Synopsis: In this blog we will look at how AI has changed the way personalization is done; the various reasons why AI is a leap above the rules based personalization; examples of various AI based personalization across industries and why AI based personalization is an opportunity to do so much more than we currently practice.
We have come a long way from being a world with one-size-fits-all thinking to having a tailor made experience mapped to our explicit choices and now to an era of intuitive personalization which promises capabilities to adapt to our changing temperament. Personalization and contextualization has been the most loved feature since the time brands realized how much value customers attach to it. Also, thanks to the technological boom, now it is very much feasible to touch the depths of the same – an opportunity the brands are not shying away to experiment. As a matter of fact, 72% of business decision makers believe that AI will be the business advantage of the future, as per recent PwC report on AI and consumer-brand relationship. [1] Hyper personalization is no longer optional for brands, it’s imperative,
Artificial intelligence is no longer a high-tech fad. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value’s recent report – ‘Thinking like a customer’, retailers of recent times hold great value to cognitive personalization with 91 % retail executives familiar with cognitive computing agreeing that it has potential to play a disruptive role in their organization. Even more significant: 94% intend to invest in it. [2]
According to Salesforce report, ‘AI Revolution’ [3] 75% of business buyers expect that companies will no longer need customers to contact them and to anticipate their needs and make relevant suggestions. It also interesting to note that customers are not aversive to the idea of AI based personalization infact according to Apadmi Travel report(2017), a fifth (21%) of UK holidaymakers would like artificial intelligence and digital assistants to personalize their travel experiences [4]
It is also predicted that AI will drive GDP gains of $15.7 trillion with productivity, personalization improvements [5] Also, a recent study by Business Insider suggests that as much as 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by as soon as 2020. [6]
The first thing that comes to our mind when speaking about implementing personalization is having an effective recommendations system in place. Most e-commerce sites were its earliest adopters. But good recommendation isn’t just about suggesting similar stuff that user browsed but also about enabling users to discover unsaid things which he wants. And all this along with the capability of striking correct balance of business objectives. For example, you may have thousands of content items which is relevant to the user but the key is to identify which is of priority among the best fits. AI systems help focus on this incredible value in reducing the cost of prediction. For example, Booking.com is launching a bot which uses AI to show recommendations to shoppers for things to do during their stay, tailored to each user’s interests, location and travel times. [7] Even Netflix estimates that its AI based recommendations drive three-quarters of all the videos watched on the service.
AI is no longer restricted to the realms of fiction. Personal assistants like Google Siri, Amazon Alexa are helping marketers target their ads, doing medical diagnoses, driving high-frequency trading and helping HR specialists sift through resumes. More and more use-cases like creating a more immersive and enjoyable travel experience for holidaymakers, making suggestions based on past purchase trends, increasing conversion rates, reducing cart abandonment rates, analyzing hospital databases, medical images and treatment methods to create personalized avatars, figuring out flaws in the product/service, finding out deal breakers and best-sellers etc. in various industries is making AI indispensable asset for the brands. Overall, the biggest absolute gains will be in retail, financial services, and healthcare sectors as AI increases productivity, product value and consumption. [8]
The hope of AI based personalization is in its ability to make process of making increasingly sophisticated decisions, such as suggesting entirely new profitable markets or finding the most qualified candidates for jobs by helping HR look beyond the visible explicit data.
Here are some points which make AI-powered personalization more powerful than basic segmentation or rule based personalization –
Unique Experience delivered by Cognitive Insights
One of the problem with personalization sans cognitive AI is that all the users falling into the same segments are offered same experience every time whereas rule based personalization don’t give enough room to cognitively change experiences with changing user temperament. AI can pick up on where loyalty programs have failed. For example, they build loyalty by understanding the visitor’s individual needs, the best times for various triggers, how sensitive he is to price differences and his preferred channels. Another example is Servion’s AI enabled Virtual Assistant solution which is a human like voice and chat agent that can simulate a live human agent. It can detect customer’s emotions, perform transactions, and augment context which vary from person to person and initiate personalized conversations, deliver information and take actions to elevate the overall customer delight. [9]
Personalization by Intuitive Search
AI powered search makes ‘search’ more intuitive. It smoothens the search glitches and by using natural language processing and image search, it makes search very personalized. In fact, visual search capabilities are shortening the lapse between the moment of impulse and the actual purchase. So if someone likes her friend’s dress, she can take the picture with her mobile and find matching items online. Another good example is Pinterest’s recent update of its Chrome extension, which enables users to select an item in any photograph online, and then ask Pinterest to surface similar items using image recognition software. According to McKinsey’s ‘State Of Machine Learning And AI 2017’, Netflix found that customers on average give up 90 seconds after searching for a movies hence they have now switching to use AI based search algo for personalized search results. Artifacia, a Bengaluru-based startup that provides an AI-based visual discovery platform to fashion and lifestyle retailers, and brands, is another classic example of this.
Possibility of No interface utopia
AI also offers the promise of next level personalization by offering possibility of no interface utopia. Gartner predicts that by 2018, customer digital assistants will recognize customers by face and voice across channels, and by 2020, 85 percent of customer interactions will be managed without a human.
Opportunity to make futuristic view today’s reality
Artificial intelligence brings much more to our plate than just personalized recommendation by offering discount coupons or special offers. AI can create a true omni-channel experience. For example, mobile apps can act as a store assistant which guide you through the shelves to find all the ingredients for the perfect Biryani and Interactive Q&A chatbots and real-time pricing displays might become a reality in a very near future. A similar scenario of futuristic use-case is implemented by Amazon store, where you don’t need not stand in billing line but by using Amazon Go app you can grab what you need and AI technologies will track stocks and follow up on payments automatically. Another example is of iCarbonX, a shenzhen-based which builds digital avatars of patients by analysing biomedical data. This helps in creating a digital version of a patient which could be used to carry out routine healthcare tests, recommend fitness programmes and even predict future illnesses. [10]
Making logical connections towards seamless, consistent user experience across platforms.
AI based personalization triggers a set of chain reaction which helps catching customers at significant points in time and matching them with brands that amplify the way they experience a certain channel. Campbell Soup, for example, uses IBM’s Watson technology to recommend Campbell Soup recipes to consumers based the weather, personal preference, past choices, and ingredients that are on hand. BMW has introduced an AI app that gathers data around BMW customers and their cars. The app can help drivers avoid traffic, give walking directions to their parked car, and schedule trips. Every interaction between brand and consumer can be personalized and increasingly consumers expect this custom experience. [11]
Constantly evolving personalized experiences
Since AI can evolve on its own and learn cognitively on the go by observing patterns, it can help optimize websites by personalizing them for users based on audiences the AI itself has uncovered. AI based personalization means providing messages and designs that resonate with specific users. Hence experiences change based on user demographics and user behavior in the moment. Users get to see better personalized products, smarter & faster websites and businesses get edge by saving time from doing dated web practices like product-tagging or slow A/B testing. AI can save effort of carrying out survey or QnA-based actions by automatically registering customer’s behaviour concerning a product or even mapping their usage patterns. [12]
Personal but in control
Intrusion of privacy in name of personalization is often a concern. AI based recommendations don’t give the feeling of being stalked & don’t follow customers around as they browse elsewhere. AI works because it adds value to their experience. For example, if a user has no buying history (first time login or guest user) and no product history (new product in the inventory) then still a distinct personalized experience could be achieved. Once the user clicks the first image, an AI can actually analyze the image itself, scan through all vectors available with it as per visual similarity, not just from keywords, tagging and browsing history. From next click onwards, AI starts to decipher the user profile, tastes, aspirations and character. A combination of many attributes then help it to effectively predict the user’s sense of style in the moment even when they are not registered or logged in to our website. [13]
Discovery of New Metrics
Impact of AI powered personalization has led to new metrics.[14]
Proactive Engagement & relation building
Today businesses no more want to maintain their traditional reactionary role but want personalized and proactive engagement. With Sales team’s increased focus on anticipating customer needs and personalizing customer interactions. Competent sales teams are building trusted customer relationships through AI. For example, Machine learning could analyze a caller’s word choice to understand emotions and recommend the next best thing for an agent to say. [15]
Personal Virtual assistants
AI techniques include search, symbolic reasoning, logical reasoning and statistical techniques that aren’t explicitly deep learning based. Hence AI offers a whole wide spectrum of opportunities through which personalization at multiple levels can be achieved. According to a recent report by Gartner, by 2020, more than 30% of online browsing will be done through voice. AI powered speech recognition technology helps to interpret accents and hence better understand customer intent, context and specific user moments which are more meaningful for business conversions. For example, iFlytek’s voice assistant which powers lot of chinese devices and business software has ability to translate Chinese into as many as 12 languages including English, German and Uyghur with a 97% accuracy rate so as to provide closest personalization. A chatty chatbot (Eg.- Alexa, Mitsuku) is the new form of conversational personalization. Surprising according to Forester’s finding, people like interacting with bots more than humans, particularly on the order entry side: a survey of customers indicated that over 80% would love to use Gwyn chatbbot again.[16] Allora, to be released in Oct 2017 will be a AI powered booking platform which creates a unique conversation between the hotel and the guest. By tracking and analysing data across all partner hotel websites, based on geography, guest history, booking preferences, interactions on site, conversions and more it will then suggest relevant options based on demonstrated guest behavior and optimize the booking journey to guide bookers to book direct and with as high a booking value as possible. The best thing about these AI based personalized platforms is that they evolve and improve with every interaction, enabling automated, personalized and relevant one-to-one user engagement across the entire user lifecycle.
References
- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/60130771.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
- https://www.ibm.com/blogs/systems/how-cognitive-computing-will-revolutionize-the-retail-industry/
- https://secure.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/misc/ai-revolution-report.pdf
- http://www.apadmi.com/travel-report-2017/
- https://ehotelier.com/insights/2017/07/11/rise-of-personalisation-and-ai/
- http://www.businessinsider.com/sc/chatbots-future-customer-service-2016-9?IR=T
- https://ehotelier.com/insights/2017/07/11/rise-of-personalisation-and-ai/
- http://press.pwc.com/News-releases/ai-to-drive-gdp-gains-of–15.7-trillion-with-productivity–personalisation-improvements/s/3cc702e4-9cac-4a17-85b9-71769fba82a6
- https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/17/08/p9959034/servion-wins-silver-stevie-award-in-the-2017-international-business-awa
- https://www.translatemedia.com/translation-blog/china-plans-leader-ai/
- http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/personalization-artificial-intelligence-taking-branded-content-next-level/
- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/security-tech/technology/catch-the-rabbit-prepare-your-business-for-ai/articleshow/60130570.cms
- http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/ai-personalisation-less-creepy-not/1440908
- https://boomtrain.com/website-personalization-powered-by-artificial-intelligence-infographic/
- https://secure2.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/misc/state-of-sales-report-salesforce.pdf
- https://chatbotsmagazine.com/which-are-the-best-intelligent-chatbots-or-ai-chatbots-available-online-cc49c0f3569d
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