EBOOK HEREIf you haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade, you’ve definitely heard of the impact and ways AI has been having upon the business world. Today, we’ll be looking at its impact on eCommerce.
AI has slowly been integrating itself into all our daily lives, whether it be shopping on Amazon, or relying on airport security to keep us safe. Tech giants like Google and Microsoft have also been investing in it heavily.
A variety of eCommerce businesses have already started using AI for a number of reasons. On top of capturing more traffic in the first place, AI takes it one step further by helping businesses understand these new customers. This leads to an increase in customer satisfaction and, subsequently, retention.
Because of this, more and more companies have started investing in machine learning services. In this article, we’ll be exploring 10 powerful ways AI is used in the world of eCommerce.
1. Predictive Marketing
Have you ever planned to buy something, only to see ads for it the next day? This is an example of predictive marketing. AI uses customer data in order to determine what they’re likely to want to purchase next.
Based on this data, it will then run ads targeted towards that group of customers. This, in turn, leads to making more sales because your customers are seeing what they actually need and want to buy.
Furthermore, this can be applied to ad campaigns in general. AI will record how users from a certain location respond to your marketing efforts, as well as recording when they are most often online. This can help you put out ads at peak activity hours. The AI analyzes how your customers interact with your ads, and you can change your marketing strategy accordingly.
2. ChatBots
A variety of eCommerce businesses have started integrating chatbots into their websites. These AIs will communicate with your customers 24/7, providing unparalleled customer support. Today, over 85% of customer interactions are dealt with like this.
They lighten the load upon your customer support employees, who can now delegate more of their time to other aspects of the business. Almost every popular eCommerce website will have an integrated chatbot that provides service to the customer as soon as they enter the site.
The chatbot is intelligent enough to recognize common customer questions and can answer their queries much more efficiently than a human. Furthermore, they can provide you with valuable data from the conversation records.
3. Cybersecurity
With more and more businesses moving their products and services online, there is an increased risk of cyberattack.
Thankfully, AI is able to help with securing your business from hackers and the like. Due to the number of transactions a typical eCommerce business deals with, criminals have been known to gain unauthorized access to customer, or even company accounts. This can lead to data leaks and theft.
Machine learning algorithms add extra layers of security to online businesses, often stopping these attacks as they happen. They also have the ability to mitigate fraudulent activities happening in the first place.
4. Retargeting Efforts
Over 33% of leads generated end up not being followed by the sales team. This means that you’re essentially losing 33% of interested customers from simple human error. AI can improve upon this and more.
For example, physical businesses are using facial recognition technology to detect where customers spend time in their stores.
In an eCommerce setting, this analysis of customer behaviour is also being recorded by AI. If the AI sees someone spending a lot of time looking at Samsung smartphones, on their next visit it might recommend to them the newest model. This can be especially useful for businesses that have an eCommerce and physical presence, as AI can help bridge the gap between the two.
5. Voice Search Optimization
Today, almost 50% of all searches are made through Alexa, Siri, or similar technology. This means that if you aren’t popping up first on voice searches, you’re losing a valuable portion of your potential buyers.
Voice assistants are already in many homes, as well as almost all smartphones. Because of this, you want to stay on top of voice optimization. This is the inevitable future of searching, and the sooner you jump on the boat the better. Thankfully, AI can help track which searches were made like this so that you can optimize your marketing efforts towards it.
6. Personalizing Marketing
By using a great mass of customer data, AI can help customize the content and interfaces they interact with. Targeted customization is no longer simply adding the customer’s name on top of an email, today, it goes much deeper.
Because personalization increases engagement rates according to around 74% of marketing professionals, AI has been quick to adapt to this. It will personalize according to the customer’s location, the time when they’re online most often, as well as a variety of other factors a human marketer has no chance of tracking.
7. Eliminating Fake Reviews
Today, over 88% of people trust online reviews about as much as a personal recommendation. This means that a good product will quickly stand out due to excellent reviews. This has a downside, however, as it also means that it’s much easier to trick customers with fake ones. Rival brands will often leave fake reviews on a product’s page in hopes of elevating their own.
AI can analyze reviews and quickly separate the fake from the real ones. This in turn helps customers make a much more informed decision without having their view clouded by 1-star reviews popping up from seemingly nowhere.
8. Managing Inventory
Managing inventory can be one of the harder tasks within a business. Keeping track of how much inventory there is, how much is arriving, and how much you need can cause significant delays if it’s done by humans.
With thousands of categories spread across the world of eCommerce, it can be nigh-impossible to track all of your inventory purely through manpower. This is where AI comes in. It can analyze data that might take humans a week in a matter of minutes, helping operations flow smoother.
Furthermore, as machine learning algorithms learn more about your inventory, they can make rough estimates of the current and future demands, helping you stock up earlier rather than later.
9. More Intelligent Searches
In a perfect world, your customers would know exactly what they want and how to search for it. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as searches can be ambiguous and indeterminate.
AI can help optimize for these, as they will track your customer’s searching patterns as well as past searches in order to find exactly what they’re looking for. This is further enhanced with chatbots, which can use past conversation data to predict searches.
10. Writing Ads
Some machine learning algorithms are so advanced they can even write ads for you. For example, JPMorgan Chase experimented with this by putting out two headlines:
- Access cash from the equity in your home. Take a look.
- It’s true –You can unlock cash from the equity in your home. Click to apply.
The 2nd garnered almost twice as many clicks, and it was written by an AI. Using an AI to write marketing copy not only lowers your expenses but also often results in better marketing.
It does this by analyzing how consumers respond to different headlines. Rather than doing it with fixed guidelines like a human, AI can easily adapt to current trends and can catch patterns we can’t.
This was a very informative blog and I really enjoyed reading it. But I also have a few points regarding it to discuss with you.
Machine learning has been making numerous waves in different sectors. Using Machine Learning in your website can help you to maintain the same level of service even with new customers coming to your website.
Here are some of the ways to use Machine Learning in a website:-
1. Responsive user interface
2. Personalized Experience
3. Fast use of Prototyping Tools