The future of marketing: Artificial intelligence and chatbots

Editor’s note: This guest post is presented by Ordergroove partner Hawke Media. 

Marketing is changing rapidly. Technology is the driving force behind this change. From artificial intelligence (AI), to virtual reality (VR), to chatbots, technology is equipping marketers with new tools and techniques to reach and engage their target audiences.

In this article, we’ll delve into two of the most readily applicable technologies for your brand’s website — artificial intelligence and chatbots. By the time you finish reading this post, you’ll have answers to your most burning questions. 

Artificial Intelligence

For a long time, brands have been trying to use technology to replicate the human mind in order to make their businesses run more efficiently. The term “artificial intelligence” is used to describe machines that are designed to have human-like intelligence and to think for themselves. 

What are the applications of AI in marketing?

AI can be used to automate tasks that marketers are currently doing and it can be used to make marketing more personal and targeted. This is why AI is so highly sought after in marketing and sales departments. In fact, 40% of marketing and sales functions say data science encompassing AI and machine learning is critical to their success as a department.  

AI can be applied to a brand’s marketing strategy in a variety of ways, from customer service to lead generation and more. AI can be used to automate most of your customer service interactions, which is great for companies that are short-staffed and can’t afford to hire more people or train new employees.

Ordergroove uses AI to anticipate when a subscriber is at risk of churn due to overstock and sends them an email offering them the option to skip their next order. This can reduce churn by as much as 13%.

What are the benefits of using AI for Marketing?

The benefits of using AI for marketing are endless. For one, AI is an effective way to reach out to potential clients who are most likely to buy from you and it can manage your marketing process for you…to an extent.

AI allows marketing teams to mine large amounts of data and quickly analyze it in order to make better decisions. AI can help marketers understand the effectiveness of their strategies, create better customer experiences, and personalize their campaigns. 

We predict that AI will free up marketing data analysts to focus on other business priorities instead of spending time on manual processes like personalization, lead scoring, anomaly detection, marketing performance management, and reporting. 

Will AI replace marketers?

The answer is no. We’re not living in a timeline where Replicants from “Bladerunner” or AI from Skynet are angling to take over the world.

That’s because AI is not a disruptive force in business but a support mechanism. AI is designed to help marketers to do what they do better, not replace them. It’s important to understand that AI is not the end-all-be-all, and it will not replace marketers.

Chatbots

The most common use of AI in marketing is in chatbots. Chatbots can help with customer service by allowing shoppers to rapidly interact with a business. 

What are the benefits of chatbots for my website?

Chatbots are able to answer simple questions, which means they help improve your site’s customer experience. 

Chatbots are also a great way to increase your conversion rates because customers can quickly find answers to their questions without having to leave your site. Insider Intelligence predicts that by 2024 consumer retail spend via chatbots worldwide will reach $142 billion — up from just $2.8 billion in 2019.

Chatbots are perfect for companies that want to create a more personalized user experience. For example, if you sell shoes online, you might create a chatbot that allows customers to find the shoe size that’s right for them. 

Finally, chatbots can decrease overhead costs. In a study, Juniper Research predicts that businesses will save $11 billion by 2023 by using chatbots as replacements for customer service reps.

How do I build a chatbot?

When it comes to chatbots, you have three options: choose a platform, such as Facebook Messenger, that you can build chatbots on top of; choose a service, such as Chatfuel, that lets you build chatbots without coding; or choose a service, like Drift, that combines features of both.

There are several ways to install a chatbot on your website. If you use WordPress, there are plugins that can help you integrate them into your website. For example, Chatfuel lets you add a chatbot to any website and you can choose from a wide variety of templates. Another great chatbot for WordPress is Woebot. 

There are some great chatbot platforms out there like Drift, Intercom, and Conversable, but if you want to build your own chatbot in-house, you can use Facebook Messenger and Messages by Google.

Preparing for the Future

The speed at which marketing is changing is staggering. To keep up, much less get ahead, brands must invest in cutting-edge technology like AI and chatbots. If you don’t, you risk falling behind and never being able to catch up.

Ready to maximize your subscription program? Contact us today to learn how Ordergroove can help you unlock your recurring revenue potential.