The key to guiding your communications is, as always, the effective use of your data.
Personalisation is certainly not a new concept for online or offline comms. However, the augmentation of your data to drive personalisation in a COVID-19 world can help you truly understand what your customer is looking for and how they might behave.
The growing importance of AI to drive the improved use of data is, and will continue to be, a game-changer in the way organisations deliver great customer experience. Using AI to assist in determining the ‘next best action’, ‘likelihood of churn’, or ‘most likely to purchase’ (as a small example of what’s possible) can ensure your communications are not only personalised but also contextually relevant.
Based on the 6th Edition of the State of Marketing report prepared by Salesforce, the use of AI in marketing circles has grown exponentially from 29 per cent in 2018 to 84 per cent in 2020.
The top AI use cases for marketing include the following:
1) Personalised experience in individual channels
2) Improved customer segmentation/lookalike modelling
3) Surfaced insights from data
4) Drive next best actions (e.g. offers)
5) Automated customer interactions.
Driving this type of communication strategy requires a number of key building blocks, such as:
- The unification of your customer data sources to provide a truly rich understanding of customer behaviour. This, in of itself, is difficult for many organisations, but the journey must start somewhere. Customers expect you to know them implicitly.
- · The identification of key use cases that will assist in driving your strategy. Understanding what the data is telling you will help drive how it’s used. Aligning that within your organisational silos will help ensure your customers receive a great experience both online and offline.
- The adoption of data science in how you review, augment and interrogate your data sources.
- The use of software platforms that help you use the data in a scalable, personalised and contextual manner.
Whether you’re a small, medium or large enterprise – data-based AI-driven communications deliver experiences that will improve fundamental customer metrics like sales, retention and satisfaction.
You need to have a strategy to determine how your organisation uses AI to communicate with your customers. This will help guide you through the current period and beyond.
By Steven Emanouel, Chief Experience Officer for data-driven communications at IVE Group
