Artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually becoming a part of our daily lives. Whether it is your voice-based assistant at home or the friendly chatbot you conversed with to resolve some query – the applications of AI to commerce, specifically e-commerce, are limitless. In fact, a handful of companies are already leveraging AI to fuel their growth. For instance, you might have noticed the product recommendations that pop up when you shop on Amazon. Using AI-based techniques like Big Data and Machine Learning, Amazon predicts your next purchase by analyzing the habits of thousands of shoppers with similar preferences as yours.
Customer is King: User Experience and Growth in e-commerce
Your customers don’t want to be treated like numbers. Instead, they expect hyper-personalized experiences that make their journey with your brand much more convenient and streamlined.
For instance, we all know that an excellent user experience boosts loyalty and engagement. Yet, many customers are disappointed because even though companies invest in the latest technologies, they ignore the aspects that make these technologies meaningful – such as personalization or a human touch.
In the world of e-commerce, this issue is further exacerbated owing to the fierce competition in the market. Every e-commerce site must jostle with hundreds of other players, and a sub-par user experience will only contribute to an increased bounce rate. Fortunately, with the advent of AI-based personalization engines like Argoid, e-commerce players can find customer engagement solutions that fit their budget and requirement to scale their business and grow sustainably.
But personalization is not only one aspect of AI in e-commerce. In this post, we will discuss five ways to leverage AI to hack your growth. We will also talk about personalization in-depth and how you can use it to build an engaged user base.
- Enabling Visual Search
AI-based visual search technology uses real-world images for online searches. Based on deep learning technology, the search engine understands the context of the image before coming up with relevant results. One common example is Google Lens that can detect over 1 billion objects. Pinterest also uses an advanced visual search algorithm that allows people to search for objects matching various pictures or screenshots clicked by them.
- Smart Searches
Speed and convenience are two cornerstones of a great shopping experience. Not surprisingly, the search function of an e-commerce site is one of the most noticeable and vital features impacting the conversion rate. According to data, over 80% of users search for their product on an online store. However, a simple typo can lead to churn by resulting in zero search results.
Argoid’s plug-and-play personalization platform comes with a smart search feature that can resolve this problem for good. Smart search can suggest correct alternatives to users and auto-suggest other relevant products you may have in store.
- An Omnichannel Experience
Modern customers use multiple devices to engage with a site. For instance, you may search for a product on your phone, add it to the shopping cart and then decide to complete the purchase later from your desktop in the office. This is a common occurrence, and naturally, users expect the same level of experience irrespective of the touchpoint they use.
Advanced AI-based engines take an omnichannel approach to analyze user behavior across touchpoints to create a unified customer view. Whether it is your website, mobile application, or email, an AI engine constantly monitors user behavior and collects data to help you deliver a seamless customer experience across all your channels. So, suppose a customer is searching for a pair of black shoes on your site. In that case, the activity can trigger a push notification on their mobile, informing them about a discount or an ongoing promotion on the product, encouraging them to complete the purchase.
- Improved Recommendations for Customers
Knowing what your customers want has several advantages. It helps you manage the inventory, streamline operations, cut down the losses, and boost sales through intelligent recommendations. With AI, this becomes inherently easy, as your ecommerce platform gets the ability to scan through tons of data to predict customer behavior and make relevant recommendations to customers.
Examples leveraging this strategy are common, starting with Amazon making recommendations to users based on their site behavior and past purchases. For instance, suppose that you search Amazon for a leather wallet. As soon as you click on a product from the database, the interface will also throw up an additional “Frequently bought together” section upselling related products purchased by other buyers like you.
Amazon also creates personalized homepage designs for each of its customers according to the items in their shopping cart, wish list, and their past shopping behavior. By anticipating what the customers want, Amazon makes it easier to find what they’re looking for and discover new products. The functionality is based on predictive analytics that use both historical and real-time data to gain a deep understanding of user behavior.
Argoid’s e-commerce personalization engine helps e-commerce players achieve Amazon-like personalization on their product pages to drive customer satisfaction and boost sales.
- Automated Product Descriptions
Content is a vital part of any communication strategy. For instance, users are more likely to purchase a product if accompanied by a detailed product description and an attractive image. On the other hand, using sloppy language or including inaccurate information in your product descriptions can break the trust your consumers have in you. But writing detailed descriptions for every product on your site and manually uploading them is a tedious task. Fortunately, AI comes to the rescue by automating the process of writing product details on your e-commerce site.
AI-based software can copy all the product details from the manufacturer, automatically find related information, and optimize the descriptions using pre-decided keywords. Automating the process offers several benefits, including time and cost savings and the elimination of human error. It is also possible to introduce dynamic pricing using the same technology depending on the location of the user and sales volume.
The Wrap
An AI-based personalization engine for e-commerce can personalize the user journey from end to end while also driving efficiencies into the system through automation of repetitive and labor-intensive tasks. The best part about adopting a plug-and-play e-commerce personalization software like Argoid is that it easily integrates and enhances your existing IT infrastructure, ensuring business continuity and improved performance without any downtime.
