Part 4: Exploring the power of AI in e-commerce marketing

The e-commerce landscape is evolving rapidly, with the global market projected to reach $6.3 trillion by 2023. Additionally, m-commerce sales are expected to climb to $2.2 trillion, demonstrating the growing importance of mobile devices in online shopping. E-commerce marketers constantly seek new and innovative ways to engage their customers to stay ahead of the competition—a landscape that’s particularly fierce in November and the holiday season.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely the most groundbreaking and game-changing technology at this point in time, revolutionizing the industry and fast becoming an indispensable tool for savvy marketers. . By utilizing chatbots, personalized recommendations, predictive analytics, image recognition, and augmented reality, e-commerce businesses are not only transforming user shopping experiences but reinventing workflows. . AI empowers marketers, for example, with smoother and more efficient analytics, enabling them to work faster and smarter and to make decisions around budget allocation at lightning speed.

According to a recent survey, 61.4% of marketers have already incorporated AI into their marketing activities, with 44.4% using AI for content production. Interestingly, 19.2% of marketers have allocated over 40% of their marketing budget solely to AI-driven campaigns. By 2028, the AI marketing industry is projected to soar to $107.5 billion.

This article delves into the different types of AI technologies available, their benefits and challenges, and how to leverage them to create winning e-commerce marketing strategies that edge out the competition.

Before diving into the benefits, challenges, and potential uses for e-commerce marketing campaigns, let's look at the different types of AI technologies available.

• Natural language processing (NLP): This technology enables computers to interpret and generate natural human language.
• Machine learning (ML): By using statistical techniques and algorithms, machine learning enables computers to learn from data and make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed.
• Computer vision (CV): This field of AI enables computers to interpret information from images and videos.
• Data mining: This process involves discovering data to inform AI algorithms and systems, allowing us to uncover hidden patterns and insights that might otherwise be missed.

Implementing AI in your e-commerce marketing workflows campaign management structure will give mobile marketers a competitive edge. Here are just a few benefits:

Better personalization

According to McKinsey, personalized interactions are no longer just a nice-to-have for brands - they're a must-have. In fact, 71% of people now expect brands to personalize their interactions, and 76% get frustrated when they don't. With AI, you can tailor your content to each unique user. Analyzing vast amounts of data from purchase histories and customer interactions allows you to pinpoint precisely what your customers desire. This enables you to deliver messaging that resonates at the right time throughout the consumer lifecycle. Additionally, it helps digital marketers identify at-risk customers and target them with information that will reignite their interest in your brand. This ultimately increases sales and boosts user loyalty.

Automated workflow

AI has become an essential tool for online stores, helping to automate repetitive tasks and make the shopping experience more efficient and enjoyable for customers. By automating processes such as product recommendations, loyalty discounts, and low-level support, AI can help reduce labor costs and improve operational efficiency. Additionally, AI can automate tasks like emailing, order fulfillment, customer service, and payment processing, freeing up time for innovation and growth.

While adopting AI in your e-commerce marketing strategy can have many advantages, it is important to also consider the challenges that come with it.

Risks to data privacy

AI algorithms for making personalized recommendations and predictions are a widely adopted practice that rely on  data. This naturally means that the practice raises concerns about data privacy and protection. AI also presents an additional security risk for companies that aim to safeguard their proprietary intellectual property due to unintended data leaks and breaches. The best way to ensure that all privacy standards are upheld is to work with businesses and tools that operate with full transparency and compliance.

High upfront costs

AI has traditionally required a significant investment in infrastructure, specialized talent, and ongoing maintenance. Despite the benefits, AI's high upfront costs and uncertain ROI can be a deterrent for some. However, over the years, the cost of implementing AI has decreased, making it more accessible and easier to adopt for businesses of all sizes.

Here are six ways you can use AI to elevate your e-commerce marketing campaigns:

Create user segments easily

Customer segmentation can deliver personalized user experiences (UX) by understanding the unique characteristics and needs of different segments of your user base. AI algorithms can identify patterns, carry out behavioral segmentation, and optimize engagement strategies by analyzing real-time customer data, including browsing history, demographics, purchase history, social media activity, and search queries.

Create targeted content

Advanced algorithms can analyze the language that resonates best with the target audience and generate unique copy that caters to their interests. AI can also assist in keyword research, and incorporating those keywords into website copy, social media discussions, product descriptions, and advertising campaigns can help businesses reach a larger audience. By having AI manage keyword research and content creation, marketers can free up more time to engage directly with potential customers.

Enhance product discovery

AI can deliver personalized marketing messaging in the shopping discovery stage, mainly through product recommendations on e-commerce sites, apps, and social selling channels. This technology utilizes customers' purchase history and other shopping behaviors, such as product page views and abandoned cart items, to showcase relevant product recommendations. Personalized product recommendations are particularly beneficial for brands with extensive product catalogs.

Improve UX with voice and visual search

AI-driven voice and visual search are emerging trends in e-commerce.

• Voice search optimization: Voice commerce provides consumers a quick and convenient way to search for and purchase products using voice commands, eliminating manual input. By enabling digital voice assistants on their e-commerce app and website, businesses can make browsing and purchasing even more accessible for customers and provide a more seamless and user-friendly experience.
• Voice assistants: You can tap into the power of popular voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to improve UX and boost sales. Globally, the number of voice assistants in use will reach 8.4 billion by 2024. By integrating these platforms, e-commerce brands can enable customers to purchase directly through their voice-enabled devices.
• Visual search: Visual search can boost product discoverability. By incorporating high-quality images and videos on product pages and integrating with top visual search platforms like Google Lens and Bing Visual Search, marketers can make shopping more convenient, engaging, and visually appealing.
• Augmented Reality: Augmented Reality (AR) can provide immersive and interactive shopping experiences. With AR technology, customers can virtually try on clothes, preview furniture in their living space, and more. IKEA's utilization of Google Cloud’s Recommendations AI is an excellent example of how e-commerce brands can utilize this technology. Not only can customers preview how IKEA furniture would look in their homes before making a purchase, but they can also snap pictures of home pieces they love and search for similar products.

Use AI chatbots

AI-powered chatbots can provide personalized responses beyond typical FAQ answers, improving user engagement. They offer 24/7 support and can quickly and efficiently resolve common issues. Chatbots can analyze customer feedback to determine sentiment and provide valuable insights. They can also act as customer service representatives, facilitating online shopping by giving tips, handling simple transactions, processing orders, and offering personalized deals.

For example, Sephora's Virtual Artists chatbot was a great tool for audience engagement, making booking appointments faster. Sephora chatbot also helps customers discover products that match their fashion choices and tastes. Sephora's clever use of this technology has increased its sales and revenue.

Increase your reach with translation technology

AI technology has enabled natural language processing, machine translation, and other capabilities, transforming the translation industry. This has allowed businesses to expand their marketing efforts globally by delivering high-quality translations, localization, and communications on a larger scale. Unlike simple web content translation, AI technology can also detect tone and context to avoid inaccurate or unnatural phrasing. While this technology cannot replace humans, it streamlines their work and makes it more efficient.

Gone are the days when artificial intelligence only existed in science fiction. AI is now ubiquitous and has become an integral part of our daily lives, particularly for online marketers. Although integrating AI into marketing strategies may pose certain challenges, the benefits far outweigh any upfront work. By freeing up valuable time, advertisers and growth marketers can focus on broader goals. To stay ahead of the curve, e-commerce marketers should already start enhancing their November season campaign strategies with AI technologies while keeping on top of the ever-evolving advancements.

Want to know how to get the most out of your data? Tap into a wealth of e-commerce app insights, check out our App Trends 2023 ebook, or set up a demo with Adjust.