Introduction: The Role of AI Marketing

Innovation in marketing technology has skyrocketed the industry into the stratosphere in the last few years.

New trends and tools are continuously introduced and hyped to marketers; each new piece of marketing technology seems to promise digital marketing teams the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Perhaps the most buzzed-about concept is that of artificial intelligence marketing, or AIM.

AI marketing

With all the challenges plaguing marketers today – pressure to do more with less, proving ROI, and evaluating all the options available to supposedly help them – AI may seem tempting and intimidating. Yet it’s promise and application is extremely real.

Related Content: 4 Examples of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

When you look beyond all the hype, what does AI marketing (AIM) really mean? What can this technology truly provide? And what can marketers expect AI to change about their roles today, not five or ten years down the road?

In this article, we discuss why you should look beyond the hyperbole, while learning how to leverage the data that artificially intelligent machines can provide. Doing so will empower marketers to establish more personal and relevant interactions with their customers, all while driving ROI and increasing revenue.

How can Marketers Use Tangible, Hype-Free Artificial Intelligence?

AIM solutions can sift through huge data sets much faster than any human marketing team ever could, uncovering hidden insights into customer behavior, identifying purchasing trends, and revealing critical data points.

Related Content: What is Artificial Intelligence Marketing?

This allows marketers to focus on developing high-impact strategies, creative content, and overarching marketing needs.

Ultimately, AIM actually gives marketers the valuable gift of time by automating back-end, complex tasks. It provides them the freedom to focus on content, creative, and strategy to deliver those personalized customer interactions.

Though much is made about the future of AI, it’s important to understand how companies are already implementing AIM solutions and reaping the benefits right now– and just how much these benefits are forecasted to grow.

Brands that have implemented AI as part of their strategy predict a 39% average increase in revenue by 2020, and a 37% cost reduction.

AIM solutions have the tools marketers need to find new ways to provide increasingly relevant and personalized content, at the exact right moment, for increased conversion rates across the board. Here are three tangible ways marketers can use AI to deliver highly personalized experiences today.

1. Present Incentive Recommendations to Customers

One of the strongest predictors of a customer’s future actions is what they’ve done in the past. AIM solutions allow marketers to know what a customer will most likely react to, based on their previous behavior – meaning the marketer can then create the best path to a sale.

A great example of this is incentive recommendation.

AIM and machine learning use a customer’s historical behavior and purchasing information to predict which incentive will most likely lead to conversion.

Specifically, these solutions have the power to inform a marketer whether an individual customer will make a purchase with, for example, a 15% discount, a 30% discount, or no discount at all, then automate that communication.

AI marketing

The amount of time and resources that it would take even the most diligent marketing team to make these predictions manually just isn’t feasible, but with AIM this highly valuable information can be at their fingertips.

2. Offer Personalized Product Recommendations

What if, along with that precise incentive offer, marketers were able to provide customers with highly personalized product recommendations?

Wouldn’t that be even more enticing to the consumer? Well, that capability is a reality. Consumers want to feel like their brands know and “get” their style and preferences, predicting that they may, for example, want a matching dress for the shoes they bought last week.

AI marketing

AI marketing and advanced machine learning algorithms can transform engagement data into one-to-one product recommendations that truly convert.

By pulling data such as behavior patterns and affinities across each platform and device, this technology gives marketers the most up-to-date information on their customers, and it can automatically populate recommendations in real time.

3. Use Send Time Optimization to Deliver “Right Time” Emails

All of this content personalization is truly incredible, but it’s worthless if the consumer never sees it. Enter send time optimization.

Related Content: AI Marketing: It’s All About Timing

By analyzing historical email send and open rates, AIM solutions will determine the best time for both individual consumers and larger segmented audiences.

By knowing when each customer is most likely to read an email, marketers can deliver messages at the moments they are most likely to engage, thus increasing conversion rates. For example, the median open rate of companies with AI tools increases to just over 32%, and the click rate is around 6.5%.

Final Thoughts

Today’s marketing teams are under a lot of pressure. They’re pressed for time, being pushed to prove return on campaigns and content.

They’re faced with an incredible amount of choice – from technology solutions to campaign themes to how they segment their databases.

AI marketing tools are increasingly making the life of marketers everywhere easier by:

  • Assessing previous customer searches, purchases, and online and shopping behaviors
  • Collecting valuable customer data
  • Helping to automate the processes of sifting, analyzing, interpreting, and identifying the best way to use that data

By doing so, AIM can aid marketers in making better experiences for each customer – predicting, for instance, that a customer is in the market for a new black dress, that a 5% discount is just the push they need, and that this specific customer is most likely to open an offer at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

AI marketing isn’t space-aged hype.

These are real results marketers can, and are, seeing today. The ultimate role of AI in marketing is added value and purpose to both brands and customers.

The marketer’s role is changing. Learn why hype-free artificial intelligence is the promise of tomorrow by downloading the whitepaper below. 

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