media update’s Talisa Jansen van Rensburg looks at three of the ways that AI can help your consumers have a great experience with your brand.
According to an
article by Survey Monkey, “The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer.”
The reason why the customer journey is vital to a brand’s success is because it basically determines whether or not consumers will be eager to use your product or service again. And you
want them to return!
With that said, here are three ways that AI will improve the customer journey:
1. AI encourages consumers to make use of self-service
Consumers don’t have to wait in a queue or be on hold for hours on end to get a simple question answered anymore. Thanks to AI, chatbots can imitate human conversation, either by speaking or writing to consumers online.
Although most consumers
will know that they are talking to a chatbot and not an actual human being, they will still generally receive the answers that they are looking for, leaving them satisfied.
Since chatbots deal with a lot of different clients at the same time, it allows sales reps to actually be available and help clients with more intricate questions. This ensures that problems are solved a lot quicker and easier.
Chatbots are also available 24/7, meaning that, while you are busy in meetings or on holiday, you can be sure that there will be someone available at all times to help make your consumers’ lives easier.
2. AI will help your brand be more proactive
By making use of algorithms and smart AI-powered systems, you can receive data reports that will tell you more about your consumers.
AI makes use of
machine learning algorithms (known as predictive analytics) to determine which items people would normally purchase together online. This can be seen on e-commerce sites such as Takealot where, if you search for a certain product, it will recommend what else you might like with that or what other shoppers have bought with that product.
These kinds of predictive analytics can encourage shoppers to purchase more products and makes them feel as if they are getting a more personal shopping experience.
By making use of machine learning, you ensure that your consumers see products or services that are only relevant to them. This allows for a better journey with your brand because no client wants to struggle or feel lost when they are on your website. And if their shopping experience is seamless, they are more likely to return.
3. Personalised interactions
When consumers are greeted by name — in person, via email or even on an e-commerce platform — they feel important and valued. This forms part of how AI-systems allow your consumers to have great experiences with your brand.
A 2017 study done by Segment says that “40% of consumers say they have purchased something more expensive than they originally planned because their experience was personalised.”
This shows that consumers
want to have a personalised experience with your brand — and making sure that they get it
will be worth your while.
With machine learning, AI systems start to recognise patterns between certain consumers’ buying habits, up to the point where they will be able to tell the consumer what they are looking for and suggest products, services or certain answers to them.
People love feeling valued and special and AI ticks all the boxes in that regard. This will allow consumers to have great experiences throughout their consumer journey.
What other ways do you think AI can improve the consumer journey with a brand? Let us know in the comments section below.
Well, you’ve made it this far. Why not sign up for our newsletter while you’re here?
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy