The buzzword for many this year has been AI. We have all heard the word AI or even ChatGPT but what do they mean? AI, as defined by netapp.com, is “the basis for mimicking human intelligence processes through the creation and application of algorithms built in a computing environment.” Also known as artificial intelligence, simply stating it is trying to make technology think and act humanistically.
What is ChatGPT?
According to the OpenAI website, ChatGPT is a model “which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”
The best way to test this thing out would be to see if ChatGPT could formulate a list of ‘how AI can help small businesses” Here is the list that it formulated for me:
- Cost-effective automation
- Improved customer service
- Personalization and customer targeting
- Data analytics and insights
- Optimized marketing campaigns
- Inventory and supply chain management
- Fraud detection and cybersecurity
- Financial analysis and forecasting
- Human resources and talent management
- Competitive advantage
- Improved decision-making
- Scalability and flexibility
While this might look great and does provide factual information…will this work long-term? Let’s discuss the top five of these below!
Cost Effective Automation
During COVID a lot of companies, possibly even yours, had readjustments of operations and efficiency for their customers. Business owners had to start investing and researching how to shift their focus. Experienced companies have had to reinvent their businesses by using automation to support cost savings and growth.
‘Every penny counts’ is a very famous saying. This chart depicts cost-saving efforts categorized by industries.
AI can improve business efficiency by up to 40% and reduce operational costs by up to 30% according to a recent survey by McKinsey. AI can automate various repetitive tasks, such as data entry, customer support, and social media management. By automating these processes, you can save time and resources, allowing your teams to focus on more strategic and value-added activities. Even newcomers to automation can use recent technological changes to their advantage. With the right investment strategy and execution, companies can jump over their rivals and automate their way to more efficient and faster operations.
Improved Customer Service
Customer service is a key part of any business. As technology advances, so do we. Chatbots are becoming more prevalent in the business world today. Kieran Flanagan, CMO at Zapier, says, “In an AI world, support is live 24/7. And it probably has, over time, a better experience because an AI bot can have all of the information at once, where it’s really hard for an individual support agent to be able to have all of that information.” This kind of service ensures that customers receive quick responses to their queries, enhancing the overall customer experience.
AI-powered chatbot platforms like ChatGPT, which we discussed earlier, provide a smooth and tailored experience for businesses. Using language processing, these platforms can respond to and recognize customer inquiries quickly. The platform can create more personalized attentiveness, which increases overall satisfaction.
Hubspot recently took a survey among their clients and the most popular AI tools were:
The AI chatbots that respond to customer service requests are the most effective from this study. Followed by tools that help write responses, request the right agent, prioritize CS requests by urgency, and collect feedback. The overall con from a majority is that AI isn’t a human. At the end of the day, a lot of consumers still want that humanistic interaction within the CS space. I think as small businesses approach this, a balance of both would be the most beneficial.
Personalization and Customer Targeting
I mentioned above about the importance of customer service. Another beneficial tool to use AI for is customer targeting and personalization. It can take workers a lot of time and research to figure out customer targets. AI platforms including customer-specific insights from purchase histories, website behavior, and comments can all be configurated easily with the help of AI tools. You can then maximize your content for the biggest impact. This level of personalization can significantly increase customer engagement and loyalty. SocialSprout states that “forty-four percent of survey respondents feel using content recommendation engines to improve personalization is one of the most promising applications of AI.” The biggest roadblock to personalization is the retrieval of data privacy and ethics information. The best solution would be to research the right AI tools and invest in more training to improve the quality of your staff!
Data Analytics and Insights
The fourth way that AI can help your business is with data analytics and insights. The three biggest benefits of AI data analytics is the speed, accuracy, and scale. AI analytics differs from traditional analytics in that it is machine-led. The scale is more noteworthy, data processing is quicker, and algorithms giving more accurate outputs. Small businesses can use this information to understand customer preferences, market trends, and areas for improvement.
Optimized Marketing Campaigns
The final topic is optimized marketing campaigns. Have you ever stared at your screen trying to find topics or ideas on what to put into an email or social media post? Well, AI optimization is a marketing tool that will help you! Some optimization goals are retention, engagement, conversion, awareness, or loyalty. Since we have learned that AI data processing is very relevant, marketers can make informed decisions while continuously optimizing strategies to get maximum performance from AI’s services.
Conclusion
Overall, there are always pros and cons to changing technology. Especially if technology is your main enemy–aka most of us… We have learned some benefits of the top AI features that can help small businesses like yours! Whether it is improving your customer service, optimizing marketing campaigns, expanding your data insights, personalizing customer behaviors, or being more cost-effective in automatization; Code & Color recommends you try them out.
If you want to learn more about how you can use these practices above, please reach out to us at Code & Color!