Introduction
- Artificial Intelligence will be the ultimate version of Google – A search engine that would know exactly what you wanted before you even expressed your desires and would deliver it to you
- AI is gaining such prominence that 78% of brands either have already implemented or are willing to implement AI in their business by the year 2020 as revealed in a survey conducted by Oracle
- As of today, AI has seeped into every one of the societal pores – Healthcare, Insurance, Real Estate, Education, Marketing and Sales. You name it and you will find AI there waiting to greet you
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Still in its Infancy
- According to Digiday Research, a lot of marketers do not understand Artificial Intelligence and its role in marketing well. As a result, almost half of the marketers surveyed ranked their company’s understanding of AI as a C on a scale from A to F
- Though AI in marketing is still in its infancy; let’s not forget that an infant brings hope of a bright future of endless possibilities. So shall it be with AI-powered marketing
- And this infant is showing healthy and steady growth – 61% of marketers believe that Artificial Intelligence is the most vital aspect of their data strategy as per a study conducted by Venture Harbor
Artificial Intelligence in Lead Generation
- A study conducted by Harvard Business Review revealed that AI in marketing has increased leads by 50% and reduced lost leads by 40-60% for businesses
- AI-powered tools can help in extracting key insights into leads from social media platforms, ecommerce stores, CRM tools, and market automation system
- Another way AI can help in leads generation is by building Leads Database using the information that is available on the existing leads
Artificial Intelligence in Lead Nurturing
- Generation of quality leads is simply turning onto the right road. The next step is to walk in it – Leads Nurturing
- 80% of sales is dependent on at least five follow-ups after initial contact but sadly, about 50% of leads never receive follow-ups according to Two by Fore. AI-powered Chatbots can send follow-up emails based on consumer behavior all by themselves at a time they’re most likely to open, thereby allowing businesses to nurture leads on auto-pilot
Prospecting Data Using Artificial Intelligence
- Sales reps spend around 8.8 hours every week searching for customer information and still about 50% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting
- AI-enabled tools will analyze profiles of the high-value customers and create a lookalike audience based on it, superseding the power of subjective human research, experience, and intuition
- The best part is that AI is a self-reliant technology. Meaning, it gets better and better with every analysis fetching companies with greater number of quality leads
Marketing Chatbots
- According to a 2019 study conducted by Chatbots Life; by 2020, around 85% of consumer interactions will be carried out without a human agent
- AI-based Chatbots can help in transforming cold leads by interacting with them directly on social media and reminding them of a company’s product and service offerings
- Bots can hold meaningful purchase-related conversations with customers by offering them useful product recommendations. In the process, bots can also gather valuable information about customers’ tastes and preferences
- AI-powered bots can even send messages catered to a customer’s specific location in the buying journey via email segmentation. Meaning, low-friction emails will be sent to low-commitment prospects lest they’re lost and high-friction emails are reserved for high-commitment prospects
- Chatbots can provide much-needed customer support by attending to and solving around 70% of customer queries without human intervention and that too round-the-clock
Artificial Intelligence in Leads Scoring
- “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” Properly prioritizing contacts using Artificial Intelligence can translate into enhanced productivity
- Salesforce Research revealed that high-performing sales teams are 1.6x times more likely to prioritize leads using predictive leads coring instead of only intuition
- The rules-based manual approach to Leads scoring is being superseded by data-driven approach that uses historical behaviors of high-converting leads to determine the low-hanging fruits and real-time outcomes to modify the scoring model
- AI-supported Analytics can help you cherry-pick quality leads by processing reams of CRM system data, sales histories, company data, behavioral data, and demographics. The data thus processed is used to identify hidden buying signs and the right leads and the right time to contact them is determined
Artificial Intelligence in Leads Engagement
- “The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.” And AI-powered Chatbots can bring about that leads engagement by answering purchase-related queries and creating relevant purchase experiences via product recommendations
- And the cherry on top of the cake is this – These Chatbots are not pushy and are available 24×7. The State of Chatbots Report found that 64% of internet users consider the 24-hour service as the best Chatbot feature
- AI-enabled hyper-personalized marketing campaigns are the need of the hour to driver greater customer engagements
Artificial Intelligence in Leads Conversion
- Ai-based content intelligence and strategy platforms can be used to curate content that is packed with purpose, reason, and potential ROI. More relevant niche-specific content will help in generating more sales
- AI and Machine Learning-powered tools can help optimize any website and even its content in a manner that every individual visitor gets to experience the page tailored for them
- AI-powered assistants can be used to communicate with leads anytime and anywhere
- Ai-powered video creation platforms are available for marketers without training using which meaningful engaging video content can be created from articles within minutes
Conclusion
- By and by as AI progresses, personalization has been replaced by hyper-personalization making leads and customers compelled to remain engaged
- It’s about time marketers realized that marketing is no longer about awareness, reach and conversion but goes beyond it. Hence, it’s important to consider a customer’s entire buying journey and employ AI-enabled strategies that enhance customer experience throughout the buying cycle
Author - Debottam Dutta
Debottam Dutta, is the VP for Business Development at Span Global Services.
A technology geek with deep industry knowledge, Debottam has championed the B2B data space and enabled double digit growth for global tech enterprises. His business models have inspired partners globally to embrace data-driven partnerships. Over the last eight years he has built a reputation for developing the best business strategies, incubating new business models and expanding partner channels world-wide.
