AI marketing and the revolution in customer relations

from Michaela Tiedemann | 25 June 2019 | Basics

AI marketing has developed into a promising field in recent years, opening up previously impossible areas and helping to realise new market opportunities. In this article, we explain what AI marketing is, what its strengths and advantages are and what new tasks can be covered by marketing with it.

Playing in the digital age Images and Videos play a dominant role in marketing. This often involves large amounts of Data connected. Many marketing departments can access thousands and sometimes even millions of images. The more image or video data comes together, the more difficult it becomes to manage and use databases. More generally, the question arises as to how a Added value from data can arise.

Link tip: There is not only one way to generate added value from data in marketing - in the blog text about "Next-Best-Action-Marketing we present another form of data-driven marketing.

This can already be seen in the example of the Keywording. If people were to keyword images "by hand" to make searching easier, they would be busy for many years. With Deep Learning, speak to Artificial Intelligence (AI)With the help of the "Image Search" function, it becomes possible to automatically recognise image contents and to provide them with the corresponding keywords. Intelligent Algorithms can now recognise what is in pictures and thus identify them more easily for searching.

AI and Deep Learning help with the tagging of images. — Intelligent algorithms recognise the image content and automatically assign keywords to facilitate the subsequent search.

AI Marketing can show its strengths wherever human performance reaches its limits. If, for example, suitable recommendations are to be made to all customers of an e-commerce platform in real time, this would not be possible through human power alone.

Are processes like these in AI marketing automatedmarketing departments can rather concentrate on the creative tasks that cannot be taken over by machines.

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The great strength of AI marketing results from the algorithms' ability to learn

Most AI solutions are not standard applications. This means that although they are programmed for a specific purpose, they learn over time and only unfold with increasing "experience their true potential.

AI marketing therefore means that humans and machines must work together for AI to produce reliable results. An intelligent Algorithm can, for example, be trained to make predictions about the effect of certain advertising measures on the New customer acquisition to make.

Link tip: Also read all the essentials about the basics of the KI, the differences between artificial intelligence, Machine Learning and neural networks.

To fulfil such purposes, an AI must first work with existing data about customers and past marketing actions will be trained. Building on this Predictions taken about measures that are likely to be successful. The more Feedback an AI gets about success or failure, the better it becomes. In a similar way, an AI can also continuously improve in its search for the best agency or the most suitable freelancer for a particular project:

The AI platform "Marcel" is intended to prove that it is possible to arrive at new, creative solutions in the field of marketing with the help of AI.

Products can be improved by analysing customer reviews

The scope of AI marketing should not be limited to one application area or a few use cases for another reason. The economic potential of AI for a company only fully unfolds when it is holistically anchored in the entire organisation.

The findings in one place can be made fruitful in another. For example, an AI that analyses customer ratings on the web or complaint emails can identify certain weaknesses of products "en passant", so to speak. These insights can then in turn be used in the Product development or the Quality assurance be used in production for improvement.

AI marketing guarantees focus on customer needs and customer loyalty

One of the most important foundations for AI marketing are Data - from and about the Customers of a company. This approach thus guarantees a strong focus on the needs of customers, which are reflected in their behaviour. In this context, returning and loyal customers represent a particularly high value for companies.

Link tip: Read here how to recognise the true value of a customer with Data Science: Customer Lifetime Value.

In particular in highly competitive market segments satisfied customers are important. AI marketing also offers significant advantages: Customer loyalty can be defined as one of the goals when it comes to planning actions, offers or campaigns.

Closely linked to the loyalty of existing customers are topics such as "Cross-selling and "Up-selling". This refers to the option for existing customers to buy additional services with their next purchase or to upgrade to a higher device or vehicle class. In AI marketing, existing customers are first classified in order to identify the group of buyers with the greatest potential for cross-selling and up-selling.

Avoiding customer churn as an AI marketing task

At least equally relevant in this context is the Customer group, where the Probability of emigration (Churn Prediction) is large. In churn prevention projects that have already been carried out, we have been able to identify customers with a high probability of switching with more than 90 percent certainty. In order to retain customers, appropriate countermeasures must be planned and implemented.

Customer satisfaction, for example, can be determined with data resulting from the use of products. If we take a car customer, conclusions about satisfaction can be drawn from certain experiences with the current vehicle. If a car has to be repaired often, for example, there is a high probability that loyalty to the brand will decrease.

The use of AI in marketing opens up particularly complex tasks - especially with regard to human communication

Other data measuring satisfaction are much more subjective and thus more difficult to interpret: The Evaluation of communication data or satisfaction surveys is therefore one of the strengths of AI marketing. The individualised prediction of churn and the planning of optimal countermeasures - such as personalised price discounts, shopping vouchers, cash rewards or incentives through additional features - are a complex challenge that can be mastered with the help of AI marketing.

For manufacturers in highly competitive markets, such as the market for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), However, they are an indispensable means to be able to survive on the market in the long term and to stand out from the competition.

Will AI soon take over all human tasks in marketing?

The widespread idea that an intelligent algorithm will take over the work of humans in the future is also misleading in the case of AI marketing. The invention of cordless screwdrivers and technical measuring devices did not put craftsmen out of work, but gave them new, in some cases more precise working tools.

It is true that through the automation of certain activities, more and more tasks can be taken over by intelligent machines. However, this does not make humans superfluous. In the case of AI marketing, it is particularly a matter of training an algorithm to use the best means of addressing customers in order to achieve an optimal result to achieve. However, this does not mean that people in marketing would have no more tasks from one day to the next - rather, it increases the reach and the likelihood of achieving the desired result with the resources used. best possible outcome to achieve.

AI marketing proves its strengths above all where humans reach their limits - AI will not replace humans

Even processes that are difficult to predict and complex, such as viral marketing become more manageable through AI marketing. Since the introduction of AI marketing takes place successively, there is enough time for employees to prepare for the new tasks in training courses, workshops or advanced training.

But something else is important: AI marketing, at its core, is not necessarily about presenting "better" or "more appropriate" advertising to the customer. AI in marketing has the potential to transform the field of revolutionise completely. Because basically it's about finding the right solution for the respective customer - from the existing customer to the occasional user to the future customer. perfect address to find. That is why the same basic prerequisite applies to AI marketing as to others Data science projects: To bring an openness also for unexpected and unconventional results.

Author

Michaela Tiedemann

Michaela Tiedemann has been part of the Alexander Thamm GmbH team since the early start-up days. She has actively shaped the development from a fast-moving, spontaneous start-up to a successful company. With the founding of her own family, a whole new chapter began for Michaela Tiedemann at the same time. Hanging up her job, however, was out of the question for the new mother. Instead, she developed a strategy to reconcile her job as Chief Marketing Officer with her role as a mother.