Exclusive: How Retailers Can Leverage AI for Personalizing the Customer Experience

Serena Garner

Although many people already understand that artificial intelligence has begun to play a major role in e-commerce, the role it can play in other forms of retail marketing is often overlooked.

While some retailers have implemented this incredibly useful technology the implementations often have been limited to e-commerce.

Unbeknownst to many, there are a variety of other applications where AI can help retailers. The examples below  represent just a few ways retail marketers can leverage AI to improve sales and enhance the customer experience.

Analyzing Customer Data

AI can analyze customer data more efficiently than any human. By using custom mobile app development services that incorporate AI , retailers can use their findings to offer improved and more personalized experiences.

Many people assume that the ability of AI to analyze data is limited to e-commerce. This is accurate to a degree, in that AI can’t learn much about an individual customer visiting a brick-and-mortar shop if they pay with cash. Since the customer hasn’t provided any identifying details, it’s impossible to learn about their unique shopping habits.

That being said, AI can be used to analyze overall customer behavior for retail companies. It can also help retailers  learn about individual customers who are enrolled in rewards programs.

Store managers can also install chatbot stations, offering quality customer service while learning about customers by asking questions. This enables retailers to gather more information on their customers, and understand how to better market and distribute their brand messaging.

Image Recognition

Innovation in recognition technology offers benefits for both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar shops.

AI image recognition technology has become very sophisticated over the past few years. Soon you’ll be able to download or take a picture with your smartphone, then have an AI assistant help you find a product similar to the one in the photo.

Imagine the following scenario: you’re walking through the mall and you see someone wearing a shirt you like. When you take a picture an AI assistant will show you other shirts like it.

With the addition of a chatbot, the application can even direct you to stores in the mall that carry similar items.

Image recognition software may also enhance the retail experience by recognizing returning customers who visit a store, and offering relevant deals. When retailers leverage this personalization technology , customers have a more enjoyable and relevant shopping experience.

Chatbot Sales Teams

According to a recent survey, most people prefer handling customer service issues via chat instead of over the phone. That’s a smart reason to use chatbots. They’re constantly available, and they don’t cost nearly as much as a traditional customer service team.

That being said, chatbots shouldn’t be limited to these basic functions. Businesses can develop AI apps that communicate with customers when they’re in a physical retail establishment. The program will know the customer’s location in the store, and can thus direct them to products they may want.

In essence, it’s a sales team in app form. This can be particularly useful during busy shopping seasons, when stores often don’t have enough workers to handle every customer’s needs right away. Chatbots are another way to personalize the shopping experience for customers and provide the service they require in order to move them through the conversion funnel.

Improving Content Effectiveness

Content marketing is very important for any type of retail organization. Whether you want your customers shopping online or in a brick-and-mortar store, you need quality content to maintain engagement and build a cohesive brand message.

As AI has the ability to analyze large sets of data, it can assess the effectiveness of content marketing campaigns quickly. AI can let a marketer know the ideal time to send an email, what types of content shoppers prefer, etc.

By now, it should be clear that artificial intelligence technology is a very effective tool for retail marketers. The previous examples show how the technology can be implemented today, however, there are bound to be many more examples emerging in the near future, which is why retailers should pay attention.

Related article: Customer journey: 10 ways to improve the customer journey