AI’s Role In Personalised Marketing

Consumers these days are wanting more than just a quality product or good service. They want to be individually recognised and valued, which is where personalised marketing comes into the mix. Most of us have already been exposed to it, maybe without even realising it.

The streaming platform Netflix knows what we watch and what we’re interested in, which is why we get a homepage full of personalised recommendations. Same thing with Amazon. It tracks your browsing activities to give you products and deals you’re more likely to accept.

You may be wondering how these platforms are able to do this and simply put, it’s all AI-powered.

 

What Is Personalised Marketing?

 

Companies are always looking to stay ahead of competitors and maintain an edge. One way of doing that is through personalised marketing.

Essentially, it’s a strategy used to give content or offers that are customised to individual customers. It’s not just a generic, one-size-fits-all message that gets broadcasted out to everybody. Because let’s face it, those are the types of messages that we usually scroll right past without a second thought.

This, on the other hand, tailors communication based on a variety of factors. Things like buying behaviour, browsing history and interests will all be studied to deliver a thoughtful, personalised message.

 

AI’s Role In Powering Personalised Marketing

 

Trying to identify these factors and then create a tailored message for each customer manually would be an admin nightmare and almost entirely impossible. Enter the use of AI.

AI is at the very forefront of personalised marketing, creating bespoke experiences and building brand loyalty by gathering information behind-the-scenes. Here’s how.

 

Collects And Analyses Volumes Of Data

 

AI can very efficiently, and quickly, collect an extensive amount of data to determine customer behaviour. It scans information across e-mails, social media, apps and websites to build profiles for each customer based on how they interact with the brand.

It’s far more than just simple audience segmentation and goes beyond age or location. At this level, the segmentation is more intelligent and is done with intent, emotion and buying stage in mind.

 

 

Predicts What Customers Will Do Next

 

AI is able to use predictive analytics, which is a technique to forecast what action a customer is likely to take next.

It’s a proactive approach for businesses to anticipate what their customers may need in the future and then send relevant messaging based on that. It’s all about finding the customer at the right moment to help drive conversions and maintain brand loyalty.

 

The Use Of Chatbots And Virtual Assistants

 

AI-powered chatbots are making the buying journey more personal by answering any specific questions or giving recommendations based on the customer’s preferences.

These chatbots have access to each individual customer profile and since they know each customer’s full history, they can make the conversations feel more natural and one-on-one.

Yes, it’s automation, but that level of personalisation is very much present.

 

Personalised E-mail Marketing

 

One generic newsletter to every subscriber on your mailing list won’t have the impact that you want. E-mail marketing is probably one of the best platforms to utilise personalisation because you can deliver a specific message right to your targeted individual’s inbox.

AI can adjust the headline, products and images for each recipient based on what they like and have engaged with in the past. It can even send the newsletter at a time that the recipient is more likely to open it.

 

Intentional Ad Targeting

 

In the past, the goal of advertisers was to show an advert to as many people as possible. The thinking was that if more people saw it, the more purchases would be made. It’s a hit-and-miss approach because if you’re not sending an intentional message to the right person, a conversion most likely won’t happen.

Both Google and Meta ads already use AI to optimise ads to make them smarter and more dynamic. So the people seeing the ads are already engaged and ready to convert.

 

Sentiment Analysis

 

AI also has the ability to analyse how customers feel, not just what they say. It does this through Natural Language Processing (NLP) to determine underlying tones in reviews, e-mails or social media comments.

With this information, brands can see in real-time how the public are reacting to campaigns or products and can make adjustments if needed.

 

Assistance With Content Creation

 

Armed with volumes of audience data, AI can assist with creating content that is more likely to perform well. This means product descriptions, blog and website copy or social media captions can be generated at scale but still with the right tone and messaging that will resonate with the desired target audience.

Of course, marketers can’t rely on AI solely and there still needs to be a degree of human insight to guide the direction of the content. However, AI’s ability to produce that much content in such a short amount of time can’t be matched.