When people hear the words “artificial intelligence,” they immediately see pictures of a dystopian sci-fi future overrun by sentient robots. However, artificial intelligence, or AI, in the business world relates more to automation and software that can vastly improve efficiency. In the eCommerce world, AI is a powerful asset. It’s changing the standard approach to personalization, eCommerce SEO services, and advertising.
From advancements in search capabilities to increases in customer retention, AI can dramatically boost your eCommerce business’s profits. While there are numerous instances of AI in the wild, here are three exciting examples of AI in action in eCommerce.
Search
Artificial Intelligence has emerged in search engines in a significant way. Now, with tools like Siri, Google, and Alexa, consumers are speaking directly to search engines. This jump in technology not only increases ease in search, but it’s resulting in the need for businesses to make sure their websites are voice search optimized.
They’ve even started developing picture search. In this search type, people can take a picture and search online for the image. For an eCommerce business owner, this presents a lot of exciting potential. One day, consumers will be able to take a picture of a product that you offer, and the search engines will direct them automatically towards your shop.
There has also been tremendous progress made on the search engine optimization front. Now, thanks to AI, there are programs that can:
- Automatically Provide Site Performance Analysis
- Perform Keyword Research
- Automate Content Optimization
- Make Tag Recommendations
Before the rise in AI, all these SEO tasks were entirely manual. Now, these technologies have simplified some of the once arduous tasks involved in search engine optimization.
Chatbots
You can’t truly have a conversation about artificial intelligence and eCommerce and not mention chatbots. You can add these tools to any page of an online shop. If your potential customers have questions, there’s a bot always ready to answer. There’s no longer a need to hire chat agents for 24/7 support.
Additionally, when you integrate chatbots with analytics, you can find ways to incorporate these bots into every part of the process. They can recommend products, check product availability, offer product comparison, and ease the pain of the payment process.
There’s been quite a bit of development made on voice bots as well. Today, these are used primarily in the telemarketing space, but they’ve become increasingly more human-like and convincing. In the future, eCommerce businesses could use this same technology to streamline their entire customer support.
Overall, chatbots allow you to add a personal touch to your online store, without the cost of manual labor. Your customers will feel taken care of, and ultimately, more inspired to make purchases.
Targeted Ads
Thanks to the deep learning and programming in AI software, paid digital advertising has become a lot more effective. Because of the insurgence of big data, digital advertising giants, like Google and Facebook, now have incredible insight into the things people are searching for online.
Moreover, they use this data to recommend products based on things consumers have been shopping for or have bought in the past. As an eCommerce store, you can use this AI advancement to target people who are actively searching for what you have to offer. This goes beyond demographic targeting and into an in-depth analysis of customer behavior.
There are also options like retargeting, which allow you to advertise to people who visited your store and then left, or even those who abandoned their cart. Additionally, there is targeting based on locations that people have visited. For instance, if you did a pop-up event at a trade show, you could target people who checked into that pop-up event with advertising.
The science and technology are getting smarter every day. Consumers are expressing concerns about the privacy of it all, but for now, it’s sort of like the wild west of AI development and ad targeting.
AI and Business: It’s Just the Beginning
This is just the tip of the iceberg. AI tech is being used to improve customer retention and experience. It’s helping to create better sales processes and business practices. It’s creating a dynamic environment for business owners everywhere. Artificial intelligence is genuinely changing business marketing as we know it.
While there’s a lot of fear surrounding any new tech, when it comes to AI in the business world, there isn’t too much to be concerned about. While privacy concerns are prevalent and ethical questions arise, most people agree that a tailored online experience is better than one that isn’t. Outside of the marketing realm, artificial intelligence is making waves in other industries, like medical.
In closing, if you’re in eCommerce (or any business, really), don’t be afraid of the new tech. Embrace it.
Image credit: AI ecommerce via Andrey_Popov/shutterstock