3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Techniques You Can Implement In Your Marketing Strategy

Artificial intelligence (AI) is embedded into nearly every aspect of modern life. It’s what allows your credit card company to instantly detect fraud… and your autonomous Lyft vehicle to shuttle you from one end of the Las Vegas Strip to the other.

Yet only half of all marketers include AI as a part of their current strategies. According to SalesForce’s “State of Marketing” report:

• 51% of marketing leaders say that they currently use AI in some capacity.
• 27% plan to start using it over the next two years.
• High-performing marketers are more than twice as likely as underperformers to use AI. (72% report current use.)

Let’s take a look at a few ways brands can harness the power of artificial intelligence for their current marketing strategies…

#1 Chatbots for Better Customer Experiences

Successful marketing hinges on the ability to build trust and relationships with an audience. For many companies, real-time person-to-person interaction simply isn’t possible at scale. That’s where chatbots come in.

Chatbots allow customer service and sales teams to engage with users in meaningful ways. From walking a potential new customer through a sale to reminding a client about an upcoming appointment, chatbots can be integrated into many facets of the customer experience.

• Many top brands have begun experimenting with chatbots as a replacement for traditional email marketing. Neil Patel describes an 88% open rate and 56% click-through rate with chatbots.
• Other marketers are reporting a 98% open rate and 44% click-through rate.
• Even if those figures are highly inflated, consider that the average email open rate is between 26% and 32% (depending who you ask). So, why not experiment with something different, like a chatbot?

#2 Predictive Suggestions

Netflix is the master of using AI for predictive suggestions. Gone are the days when a movie or TV show was recommended solely on its critical acclaim or overall popularity among viewers. Today, Netflix uses AI to make predictive suggestions based on your viewing history, frequency, volume, and other watching habits. (For a deep dive into the inner workings of Netflix’s predictive search technology, check out this podcast with Justin Basilico, research and engineering director at Netflix.)

You don’t have to deal in content to maximize the opportunities afforded by predictive suggestions. Service upsells and shopping cart add-ons (“Customers who bought this also bought…”) have huge growth opportunity when managed through AI predictive suggestions.

(Oh, and p.s. – several weeks ago Netflix announced their plans to use AI to crack down on “account moochers.” So, if you need to make any adjustments…)

#3 Dynamic Pricing

Not just for Uber rides or airline tickets, dynamic pricing can be used in ecommerce to raise and lower prices in relation to either a product’s supply/demand balance or competitors’ pricing… or both.

• Supply & Demand: If demand increases or supply decreases, prices go up. If demand falls or there’s a glut of supply, prices can diminish accordingly. AI can be used to track these changes in inventory and ecommerce conversion rates, adjusting price as needed.
• Competitor Pricing: Many tech savvy companies are deploying bots to crawl competitors’ websites and check prices. If a bot finds that your competitors have changed their prices, AI can automatically adjust your pricing to remain competitive.

Where Will AI Go In 2019?

As we move toward the second quarter of 2019, artificial intelligence will continue to gain a larger share of the marketing budget in innovative Fortune 1000 companies. Tell me… how will you build AI into your marketing strategy this year?

Originally appeared on AnthemRepublic.com