Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Digital Marketing

To simply put, Artificial Intelligence(AI) is the intelligence showcased by machines, unlike human intelligence. In other words, Artificial Intelligence is the development of machines to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. Today, we are surrounded by these machines and they have become a part of our life knowingly or unknowingly. AI- equipped toothbrushes, Self- cleaning vacuum cleaners, auto-pilot drones, self-driving cars are a few amazing outcomes of Artificial Intelligence. 

Artificial Intelligence works by combining large amounts of data with fast, iterative processing and intelligent algorithms, allowing the software to learn automatically from patterns or features in the data. Machine learning, Natural Language Processing(NLP), Robotics, Speech, Computer Vision, Expert Systems, Planning, Scheduling, and Optimization are the branches of Artificial Intelligence. 

Artificial Intelligence has marked its presence in various fields. Robotics, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Finance, Travel & Transportation, Google Smart Maps, Social Media, E-commerce, Marketing, Security and Surveillance are some of the fields which are using Artificial Intelligence. Siri, Gmail, Amazon, Netflix, Google Now, Google Maps, etc are some of the popular apps that use AI behind the scenes. According to Google “AI can meaningfully change peoples lives and that the biggest impact will come when everyone can access it”. 

Google smart compose is a great example of artificial intelligence, which makes composing email so quick and easy. 

Google search showing accurate results along with other relevant suggestions powered by artificial intelligence is another great example.

With the internet being such an important part of our life, we know how marketing has changed over the past few years and how digital marketing is gaining momentum. We also understand how important digital marketing is for the growth of a business. Now when you know how valuable and important these two fields are, you might be thinking of applications of artificial intelligence in digital marketing? Well, if so, you are absolutely on the track. Artificial Intelligence has already made its way in Digital Marketing. 

The capabilities of Artificial Intelligence can contribute to large capacity in Digital Marketing. Digital Marketers should capitalize on AI effectively. Let us understand in depth the applications of artificial intelligence in digital marketing.

1. Role of AI in Online Advertising

We know the importance of online advertising for business and its growth. Advertising involves money and we need to make sure that the investment is utilized efficiently. With millions of people in the world consuming data across computers, mobiles, tablets & smart TV’s, the advertising opportunities are humongous. Creating an Ad campaign with a strong and compelling message, attractive banners are hardly of any use if they are not reaching the right users. It is significant to show the right ads at the right time and to the right user increases the chances of lead generation.

Most online ads we see today are run by a very sophisticated delivery system powered by AI and it’s called “Programmatic Advertising”. Don’t get intimidated, programmatic advertising is pretty straightforward. It is the automated buying of all types of ad spaces across all types of screens. Ad spaces are bought and sold in a digital auction which happens within milliseconds. Marketers should provide inputs on buyer segments, campaign parameters like KPI’s, targets and advertising budget and AI will find the appropriate placements for ads. It can also adjust the ad placement and the money spent based on real-time responses. Every consumer interaction is tracked and all of that data is available instantly. 

• Programmatic display and video make up three-quarters of digital ad spend, according to Magna. 
• According to Ad Exchanger, Programmatic grew from $14.2 billion in 2015 to $19.5 billion this year and is expected to hit $36.8 billion in 2019.
• eMarketer predicts that more than $46 billion will go to programmatic advertising in the US this year. By 2020, 86.2% of all digital display ads will be bought via automated channels.

Advertising platforms like Google Ads, Facebook use AI to target customers who are more likely to take the desired action on the ads. To achieve this, AI collects user information like activities, interests, demographics, search history, buying history, device and a lot of other aspects and analyzes them to choose the target audience for the ads/brand.

Ad targeting is another AI-based approach where ads that are related to a product you searched on the internet or from a website are basically found on the internet.

2.  Highly Personalized User Experience

Generally, what does a user expect when he visits a website? Well, there are many aspects but the most pivotal one is the personalized user experience. According to Evergage’s survey, “96% of the marketers agree that personalization helps to advance customer relationships”. Users always get glued to the websites if they find content or products or services or offers that are aligning with their interests. But how do you do it? With millions of people on the internet, to understand each of their activities, interests, behavior patterns, etc seems humanly impossible. Don’t panic, AI is here for your rescue.

Through AI, Intelligent algorithms are applied to collect enormous user data and analyze them. Post analysis of the data of a single user considering his geographics, demographics, physiographic, devices, etc, AI is capable of personalizing offers, content, etc to that user. Good User experience compels the user to start spending more time on the websites and the possibility of them getting converted increases to a great extent. As well as, personalization also helps to build a better relationship with the customers. Isn’t it amazing! Application of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing is making wonders.

 3. Artificial Intelligence powered Chatbots

I am sure you will all agree that as humans, we have some limitations over machines when it comes to availability, behavior, memory, etc. AI-powered chatbots are a smarter version of chatbots and are exceptional and can overcome the shortcomings of humans to provide great customer services. Their availability is marked 24/7 and is also capable of retaining user data.

As they are machines they can never lose their temper unlike humans and can please the customers very well. The other advantage of chatbots is that they can respond to multiple requests at the same time canceling out the annoying waiting times. 

How do you assess a chatbot? A chatbot should always make the customer feel satisfied by solving their queries as if a human is answering. 

• Chatbots powered by AI have taken up the charge to respond to the customer queries with very high relevance. 
• Chatbots use Natural Language Processing(NLP) and machine learning to come up with the answers for open questions. 
• Chatbots automated responses are increasing potential buyers by providing them an easy way to search for the products or services they are looking for. 
• Chatbots are even capable of providing suggestions and advice. For example, Sephora uses a chatbot that gives beauty advice. 

Alexa by Amazon, Siri by Apple, Google’s Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana are few popular AI-powered chatbots trending. 

4. Predictive Analysis through Artificial Intelligence

As a human is it possible for you to know what a new user’s or existing customer’s next action is going to be? You may blindly answer it as a “NO”, but wait, have you thought about applying Artificial Intelligence in this direction yet? Because machines are very good at understanding the data patterns. AI uses software and statistical models to predict the customer’s future action by studying the customer’s characteristics and past behavior. With this in place, marketers can predict what the customer’s action is going to be in the future before he/she actually does.

AI helps marketers to gain new insights about their customers like prices quoted to make conversions, which customers can make more than one sale, which customers respond to offers, etc. This information can be used to target potential customers who are likely to get converted by showing them strong messages at the right time leading to increased sales. This application of Artificial Intelligence in digital marketing is called Ranking of Prospects or Predictive Lead Scoring. 

The sales team can define the criteria to bifurcate the customers as “qualified purchasers”. Then the software/models can be trained to rank the prospects based on these criteria. This helps the sales team to concentrate on the customers whose chances of conversion are maximum thus reducing the amount of time and resources invested. The sales team can even get benefitted by directing their efforts in the proper direction towards the most valuable leads, increasing the opportunities for sales.

Here’s a quick demonstration of “Predictive lead scoring with SalesPredict”

5. Artificial Intelligence incorporated Web Designing  

Can you believe me if I say you can design a website without knowing the web designing technologies like HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc? Well, today we are in such a space where we can design a website without having knowledge about the underlying technologies. You heard me right. You don’t need a programmer nor a designer. There are applications with AI incorporated in them, all we have to do is provide the information like content, page layout, images, call to action, etc and the results are right in front of you in seconds. Whereas it takes a designer or programmer days to achieve the same.

These tools make the websites look professional and at an unbelievable price. The Grid, Wix ADI, Firedrop, etc are some websites that use AI in web designing. Wit.ai owned by Facebook and Dialogflow by Google offer free services one can make use of. In contrast, Amazon Lex, IBM Watson, Microsoft LUIS are commercial paid services.

6. Artificial Intelligence based Content Generation

By now you might have got hold of what AI is capable of doing. You should not be shocked if I say AI can write content for you. That’s right. But it’s also true that it cannot just write a newspaper article all by itself or a movie review. By making use of certain tools/programs it can process the data and come up with the content in formats like an article, image, video, product description, etc. 

Associated Press and Forbes are already making use of tools like Wordsmith, Articoolo, and Quill to create content which is increasing the traffic to their websites. If you have read content on BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters that means you have read the content that was generated by AI. Companies like Samsung, Yahoo are not behind in implementing automated content writing technology. 

7. Content Curation using AI

We are very well aware of the fact that content marketing has an impressive Return On Investment(ROI). Also, it won’t be wrong to say that it offers intensive resources. Content generation and curation are two major aspects of content marketing. Content curation is the process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest. 

BuzzSumo, Concured  are  AI enabled content strategy tools which can quickly check the trending content, accordingly, plan the future content, repurpose existing content, schedule and distribute them on many channels for maximum visibility. 

Content curation using AI helps to connect with the customers by showing them more relevant content. You would have definitely come across Amazon’s product suggestions based on previous purchases or recent searches, Netflix’s suggestions of movies or TV shows are some examples of personalized content recommendations which can interest the user. Likewise, one can also show related articles to website visitors based on their interest, this will increase the chances of retaining the user for a longer time aiding the website traffic. 

According to Adobe, 47% of marketers say that producing content at scale is one of their biggest challenges. AI helps to speed up content production efficiently in turn scaling up content marketing. 

8. Effective Email Marketing Campaigns 

As of now, we have an idea of how important personalization is in digital marketing. 

With the growing customer base, sending tailor-made emails to each customer might seem intimidating. Based on user preferences and behavior, AI can be used to personalize email marketing campaigns. It is really important that your email hits the inbox at the right time to not get lost in the pool of emails. 

AI analyzes enormous data about the customer to understand which subject line and title get more clicks, what kind of content grabs user attention, which is the best time of the day to send emails, what should be the frequency of the emails and various other factors. Of course, these details are user specific. AI will take care of these specifics and make sure tailor-made emails hit the customers inbox at the right time.

Phrasee, Persado are tools that apply AI in email marketing.

9. Optimize Voice Search

As per ComScore, “50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020”. AI enabled devices/apps like Alexa, Siri, Google Home, Echo have changed the way search is performed today. People today can get answers to their questions without reaching their desktops by just pressing a button or initiating a voice command. Most of the searches are in a natural, conversational language, unlike the typical keyword search. Google RankBrain, a machine learning algorithm, and Voice searches have revolutionized internet searches. 

As a marketer, it is important to adapt to these changes and write the content so that our sites are picked up for the relevant searches. If this is taken care of properly there are chances to rank higher for voice search results. Websites which can optimize for voice search can increase their organic traffic considerably.

10. E-commerce

E-commerce has changed the way we do the shopping today because its time saving, it’s easy to compare prices, no crowd, comfort, more variety, less tax, etc. According to Creating A Website Today, “71% of shoppers believe that they can find a better deal when they shop online rather than going to a store”.

AI enabled e-commerce websites, track their customer’s habits, buying behaviors, preferences and use them to provide personalized recommendations on products or services that the customer might be interested in. Once you get hold of what your customer’s buying habits are you can come up with a more effective marketing strategy for them. 

We all know e-commerce giant, Amazon, uses AI. The algorithm considers the user’s buying history, cart items, items liked by the user, items visited by the user from what others viewed or bought, etc. These factors are considered to offer personalized product suggestions scaling up the sales and hence the revenue. According to Rejoiner, Amazon’s recommendation engine drives 35 percent of total sales. Taking a step further, e-commerce websites have also incorporated AI in their search engines for smarter product search. We have also talked about AI-powered chatbots at length, e-commerce websites incorporate them for better customer service. 

AI is also being used by many e-commerce giants to manage the logistics part of the business. With the ever increasing inventory of products, e-commerce platforms can make use of AI to create product descriptions. Its ability to create thousands of descriptions per hour, capable of producing descriptions which buyers are looking for, changing description dynamically for product effectiveness, dynamic pricing, etc can increase the volume of sales and revenue. 

AI also plays a significant part in the e-commerce post-sale support by handling complaints, returns, and refunds. AI plays a crucial role in inventory management, they understand what’s in stock and what’s running out of stock, also understand what stocks to order and when. AI also has a role to play in e-commerce sales forecasting. It makes use of the previous sales history, competitors market research, customer search trends, etc to do predictive analysis to project future sales. AI ability to process images is used in e-commerce taking image search to a whole new level. 

Conclusion

According to a BrightEdge survey, “the next big trend” in marketing is Consumer Personalization 28.66%, Artificial Intelligence 25.69%, Voice Search 21.23%. It goes without saying that one should keep up with the trend to be in the race. Applications of artificial intelligence in digital marketing are spreading its wings and in the near future, AI will be significant. We have seen how applications of AI are impacting the business in a good way by delivering great results in terms of productivity, profitability, and efficiency.

Since AI in Digital Marketing is growing, its efficiency and effectiveness will also increase with time. As a digital marketer, it is the right time to understand and adapt to AI applications for effective marketing.