If you run an online business, you need to invest in AI tools!
Companies and developers have consistently been working towards creating AI that can make our lives easier. From writing blog posts, creating art, coding and even building machines, AI is capable of performing basically every task you can think of today. To date, 37% of all businesses and organizations use artificial intelligence (AI) to perform their work, and it is expected that by 2030, AI will contribute US$15.7 trillion to the global economy.
If you are running an online business, you will not want to miss out on this opportunity to grab a slice of the pie. Let’s take a look at how AI can be used to help an online business simplify business operations and create new avenues for growth.
AI in e-commerce
Recommendation engines
If you run an e-commerce platform, you can use AI to create recommendation engines. These can suggest products to your customers based on their browsing history, preferences and interest. For example, AI-based developer Twiggle incorporates human thinking into search engine design by using natural language processing.
Chatbots/ virtual assistants
Integrating AI chatbots into your platform can help streamline the user experience and address queries without the need to involve customer service executives. The makeup retailer Sephora has had tremendous success with its AI-powered chatbot. The chatbot helps customers book a makeover and has had an 11% higher conversion rate than the other channels that can be used for bookings.
For e-commerce platforms in the fashion scene, a virtual fashion assistant can help you. For example, fashion retailer The North Face uses AI to help customers find their perfect jacket. The AI assistant helps the customers find the right fit based on their needs, which is learned by asking them a wide range of questions about the kind of climatic conditions they want to use the jacket in.
AI in brand marketing
AI can be leveraged to market your brand. It can help you collect and study customer data as well as larger economic factors that can impact marketing decisions. This can help marketing teams decide where to place advertisements via programmatic advertising. Programmatic advertising helps you find ad space that is relevant to your consumers based on factors, such as their age, location, interest. In 2014, Google used programmatic advertising to promote Google Search App and ended up increasing brand awareness by 50%.
AI can facilitate personalized marketing efforts as well. It can help your brand approach customers on an individual basis. A successful example of AI-personalization in marketing is Starbucks. The company has a loyalty card and an app which collects customer data, like the time of purchase and order details. Starbucks uses predictive analytics to process this data and create marketing messages with recommendations and special offers to increase the average order value.
AI in human resource management
Recruitment
AI can be used to simplify the hiring process. You can use AI to filter job applications and resumes based on certain specific criteria, thereby taking away the tedious job of going through individual applications one by one. One of the AI tools at your disposal for resume screening is Sniper AI. The tool is used by recruiters from companies, like Infosys, Vodafone and Capgemini.
Employee orientation
You can also use AI to orient new recruits to the work environment. Companies can use AI to inform new employees of business regulations, new tasks and team member information. For instance, the recruitment automation platform MYA systems, which provides HR departments with an AI assistant, has saved the French beauty brand L’Oréal an average of 40 minutes per candidate review.
Improving employees’ well-being
AI can also be used to tackle employee problems and improve retention. For instance, the British National Health Service (NHS) uses CoachBot to perform interviews with staff about their problems and challenges in day-to-day work to improve employee performance and wellbeing.
Besides being capable of optimizing the performance of e-commerce websites, marketing plans and workplaces in general, AI is capable of a lot more nowadays. Still, it is a tool that needs to be effectively managed to get the best results. Since AI largely learns through human-generated training data, it can replicate the flaws present in society. For example, in 2018 news broke that Amazon’s recruitment AI ended up teaching itself that male candidates were preferable over female candidates, forcing the company to stop using the AI.
If used effectively, AI could be a boon to businesses. It is expected that the rise of AI will eliminate 85 million jobs, but at the same time, it will create 97 million new ones by 2025. As more time passes, the scope of what AI can achieve will only grow exponentially.
Header image courtesy of Pixabay
