The phrase “unprecedented” has been overused to characterize the last two years, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
The worldwide pandemic upset trends sped up the adoption of new consumer habits, and derailed even the most shrewd firms’ carefully constructed strategies.
Agile marketers swiftly changed course and put new experiences in place to meet shifting customer expectations. Every digital marketer is wondering the same thing: what will the next year bring?
It is becoming obvious that although the pandemic started with a distinct point of inflection, progress will be sluggish going forward.
Digital marketers will have new chances in 2023 on a number of fronts, including creative methods to reach customers in untapped markets, the incorporation of AI into e-commerce and other marketing strategies, and the emergence of social commerce.
Automation powered by AI is now considered normal practice in e-commerce
Artificial intelligence-driven marketing has finally come after being predicted as a revolution for many years and has done so in a remarkably understated manner.
The AI-powered automation that Google has been rolling out over the last several years is concentrated on certain components of ongoing marketing initiatives, such as auction-time bidding and responsive search advertisements.
Some of these capabilities, like Google’s enhanced Wide match relevance introduced in February, are even built directly into the platform’s operation.
Responsive Search Ads will likely take over as the main ad format in 2022, and during that year, we can anticipate more in-platform AI-driven automation to become the standard (and ultimately the only) choice throughout the advertising ecosystems of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and other companies.
Performance Max, a potent cross-channel marketing solution from Google, would also make its debut the following year, giving advertisers easier access to more inventory across various ad kinds.
While the results of our testing of Performance Max have been good so far, the true test will come in the first half of next year when Google integrates Smart Shopping campaigns, thereby unleashing this ad type for e-commerce firms.
Chatbots AI and virtual assistants
Susan Melony, the CMO of FreePeopleSearch believes that chatbots and AI will take over.
She states: “The usage of chatbots and virtual assistants by merchants is one of the greatest applications of conversational artificial intelligence.
Chatbots and Virtual Assistants (VAs) may analyze and understand spoken or written language with the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP), then create pertinent answers to serve clients.
Chatbots and virtual assistants (VAs) become more effective as a result of machine learning (ML), which guarantees that this software can do predictive analysis of the acquired data set. This helps the algorithm forecast future interactions more effectively.
As extra staff is not needed to engage with clients, this is incredibly cost-effective from the retailer’s standpoint.
Since customers may now obtain any information in real-time with growing accuracy with each usage, customer service has also been considerably enhanced.
Building lucrative long-term business connections with customers may be facilitated by providing better customer service. In addition, chatbots have several more productive applications across sectors.
Following these patterns can help organizations remain ahead of the competition and use these insights as conversational AI becomes more and more commonplace.”
Effective customization and client service
Due to the assistance they may typically anticipate from sales staff at a firm, the majority of consumers typically prefer offline shopping.
Consumers prefer these face-to-face encounters over manually looking for this information online since they are more hospitable and understandable.
AI-generated individualized suggestions are derived from this. Giving particular advice to people rather than grouping them and creating generalizations would still allow online companies to make money and satisfy consumers.
Data-driven enterprises heavily rely on personalized and targeted advertising to make money.
Hyper-personalization is enabling companies to establish solid business-customer interactions thanks to the special mix of Machine Learning and Big data.
One excellent example of how AI may assist consumers in making wise decisions is Levi’s AI-powered Chatbot.
Social commerce eliminates conflict in e-commerce
According to Percy Grunwald, founder of Compare Banks, you should “See it, choose it, and purchase it.”
He continues; “The customer journey is made less difficult by social media stores, making it simple to go from discovery to purchase. They are present. The item is present. There is just the checkout to go.
Ultimately, each mouse click is a chance for prospective consumers to alter their minds.
There is a lot of time to lose their interest if they have to go from your advertisement to your website, add the product to their shopping cart, and enter their payment card information.
Remove the needless processes and let people buy while they are sociable.”
Social commerce provides a focus group right away
Social commerce not only expedites the transaction process but also provides a fantastic opportunity to get feedback.
Your product catalog is available for customers to evaluate and comment on in public. Your consumers may simply tell you what they like or dislike, therefore no crystal ball is necessary.
Why not ask your audience to vote while they’re there and to provide their opinions on matters about product development and inventory?
On social media, you have access to detailed information about your consumers and the chance to interact with them directly via comments or private messages to provide individualized customer support.
Improved Management
Smart technology may handle inventory management and other administrative activities considerably more effectively.
Sam Willis, writer at Raincatcher claims: “AI is better than the typical employee in gathering, analyzing, curating, and predicting results because of its sophisticated data analysis algorithms.”
Willis continues; “Businesses may earn more from this since it is quick and economical. Other staff may work on less demanding and more productive corporate duties while AI handles management-related chores.
The greatest aspect is that artificial intelligence (AI) programs will become better the more they are utilized, resulting in a never-ending cycle of production.”
Increased Security
E-vulnerability commerce’s to fraud and cyberattacks are increasing as a result of its rapid expansion.
Isla Sibanda, founder of Privacy Australia believes: “Businesses are crippled by hackers using a range of techniques, including credit cards, promotional codes, and proxy scams.
Malicious software is becoming increasingly more prevalent, damaging users and raising security issues. In order to stop such occurrences, comprehensive blacklists of risky IPs and email addresses are compiled using AI and ML.
AI may assist companies in maintaining their profitability and brand reputation by thoroughly reviewing all transactions.
To prevent cyber breaches, businesses must employ cybersecurity specialists and augment them using AI.
Artificial intelligence is able to recognize risks with almost perfect accuracy, prioritize them, and automate solutions before the infection does harm.
Moreover, it can compile all of this massive data, utilize it to forecast potential problems in the future, and develop preventive actions.”