Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, is an integral part of marketing nowadays. Read on for the final part of our complete primer for AI in our industry right now.
See part two: Another five ways AI marketing is changing your life
Customer Segmentation
Companies such as AgilOne are allowing marketers to optimise email and website communications from tracking and learning user behaviour. It is possible to plug first- and third-party data into a clustering algorithm, then use the results in a CRM or custom experience system. It is also used in a variety of marketing automation platforms today.
Sales forecasting
Machine learning can help with filtering conversions when using inbound communication.
Much like predictive customer service, inbound emails can be analysed and appropriate action taken based on past behaviours and conversions. It can suggest if a response is required or even disqualify the lead altogether, saving lots of time.
Image recognition
This type of AI relies on the sophisticated recognition of the landscape in front of you, including other people, to overlay holograms with accuracy.
Google Photos allows you to search your photos for ‘cats’. Facebook and Snapchat Face Swap also recognise faces.
One of the most interesting implementations of image recognition is DuLight from Baidu. Designed for the visually impaired, this early prototype recognises what is in front of the wearer and then describes it back to them.
Content generation
Content generation is still mainly done using structured data. Wordsmith is a platform that automatically generates news articles from sources like financial reports.
This relies on the reports being fed into a CSV in the right way. It’s automation in action. Soon, the plan is to do this level of content generation with unstructured data.
Bots, PAs and messengers
Chatbots are are perceived to be the future of user input on mobile, replacing apps, or humans for that matter.
Simply talking or typing to a chatbot will allow a service to be delivered through the analysis of natural language combined with understanding of a brand’s datasets.
As Techcrunch points out, Facebook’s platform, previewed at F8, could lead to chatbots replacing helpline numbers, offering more comfortable customer support experiences without the hassle of 1-1 phone conversations and hold times.
AI still cannot do everything
AI and machine learning still need people to improve their accuracy and to train algorithms properly.
Crowdsourcing of a workforce (e.g. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk) will perhaps become a bigger industry as more AI brings a need for a human’s guiding hand to adjust datasets.
AI presents an exciting way forward for businesses to engage with customers and prospects. With a human helping hand, it can achieve results beyond our imagination.