expected to be the most effective.
Determining the right channels and integrating AI can automate customer engagement and enable businesses to address customer queries quickly, leading to a great customer experience.
Chatbots are one such solution that many businesses have already implemented, with financial institutions being the ones utilising chatbots widely. Chatbots can be deployed via various channels such as Facebook or other social media messengers, websites, voice assistants, SMS and more. Chatbots are easy to use and financial institutions should consider deploying them as efficiently as they do other self-service options. Additionally, if financial institutions integrate other CPaaS solutions along with chatbots, it will benefit both their businesses and their customers. AI in marketing communications will not only improve the digital experiences for customers, but will also provide financial institutions the benefits of lower costs, higher customer satisfaction and customer retention, leading to overall growth.
AI marketing communications is inevitable
Optimising customer segmentation and opting for the right communication channels form the base of the other operations that utilise user behaviour for tailored marketing communications. Digital advertising can become more effective once businesses know the where, what and how of user interaction more precisely.
AI marketing tools are especially important for small businesses as they try to grow and differentiate themselves from their competition. These tools are affordable and accessible. They can even save small businesses money by eliminating the need for poorly targeted advertising and bringing in customised advertising that promises higher returns.
Many small businesses in India operate in semi-urban and rural areas and AI-powered marketing can help them reach a wider audience across the country – an audience they wouldn’t have access to through traditional marketing. Personalised and swift communication can build a loyal customer base for the small businesses that can be the foundation of their success.
Implementing AI in marketing will eventually become the norm. The potential is vast as it can not only analyse the behaviour of the existing customer base but might also be able to predict future customer behaviours from the data collected, ensuring the businesses are future-ready. So, those who begin now can get ahead in a highly competitive market where customers’ attention is divided.
By: Dilip Modi, Founder, Korero Platforms
