Artificial intelligence is one of the most popular and divisive topics in the business world. Many people think of it as a way to skirt the American workforce while others see it as a way to provide more lucrative job opportunities while increasing efficiency. Well, we’re happy to report that all signs seem to point to the latter. It’s true that artificial intelligence enables computers to perform tasks that a person would traditionally perform, but it’s also true that it enables workers to grow in their roles while helping companies increase their ROI. It’s a win-win!
The e-commerce industry has grown a lot in recent years, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only was there an increase in online shopping, but there were also a lot of people who launched e-commerce businesses of their own. It’s easier than ever to launch and run an e-commerce business, and much of that is due to AI. Continue reading to learn about some of the many ways AI and machine learning can help improve your e-commerce company.
Artificial intelligence helps online retailers build connections with potential customers.
Once upon a time, you could count on going to your mailbox and finding it full of promotions and coupons at least once a week. Nowadays, with the spread of e-commerce and digital transformation, people still get promotions and coupons in the mail, but it’s usually in the form of emails rather than snail mail.
Some companies send thousands of coupons and promotional codes to online shoppers every day using automation powered by artificial intelligence. Data insights allow them to see what types of products and services potential customers like, enabling online retailers to create target marketing campaigns and promotions and automate their delivery. So, when you get a Noon promo code for that pair of Adidas you’ve been eyeing for the past week, it’s not magic—it’s artificial intelligence.
Machine learning algorithms personalize the customer experience.
In recent years, many companies have been making sweeping changes to their business models with one goal in mind, and that’s enhancing the customer experience, which eCommerce AI excels at. Customer experience is different from customer service (which we’ll discuss in the next section). Customer experience is all about what you do to form bonds with your customers, and service is how you do it. Machine learning algorithms personalize the customer journey (or experience) by learning from customer behavior and suggesting similar products to ones they’ve purchased before or new products that might catch their interest.
Chatbots and virtual assistants provide immediate, round-the-clock customer service.
Earlier in the article, we told you how AI can help personalize the customer experience, and we also promised to tell you how it can help improve customer service. One of the things customers hate most is waiting in a long call queue to get the assistance they need. However, interactive voice response (IVR) technology is capable of recognizing natural language and responding to callers accordingly, often mitigating the need for human intervention.
As you can see, there are lots of ways you can implement artificial intelligence to enhance business processes. The exciting part is that the business world is discovering new ways to use big data and AI to its advantage all the time, and this is especially true of the e-commerce industry. Chatbots can engage online shoppers the instant they visit your page and offer to assist potential customers through their online shopping journeys, and virtual assistants that understand natural language help manage overloaded call queues. Furthermore, AI and machine learning algorithms personalize the customer experience and help e-commerce companies form connections with potential customers. How doesn’t AI improve e-commerce?