As mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs) and cookies become things of the past, artificial intelligence (AI) marketing tools are becoming the solution of the future. Companies are increasingly turning to AI to strengthen customer personalization in order to create a connection between consumer and brand.
What is AI? How does it Differ from Machine Learning?
Before we start learning about why AI is key to brand loyalty, we must first understand AI as a concept, as well as its applications.
The field of artificial intelligence (AI) focuses on building smart machines capable of performing tasks that usually require human intelligence. For example, virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa are operated through AI.
Machine learning is a subset of AI that provides machines with data and allows them to make decisions without programming. AI and machine learning are often interchanged because machine learning is the most common application of AI.
How is AI used by Brands?
When most people consider how brands use AI, they’re probably thinking of the chatbots that pop-up on many consumer sites. However, not many realize how AI marketing tools are used to improve companies’ understanding of consumers, which is critical for successful direct marketing campaigns.
AI gathers and analyzes consumer behavioral data, enabling brands to better anticipate consumer needs. This in turn creates a more seamless and connected customer experience. Another benefit of AI is that it continuously learns and improves from the data it analyzes, allowing brands to provide content to the consumer that is relevant throughout their customer journey.
With all of these useful applications, it’s no wonder AI has become a hot topic in the MarTech industry. In a recent survey conducted by ZS, 90% of top executives said they plan to use an AI solution to strengthen their individualized outreach in the next 12-24 months.
How does AI Relate to Brand Loyalty?
In simple terms, AI has revolutionized the way businesses interact with their customers. Besides helping with behavioral data analysis, AI offers brands an unprecedented level of customer experience personalization. For example, conversational AI connects to data from customers’ conversation histories and past interactions, so they don’t have to keep repeating the same information to customer service representatives each time they are transferred. Providing this type of personalized and consistent customer experience is key to improving customer satisfaction and retention.
AI can also be used to gage how a customer is feeling by analyzing their facial expressions to detect their emotional state. Being able to measure a customer’s mood in real time can help turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied one and save their relationship with the brand.
This level of attention to detail is what makes AI the secret weapon for customer personalization. Once this sort of emotional connection forms between consumer and business, brand loyalty is only natural to follow.
Why Does Brand Loyalty Matter?
Besides the fact that companies should inherently want consumers to be happy, brand loyalty is a valuable indicator of future purchases and higher engagement with the brand’s campaigns on social media and other platforms. Consumers connected to a brand are also more likely to recommend it to family and friends, organically building out a brand’s audience.
Even as the MarTech industry becomes more privacy focused, consumers still have high expectations for personalization. By investing in modern AI-enabled marketing solutions and powering them with quality data, businesses can remain compliant with the latest data privacy laws while building loyalty and trust among their customers.
