No longer a tool of the future, artificial intelligence is helping businesses grow and transforming the way a workplace operates. New developments in technology are accelerating every year, and artificial intelligence is no exception.
If you run an eCommerce business, you need to understand the best ways to incorporate artificial intelligence to remain competitive in a changing world.
Artificial Intelligence Basics
Artificial Intelligence is a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot, but at its most basic, AI technology takes historically human tasks and teaches computers to do them. In eCommerce, AI is typically used in two ways; to automate tasks or provide deep-learning insights on data.
Task automation is the easiest way to integrate AI into your eCommerce business. The technology allows you to replace human labor with a computer. For example, instead of having a customer service representative, an AI program can respond to customer complaints. This one-to-one trade-off has sparked many concerns over how the use of AI will impact the labor market.
The incredible learning capabilities of AI offer eCommerce businesses exciting new opportunities. Rather than replacing staff and automating existing workflow, you can use AI to learn about customers, track data, and offer insights. This learning and data crunching happens in just a few seconds. Combined with business intelligence strategies, AI expands what is possible for eCommerce companies.
How to Integrate Artificial Intelligence in Your Business
While you can install a plug-and-play AI-powered BI tool in a few minutes, maximizing the value of AI for your business requires strategic thinking. Here are some practical examples of how AI can transform your eCommerce business.
Improve Customer Experience and Lower Overhead Costs
When you combine simple task automation with deep-learning capabilities, you create the opportunity to integrate AI into customer-facing processes. Natural language processing has developed enough that most consumers can’t distinguish when chatting with a bot versus a real person.
Farmers Insurance has put AI to use throughout its business operations. However, the use of chatbots has improved the customer experience without increasing overhead costs. A Conversational Chatbot can respond to customer inquiries and insurance coverage claims faster than a team of customer service representatives. The algorithm and natural-language processing guide the conversation in the right direction. If necessary, AI image recognition begins the process of filing an insurance claim.
Transferring this example to the eCommerce use case is straightforward. Customers can quickly and easily get answers to questions through a chatbot. Damage claims and the return process can be handled with AI image recognition. AI makes it possible to enhance the customer service experience without increasing your payroll costs.
Targeted Recommendations and Direct Marketing
AI has played an increasing role in marketing over the past few years. Major advertising publishers like Google and Facebook have integrated AI tools to improve the effectiveness of ad placement. AI automation allows for better coordination of advertising campaigns across multiple platforms for enhanced results.
The personal luxury retailer Crabtree & Evelyn implemented automated AI advertising to maximize their advertising dollar’s ROI. With the ability to analyze customer data and complete A/B testing in mere moments, Crabtree & Evelyn could target their campaigns to micro and macro audiences with impressive accuracy. These ads can function across all stages of the customer journey, rather than the re-targeting ads the business focused on before AI integration.
For eCommerce businesses, targeted recommendations and rapid A/B testing without the need for oversight can have a massive impact on sales. With the ability to learn and understand exactly where potential customers are in their journey, AI-run advertising can push out highly relevant ads that are seen as helpful rather than intrusive. This improves the customer experience before they even buy from your brand.
You Need AI in Your eCommerce Business
These are just two examples of the powerful impact AI can have on an eCommerce business. Each day, companies become more reliant on AI for their continued success. An investment in AI tools today will have a significant payoff in the future.