In the digital age, customer experience has become one of the most important aspects of doing business. In fact, 86% of buyers will pay more for a great customer experience.

Today CX is crucial in all industries. It can be the main “make it or break it” factor for a business. However, each sector has its own customer experience trends that need to be considered.

That’s why in this article, we’re going to take a look at the customer experience in eCommerce and what businesses need to do to create a great customer experience in 2022.

What is customer experience? 

I know what some of you might be thinking: customer experience is just a fancy term for customer service.

While customer service is certainly a part of CX, it’s much more than that.

The customer experience (CX) is defined as the sum total of all customer interactions with a company. This includes everything from the initial contact to after-sales service.

It’s important to note that customer experience isn’t just about the customer’s interaction with your brand or product. It also includes their perception of your brand. In other words, customer experience is the overall perception that a customer has of your company.

What about the importance of CX in eCommerce?

Since eCommerce is a digital industry, customer experience plays a particularly important role. In fact, studies have shown that companies that focus on customer experience and retention have seen around a 200% greater chance of increasing their market share.

There are several reasons for this. First of all, online shoppers are used to having a great customer experience. They’re used to being able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, and they’re used to getting great customer service.

Second of all, online shoppers are a fickle bunch. They’re quick to switch to another site if they don’t get the customer experience they want. 

Finally, online shoppers are more likely to share their bad experiences with others. CCMC found that unhappy customers are twice as likely to tell their friends about a bad experience than happy customers are to recommend a good one.

And keep in mind that it is harder to win back an unhappy customer than it is to keep a happy one.

So, as you can see, customer experience is extremely important in eCommerce. If businesses want to be successful in this industry, they need to focus on creating a great customer experience.

How to create a positive customer experience in your e-commerce store

Now that we’ve seen the importance of customer experience in eCommerce, let’s take a look at how businesses can create a positive customer experience.

Remember when we said that CX was the overall perception, from initial contact to after-sales service? that a customer has of your company?

That’s why we will section the tips into the following parts: Awareness – Consideration – Purchase – Post-purchase.

This way, you can make sure that your customer experience is positive from start to finish.

Ready, set, go!

Phase 1 – Awareness

The awareness phase is when the customer first becomes aware of your product or service.

They could be scrolling through their Facebook feed and see an ad for your product, or they could be searching for a specific product on Google.

The goal of this phase is to get the customer’s attention and make them interested in your product or service.

Your customers need to be aware of your eCommerce store before they can consider buying anything from it.

This means that you need to do a great job of marketing your store.

Here are a few tips for creating a positive customer experience in the awareness phase:

Make sure your ad stands out

When customers are scrolling through their Facebook feed, they’re bombarded with ads. It can be tough to get their attention.

That’s why it’s important to make sure your ad stands out. Use bright colors and eye-catching images. And make sure the text is easy to read.

Remember, your awareness ads are the first thing your customers will see, so you want to make a good impression.

Make sure the graphics are high quality, the text is grammatically correct and the images are relevant to your product.

The quality of your ad will set the tone and expectations for the customer’s experience of your eCommerce store.

Focus on organic content

Ads are great, but there’s a reason they’re part of “interruptive marketing”: they interrupt the process of the customer doing something else.

This is why it is important to also focus on organic content. This type of content is not paid for and is mainly found by users who are doing a keyword search or who have already visited your site/social networks.

For example, if you run a fashion e-commerce, you might want to create content that teaches your customers how to mix and match different clothes and colors.

Customers are more likely to share this type of content, which will help you reach new ones, create a connection with them, and play a positive role in the customer experience journey.

Phase 2 –  Consideration

The consideration phase is when the customer starts to think about buying your product or service. They might visit your website, read your blog or watch one of your videos.

The goal of this phase is to make the customer interested in buying your product and convince them that you are the best option for them.

Optimize your  website or app

Whether your customer is visiting your website or app, you want to make sure the experience is positive.

Make sure the website/app is intuitive, easy to navigate and that the customer can find what they’re looking for quickly.

The effort you put into making your website or app easy to use will reflect on the customer’s experience of it.

Personalize your product  recommendations

If a customer is browsing your website, you might want to show them product recommendations based on their search history or the items they have added to their cart.

This will help the customer feel that you understand them and that you are catering to their needs, further enhancing the customer experience and increasing the chances of a sale.

If you want a professional team to help you with your website and additional features like personalization, contact us for a free consultation. Our experienced eCommerce developers can help you create the perfect customer experience for your store.

Provide valuable content

In this phase, it’s important to provide valuable content. This could be in the form of blog posts, videos, infographics or eBooks.

The customer is trying to learn more about your product and how it can solve their problem. So you need to give them lots of information to help them make a decision.

Make sure your content is well-written, accurate and relevant to your product.

For example, if you sell sports equipment, write or record a case study of how your product helped a customer achieve their fitness goals.

Similarly, show them customer testimonials by posting a video or graphical posts of customer reviews on your website or social media pages.

It’s one thing what you say about your product, but it’s more powerful when customers say it for you.

Phase 3 –  Purchase  

The purchase phase is when the customer decides to buy your product. In this phase, you need to create a feeling of enthusiasm and excitement in your customer’s mind about the product.

Make it easy for them to buy

When a customer clicks on the “add to cart” button, you want them to be able to complete the purchase without any problems.

This means that you need to have a smooth checkout process and that all of your payment and shipping options are available.

Also, make sure your customer is aware of any discounts or offers you might have.

For example, offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount or give a percentage discount for first-time customers.

This will make the customer feel appreciated and happy.

Create an order confirmation email

When the customer completes their purchase, you want to make sure they receive an order confirmation email.

This email should include all the information about the product they have bought, such as the price, size and color, shipping information and the expected delivery date.

Don’t just send these details without any text that shows your customer that you appreciate their purchase.

Even in order confirmation emails, you can show your appreciation to the customer by adding a personalized message. For example:

“Thank you for your purchase, [Name]! Your product is being prepared and will be on its way soon. We can’t wait to hear what you think of it. We hope it meets all of your expectations. If there’s anything else we can do to help, no feel free to let us know.”

Send regular updates on the shipping process

It’s a known fact that customers get impatient and anxious as soon as they order the product.

They want to know when their product is being shipped, where it’s at and when they can expect to receive it.

This is why you should send regular updates on the shipping process to your customer.

For example, update them once the product has been shipped, provide tracking information and let them know if there are any delays. When your product reaches the courier and is on its way to the customer, be sure to send another update.

Just like for the confirmation email, you can let your creativity loose and send updates that stand out. For example:

“Hello, [Name]! Your product has just shipped and is on its way to you. We’re just as excited as you are to see your reaction when it arrives. In the meantime, here’s an article on the top five exercises to do at home. This should keep you busy and well prepared for when your product arrives. Thanks for being a part of our community :)”. 

Phase 4 – Post-purchase

Just because the customer has made a purchase doesn’t mean the job is done. Customer experience does not end when the customer has received the product.

In fact, it’s just the beginning. This phase can be an opportunity to create customer loyalty and encourage them to come back for more or even share their experience with their friends.

Ask for feedback

The best way to improve customer experience is by asking for customer feedback. This can be done in a number of ways, such as surveys or social media posts.

When the delivery is made, wait several days and send a customer satisfaction survey and ask them to rate their experience (this can include everything from product quality to customer service).

Asking for feedback (and acting on it!) is the best way to show your customer that you appreciate them.

Provide superb customer service

Even if the customer has had a great experience, they might still have some questions or need help with something.

That’s why it’s important to provide any kind of customer support. This can be done through social media platforms, email or even phone. Omnichannel customer service is the best way to go.

Make sure you have a customer service team that is up for the task and knows how to deal with different kinds of customers.

Keep customers engaged with newsletters

Don’t let your customers forget about you! Keep them engaged with your brand by sending them newsletters.

In these newsletters, you can include anything from new products to customer stories. Let them know if you have any events coming up and remind them what makes your brand unique.

The benefits of providing a great customer experience 

Providing high-class CX certainly requires dedication, time, and effort. Some might wonder if it’s worth it. Let’s discover some of the  benefits of providing an excellent customer experience.

• Increased customer loyalty –  Happy customers are more likely to return, recommend your brand to their friends and buy again from you. In fact, 89% of customers who have had a great customer experience are likely to buy from the same company again.
• Reduced cost of service and marketing –  It costs six times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.  Satisfied customers are a result of providing great customer service, which doesn’t have to be expensive.
• Increased sales and revenue –  A happy customer is more likely to spend money. In fact, 84% of companies that focus on customer experience report an average increase in revenue.
• Improved brand perception –  Customers who have had a great customer experience are more likely to recommend your brand, even if they don’t buy from you again. And that’s good news because word-of-mouth is the best form of marketing there is.

eCommerce  Metrics to Measure Customer Experience

Now that we know how important customer experience is, it’s time to start measuring it. What e-commerce metrics should you consider to determine the health of your customer experience?

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) – The NPS measures how likely customers are to recommend your brand to others. It’s a good indicator of customer loyalty and satisfaction.
• Conversion rate–  This measures how many people who visit your site actually make a purchase. It’s a good indicator of customer interest and engagement.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – The CLV measures how much a customer is worth to your business over the course of their relationship with you. It takes into account factors such as customer loyalty, referrals, and repeat purchases.
• Customer Churn Rate – The churn rate is the percentage of customers who stop doing business with you. It’s a good indicator to spot customer dissatisfaction early on.

Each of these metrics will give you different insights into the customer experience. Use them to find areas where you can improve and make your customer’s experience the best it can be.

eCommerce CX example

After reading this article, you may be wondering what a good eCommerce customer experience (CX) really looks like. Let’s take a look at an example of Zappos.

Zappos is an online shoe and clothing retailer that is known for its great customer service. In fact, they pride themselves on it. Zappos offers free shipping both ways and a 365-day return policy. If you’re not happy with your purchase, you can send it back and get a full refund, no questions asked.

The customer service team is available 24/7 to help you with your purchase. They are known for going above and beyond to make sure the customer is happy. 

75% of Zappos purchases come from returning customers. This should be no surprise, given the details we read above.

If you’re looking for a model of excellent customer experience, Zappos should be your go-to example.

Zappos is an example of a company that puts customer experience first. They understand that happy customers are the lifeblood of their business and they go out of their way to make sure every customer has a great experience.

Conclusion

Customer experience is essential for eCommerce businesses. In order to keep up with the competition, you need to focus on delivering a great experience.

You need to understand if what you are doing is working. This means measuring customer experience using metrics such as the NPS, conversion rate and customer lifetime value.

However, don’t just focus on numbers – talk to your customers too!  Customer feedback can give you insights into what you’re doing well and where you need to improve.

Use social media to your advantage and make sure to converse with customers. After all, customer service should be personal, not just through a help desk.

Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of customer experience and how to deliver it from start to finish.

When you think of customer service, what comes to mind? Most people would say either calling for assistance or visiting a store. But what if I told you there was now another option? Customer service has been revolutionized thanks to chatbots!

Now, when I mention chatbots you might think about automated messages that don’t really help you. But that’s not accurate anymore!

With the help of artificial intelligence, chatbots have come a long way and are helping businesses improve customer service operations in a number of ways.

AI-powered chatbots are making their way into more and more businesses, as they have proven themselves to be an efficient solution for improving customer service operations. This blog post will discuss how this technology can help your business attract new customers, retain old ones, and improve the overall experience of those who visit your website or social media pages.

What is a chatbot?

Chatbots are computer programs designed to simulate human interaction through speech. They are usually integrated into messaging apps and allow businesses with limited resources to provide 24/7 customer care services at a lower cost than hiring humans. With this new technology, customers can interact with brands anytime, anywhere they want on any device. Businesses have the ability to cut down on costs while simultaneously improving customer service experiences!

How does AI help?

AI-powered chatbots are generally considered artificial intelligence because they simulate human interaction with the same response rate as an average person would.

AI has helped this process even further with the introduction of Natural Language Processing (NLP).

NLP gives machines the ability to understand natural language and respond accordingly, which goes hand in hand with the “humanizing” trend that many companies are adopting.

For example, if an incoming customer request asks “How much does this dress cost?” The bot might reply “For just $25 you can order your favorite style.”

How does that happen? NLP technologies help chatbots to identify and extract the natural language rules like syntax, grammar, and semantics.

This allows for more natural responses that mimic human-to-human interactions at a much higher rate of accuracy than before!

Artificial intelligence also helps chatbots improve using data and assessing how successful their interaction with customers was.

Through machine learning, chatbots are able to collect information on how customers interact with them and improve their services accordingly!

Now that you know what an AI chatbot is and how it works, let’s explore the benefits it has to offer to the business world.

1. Chatbots reduce customer service costs

A chatbot can cut customer service costs, which is a significant part of many companies’ budgets. The cost savings derived from implementing the right chatbot solution are worth the time and effort businesses have to invest.

The cost-efficiency of chatbots from automating customer service and efficiently executing tasks have benefited every industry but interestingly, the banking industry reaped the most benefits. It is estimated that businesses can reduce customer service costs by up to 30% by implementing conversational solutions using chatbots.

2. Chatbots allow a 24/7 service

Chatbots, unlike your human staff, have no need to take breaks, rest on weekends, or sleep. Even during non-business hours, you can still provide support and guidance to your customers.

This is especially important for companies serving clients around the world. Due to time zone differences, it can often happen that the client has to wait until business hours start for the customer service representative.

This inconvenience is instantly handled by chatbots that, regardless of the time or day of the week, can provide quality assistance to the customer inquiry.

3. Chatbots make life easier for your staff

Chatbot technology is beneficial not only for the business but also for its staff. There are multiple interactions with customers asking the same question. This can quickly become a mundane task for customer service representatives and give them a feeling of boredom.

However, with the help of chatbots, the customer service representative’s job becomes easier. This is because chatbots handle mundane work, such as compiling a list of complaints or solving simple problems, while customer service staff focus on more meaningful interactions and inquiries.

4. Chatbots speed up response time

The advantages of using chatbots include quick and fast responses which make them ideal for customer care centers with high call volumes such as airlines and insurance companies.

Chatbots can instantly access customer interaction history and respond to different problems and requests, such as package shipment information, with ease.

Customer service staff, on the other hand, need to ask for customer information to provide support and guidance which typically lengthens response time.

A recent Statista study showed that, on average, it takes customers around 88 seconds to receive a response when using live chat. In the case of chatbot solutions, the response time is almost instantaneous.

The speed of chatbots ensures that customers are satisfied even during peak periods when customer queues are long due to high traffic volume!

5. Customers feel more comfortable with chatbots

When it comes to asking about certain products or services, clients may also feel more comfortable interacting with a chatbot because there is no risk of being judged, which means that clients are free to express themselves without feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed. In contrast, when customers walk into a store or speak to a human customer service representative, they are likely to feel inhibited, as there is a risk of being judged or considered ignorant.

How different industries use chatbots

Due to all these benefits, it’s no wonder that many industries take advantage of chatbots and have found different ways of using them. let’s see how some of the sectors benefit from this technology.

• Airline – For example, airlines use chatbots to provide guidance onboarding procedures and baggage allowance rules. Customers can also get information about flights and book tickets by interacting with chatbots.
• Insurance – Insurance companies have employed bots that help customers purchase policies, process claims, give personalized quotes, and more with the click of a button.
• eCommerce – eCommerce companies use chatbots to help customers get answers to their questions, finalize purchases, receive updates on their shipment, and get support.
• Banking – Chatbot technology has also been embraced by banks who are now able to automate mundane tasks such as bank statement retrieval, historical spending analysis or updating personal information.
• Technology – Chatbots can also be used by technology companies to provide support for software products and services, as well as help with technical issues such as downloads and installations.

Conclusion

Chatbots are quickly becoming a crucial part of customer service by providing convenience and instant access to information, speedier responses than human staff, and an overall better experience for the consumer.

The future is bright for chatbots. More and more companies are adopting them as the preferred way to interact with customers online, as humans become overwhelmed with exponential amounts of requests. In fact, 40% of Internet users worldwide stated that they prefer to interact with chatbots than with virtual agents.

This technology is sure to continue evolving as time progresses; we look forward to seeing what comes next!

Marketing is changing. As the digital era evolves, so does marketing. The recent boom in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and big data analytics have led to a new wave of opportunities for those looking to refine their customer engagement strategies.

AI is taking over much of the decision-making process for marketers, which has helped eliminate many of the traditional challenges that come with marketing.

While AI has been used successfully by marketers for years now, it’s only recently that these systems have become powerful enough to take on more complex tasks such as predictive analytics and machine learning.

For example, an email service provider can use AI to determine what time a person is most likely to read their emails and send out messages accordingly.

AI also provides insight into customer interactions and target audience profiles so companies know who they’re talking to and how best to talk with them in order to get results.

It’s time to take your marketing efforts up a notch and get serious about understanding who your customers are.

The old-school method of just guessing isn’t going to cut it in this day and age. With the help of AI and big data analytics, you can gain valuable insight into what people want from you and how they behave when they visit your website or interact with your company.

If you’re interested in improving your marketing efforts without having to devote an immense amount of time or resources, then read on!

What are AI, ML and Big Data?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence exhibited by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. 

It encompasses various aspects of intelligence, such as reasoning, knowledge representation, learning and planning. AI has been motivated largely by some of the limitations of human intelligence.

Machine learning is a set of computer algorithms that offer vast opportunities to help marketers. Machine learning can identify accurate consumer patterns, therefore opening the door for potential improvements in decision making.

Machine Learning utilizes software that can learn from data, without being explicitly programmed for one task or another. 

The software does not only provide insights when given data, but it also has the capacity to alter its process when new data is presented. 

This function enables businesses to explore entirely uncharted territory when looking at customer patterns and behaviors – which aids in reaching their target consumers with better marketing strategies every time they interact with them.

Big data is the large volume of different kinds of information that is analyzed and processed. The characteristics of big data are that it must be accessible, affordable, abundant, and scalable to support the business intelligence needed for a company’s planning and decision-making processes.

Big data analytics is an umbrella term for a variety of tools that are used to aggregate large amounts of data. Big data analytics may be geared towards understanding user behavior, analyzing social networks, finding patterns in healthcare conditions, or predicting the global economy. 

The real value is in big data’s predictive power – the ability to process terabytes or even petabytes of data and use algorithms to uncover connections that would have been impossible to spot with conventional techniques.

How AI and data analytics take marketing to the next level

Let’s explore the benefits that AI and data analytics have to offer to the marketing industry.

1. AI-powered personalization

In a world of information overload, the only way to cut through the noise is with personalized marketing.

Personalization is the process of making a product or service fit better with a customer’s needs.

By having access to big data on customer behavior, the company can get answers to some fundamental questions marketers face every day – what do our customers want and when do they want it?

After having access to data on customer behavior, AI-powered technologies learn user preferences and behaviors in the course of seamless service delivery and then apply this knowledge to fine-tune marketing campaigns. 

For example, if a particular individual’s most common search on an online sports shop is football t-shirts, sending offers about skiing gear might not be relevant and potentially result in a lost opportunity.

The key component that makes AI so valuable for marketers is its ability to look at individual customer data and come up with personalized messages that speak directly to them about what they want or need.

2. Improved social media activities

The use of AI in the field of social media has been a big discovery for marketers looking to advertise their products and services.

It has been shown that using artificial intelligence in social media marketing can dramatically increase engagement rates and lead to more conversions.

Why? because AI can automate vital aspects such as:

• Customer feedback analysis – By using natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence solutions help marketers save time and analyze a large number of customer comments and feedback on different social media platforms. In this way, marketers will have an easily available analysis of customer feelings and opinions about the product/service that can delve into knowing the exact reason (lack of a feature, bad interface, etc.) for dissatisfaction.
  
• Ad automation – Another way that artificial intelligence solutions make life easier for marketers is by enhancing the performance of social media ads. AI can identify the best target audience for a specific campaign, as well as optimize the bidding strategy and creatives to get the best results and spend the least amount possible.

3. Faster decision making

With access to such a huge amount of data, it is difficult for marketers to act quickly and make decisions. One way companies can address the issue is by implementing an AI solution to analyze their datasets with minimal human intervention.

AI in a fraction of the time can analyze campaign-related data and extract meaningful information such as consumer preferences, most successful campaigns, and client sentiments. With this information, marketers make faster decisions that help improve business operations, marketing activities, and the customer experience.

4. Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is the process of extracting information from historical data about past events to create predictions about future outcomes.

AI can be used to make predictions about the future of marketing campaigns, such as how many new customers are expected for a product launch based on past buying patterns. This information helps marketers plan their business activities and allocate resources in order to achieve maximum profits.

5. Improved revenue

According to a recent study by Forbes, AI will be responsible for generating $15 trillion worth of economic value by 2030.

Artificial intelligence enables marketers to automate the process of creating an individual strategy for each customer or person based on their wishes, needs, and past behavior.

Automating this process saves companies millions of dollars and time, but more importantly, this helps build a more personalized experience that will result in better conversion rates, greater brand loyalty, and ultimately improved revenue.

Conclusion

As we have discovered, Artificial Intelligence is being used to make marketing more personalized, efficient, and cost-effective for businesses. 

By implementing an AI solution in your social media campaign strategy, you can get faster insights into customer behavior that will help increase conversion rates across the board. 

If this sounds like something you or your business would be interested in learning more about, reach out to our team of experts today and let us show you how our solutions can take your marketing activities to the next level!

Lowering product prices, reorganizing space, introducing new products, entering new markets – do you think companies make these decisions at random?

Not really. Most businesses take decisions after collecting and analyzing valuable information from their data. This is the reason why business analytics is an important concept, as it helps companies analyze historical data with the use of statistical methods to make informed decisions.

What created the need for AI in business analytics? 

Today more than ever, companies collect a large amount of data. IoT devices, GPS networks, security tools, call logs, website analytics – these are just part of the tools that collect valuable data for businesses to analyze and find important information. 

The problem is that big data is getting bigger and harder for standard business analytics software to process. 

Imagine the amount of information that industry giants like Amazon are collecting. It is impossible to depend on traditional business analytics tools to extract valuable information and create strategies from such an immense amount of data.

That’s why companies combine business analytics with the power of artificial intelligence to democratize data and improve adoption.

Artificial intelligence in business analytics 

We know that artificial intelligence is a field that builds intelligent machines that are capable of solving problems and performing tasks that would require human intelligence.

For artificial intelligence systems to learn and function as intended, they need data. That’s why AI in business analytics is a perfect use case, as business analytics is all about data and that’s exactly what AI needs.

Implementing AI solutions in business intelligence means processing this massive amount of data in a matter of seconds. In this way, managers can easily analyze data and export valuable information that can be used to improve decision-making and strategy building.

Artificial intelligence systems can connect data from several different sources and provide real-time analytics as well as notifications. This way companies can immediately act on the insights as soon as the data enters their system.

This helps managers not only in long-term decision-making but short-term day-to-day strategies as well.

However, in addition to the fact that AI helps transform raw data into an understandable form in real-time, another great benefit is its prediction capabilities. This is also known as predictive analytics. 

Predictive analytics predicts future events and outcomes with the use of real-time/historical data, as well as machine learning techniques and statistical algorithms.

AI-powered business analytics can provide companies with reliable predictions on future trends such as price changes, customer responses, and more. This is a powerful tool that helps companies be proactive, ahead of competition and less likely to be caught off guard.

What benefits does this bring?

• Cost-effective –  AI automates the time-consuming process and frees people from manual work. The system sends alerts that require human attention only in case of real need, thus reducing the cost related to human personnel.
  
• Greater efficiency – Implementing AI in business analytics means classifying raw data instantly and sorting it faster. This process reduces the steps that were previously necessary, therefore, provides greater efficiency to companies.
  
• Greater precision – Artificial intelligence technology not only automates certain processes but also eliminates cases of human error. As we said, handling large amounts of data is exhausting and time-consuming, increasing the chances of errors and mistakes. However, replacing this process with AI improves accuracy and quality.

Conclusion

Business analytics helps companies increase their market share, drive profitability and revenue. It is an essential tool for understanding how different processes work and what can be done to improve the overall business performance.

However, today’s competitive environment, as well as the vast amounts of data available, pushed companies to think outside of the box and proactively lead the market. That’s why implementing AI in business analytics today is not a “nice to have” feature, but a requirement to keep up with the competition.

If you want to leverage your data, improve operational accuracy, efficiency, and reach your goals faster, schedule a free consultation call with our artificial intelligence experts today and let’s start building something great together.

Customer churn refers to the rate at which customers stop using the company’s services or products for a specified period of time. 

It has a significant negative effect on businesses as it reduces revenue and profits. In the US alone, $ 136.8 billion is lost annually due to avoidable customer churn.

For exactly that reason, it is important for a company to have customer retention strategies in place. Retaining customers not only helps businesses establish valuable customer relationships, but also increases profitability.

In fact, acquiring new customers costs 5-25X more than retaining existing ones.

Today, especially in such a competitive economy with wide availability of competitors, companies began to pay more attention to customer churn and have been implementing different strategies to prevent clients from leaving. However, AI has proven to be the most effective solution when it comes to customer churn.

Let’s take a look at how Artificial Intelligence helps companies with customer retention and churn prevention.

Churn prediction 

One of the biggest benefits of AI is that it can help companies predict which customers are likely to stop using their services or products.

How exactly can AI do that? The main characteristic of machine learning algorithms is to find links and patterns in historical data, learn from them, and apply what they have learned to new data.

The same applies to predicting the churn, from the data collected from customers, companies can identify the activities that contribute the most to the loss (decreased engagement, dissatisfaction, etc.). Later, machine learning algorithms are fed with this data, trained to identify such activities in user behavior and alert businesses about a potential churn.

The ability of artificial intelligence to accurately predict the future churn rate helps companies identify the causes of churn, implement effective retention strategies, and ultimately improve profitability.

Let’s sump up the necessary stages from an effective customer churn prediction: 

• Data collection – The better the quality of the data, the greater the confidence in decisions. With numerous user interactions with your services, the amount of data can be overwhelming. Ensuring good quality data translates to better results.
  
• Feature selection – To get the best result, we need to focus on the features that contribute the most to our output (churn). Including irrelevant features in our data can damage the accuracy of the model.
  
• Deploying machine learning models – We feed the correct data to our machine learning model to get the prediction that suits your needs.
  
• Prediction – Finally, after all these steps, you get the churn prediction and can make a business decision based on historical data, not intuition.

Going beyond prediction

While churn prediction is a vital part of customer retention, it doesn’t fully address the issue. Companies must employ various promotional strategies to ensure that the customer interacts with the business again and continues to use its products/services.

Here, as in the previous example, artificial intelligence can be a powerful tool to achieve these goals.

Prediction alone does not mean that the customer will not leave your business. To ensure customer retention, companies should approach users with incentives.

It is important to offer the customer a discount or promotional program to show that you care. Artificial intelligence systems can automate such activities while taking into account what churn stage the client is in.

Artificial intelligence can also determine what type of promotional offer can achieve the best result for the highest engagement and retention for each individual customer. Based on this, the system can automatically personalize the promotional offer without the need for human participation.

Conclusion

Today, one of the main goals of any business is to retain customers for as long as possible, as it boosts the revenue of the company and increases the lifetime value of the customers.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the perfect solutions for customer retention and churn prevention. Information and analysis based on customer data can be delivered to the company’s business systems and dashboards, allowing them to be proactive and ensure that their clientele continues to use products/services.

If you want to improve your customer experience and reduce churn rate, schedule a free consultation call with our AI experts and let’s see how we can get the most out of your data.

Social media was initially created for people to upload photos and make friends. However, it didn’t take long for companies to realize that social media presence plays an important role in brand recognition, marketing, customer relationship, and overall business growth.

Today, most businesses can be found on social media like Facebook or Twitter. These platforms are so popular that it often happens that customers visit the company’s social media page before their website. In fact, research shows that 91% of American businesses use social media.

With more and more companies joining social media, competition became fiercer and customers more demanding. The introduction of new tools and strategies to win customers on social networks made the process more complicated and difficult than it seems.

Fortunately, solutions such as artificial intelligence can help different teams in your company, such as marketing, customer service and sales, to order social media activities well, increasing their efficiency and effectiveness. Let’s find out exactly how it does that. 

Customer feedback analysis 

Online business reviews have a significant influence on the purchasing behavior of potential customers. Regardless of your marketing efforts and strategies, online reviews are of greater importance and weight to customers. 

However, customer feedback is not only important for branding, it also serves as a vital tool to improve your product or service and find the improvement gaps. 

No one knows your product better than your customers. That’s why listening to them gives you access to priceless business-critical information and also makes your users feel truly valued and important, helping with customer retention.

However, with so many different social media platforms, it became very difficult to keep track of each customer’s sentiment, extract important information, and act on it. This is exactly why AI-powered sentiment analysis is vital to businesses.

Using natural language processing (NLP) and neural networks, AI-powered solutions take seconds to analyze mountains of customer feedback data, rank it by sentiment and extract the most important keywords.

This way, your team will have access to already analyzed important information, and instead of wasting time reading reviews, the team will be proactive and work towards customer satisfaction based on insights from the feedback.

Fake follower check 

Another novelty that came with social media was influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that involves endorsement and product placement of influencers – people who have the power to influence other purchasing decisions due to their experience or knowledge in the specific field.

Brands spend a lot of money to appear in an influencer feed due to the large number of followers that the person has. However, if the followers are not authentic, the commitment and the money invested were not worth it.

With the help of machine learning algorithms, AI systems can analyze different criteria of authenticity, such as engagement rate, number of followers, number of posts, etc. 

All of these details provide businesses with crucial information to avoid targeting the wrong audience resulting in a loss of money.

Chatbots 

AI-powered chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning that simulate human conversations and provide thoughtful responses to customer inquiries. Such a system is much more advanced than automated responses, as AI chatbots understand customer intent.

Thanks to this solution, companies can reduce service costs and, at the same time, offer continuous support to customers.

Using chatbots is a perfect way to improve the customer experience, as your service agents are free from repetitive tasks and can focus on more meaningful interactions with customers.

Ad automation 

Analyzing and optimizing online advertising campaigns on platforms such as Google Adwords or Facebook is not an easy task and requires considerable time to master.

Tracking ad performance becomes a challenge when companies have dozens of different versions of each campaign.

Analyzing the data provided by these platforms such as impressions, cost per click, click-through rate, conversions, etc. can certainly be overwhelming and time-consuming.

By gaining access to data such as ad spend, target audience, ad creatives, the AI-powered solution can automatically identify the best performing ads, optimize how much to bid on them and identify the best target audience. 

Because artificial intelligence systems can analyze a large amount of data in seconds, ad automation becomes especially valuable for companies with many ad sets and ad campaigns.

Conclusion

Today, most of your clients and potential customers are on social media, regardless of the industry you operate in. That’s why doing your best on these platforms gives you the opportunity to better connect with your customers, increase your brand awareness, and boost your sales. To achieve this successfully, AI solutions can be a perfect tool.

AI can be seen as a superpower for social media marketing activities due to its benefits. AI can identify your best-performing campaigns, notify you of trends, optimize your advertising, and free your staff from repetitive manual labor.

If you want to take your social media marketing to the next level, schedule a free consultation call with our artificial intelligence experts and let us show you how our AI solutions can help your brand shine on social media.

“Customer service represents the heart of a brand in the hearts of its customers.” ~ Kate Nasser.

Customer service is the assistance you offer to your customers before or after they purchase your product or service. One of its earliest documented examples can be found in the early 1800s, when many companies began to realize the important role that customer service plays in business success.

However, the rapid rise in customer expectations has created a serious challenge for companies. With all the new digital channels and increased competition, it’s no wonder some companies have a hard time keeping all of their customers happy.

As this saying goes “Modern problems require modern solutions”, which is why many companies began looking for innovative ways to ensure customer satisfaction.

One of these modern solutions is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which began to be increasingly adopted by companies around the world to improve the overall customer experience.

In fact, it is estimated that by 2025 around 95% of customer interactions will be handled by AI. So what does this technology have to offer that so many companies decided to implement it?

Artificial Intelligence Defined

AI is the use of computers to perform tasks that are typically associated with intelligent beings, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and language translation. Using these technologies can help companies quickly analyze large amounts of data (including social media comments), provide quick responses to customer questions, anticipate what they want next and generally increase the overall customer satisfaction.

AI-powered chatbots

Chatbots are applications that help businesses automate online messaging interactions with customers to some degree. However, AI chatbots are a step forward in this technology and can guide customers through more complex operations.

AI chatbots are not limited to pre-programmed responses and commands, they continually learn from the data provided and from the interaction of each customer.

Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities, chatbots break down the question and compare it to data in their knowledge base or previous answers that made customers in similar situations satisfied and happy.

The more interactions chatbots have with customers the larger is its knowledge base, giving more accurate and useful information to interested parties.

Reduced waiting time 

Another great advantage of AI chatbots is the reduced waiting time and service time. Research shows that due to long wait times and service times, companies reported 75% of customer churn.

Using smart chatbots can speed up this process, as they mostly don’t require the involvement of human agents. Therefore, when a service agent is limited in terms of the number of people they can serve, the chatbot is not – it can respond to multiple requests in a matter of seconds.

AI chatbots are estimated to save businesses around $8 billion per year in customer support costs.

24/7 availability 

Today customers demand constant availability from companies. This is especially important if the business is international and operates in countries with different time zones. Therefore, 24/7 availability shows your customers that you are ready to help them when needed, giving your business a positive reputation.

However, this can be a difficult task to accomplish considering that the average worker works 8 hours a day. 24/7 availability means you need to have different shifts of workers to ensure your customers get uninterrupted support.

AI Chatbot is a more effective and efficient solution which many international companies implement in such scenarios. Chatbot knows no 8-hour work schedule and requires no rest, unlike your staff. It is always readily available to provide your clients’ assistance and guide them with their inquiries. 

AI-powered customer feedback analysis

Another way AI can help businesses is by constantly checking different digital channels, such as forums, review websites, emails and chats, to find specific problems that users are experiencing.

In addition to identifying customer pain points and improving your product or service based on these insights, this proactive feedback analysis approach helps your business establish a strong connection with your users and identify the root cause of customer problems.

With the help of NLP and neural networks, the artificial intelligence solution will analyze customer feedback in seconds and classify it based on user sentiment. It will also provide exact keywords regarding the problem that customers have encountered.

In this way, companies will always be aware of what aspects of their service customers like best or what things need improvement, giving them the opportunity to respond to the problem before the specific user leaves the business and churns.

Video analytics 

Last but not least, another powerful tool for improving customer service is video analytics. Video analytics is a technology that with the help of algorithms analyzes the content of a digital video to find customer trends and ensure security.

What are the benefits for companies? With the help of this technology, companies can analyze heat maps and customer journeys, discovering the most common routes that help retailers better display their most popular products and offers.

Video Analytics also helps facilities identify peak traffic at their location and understand when additional staff is required to provide faster service.

Once the service is finished, the facial expression of the visitors can also be detected and connected with the quality of the service, giving more precise information on customer satisfaction.

Conclusion 

Many companies still ignore the implementation of AI because they believe it is a more expensive solution. However, the truth is that AI is a more profitable solution for your business in the long run.

Another important point is that the Artificial Intelligence solution not only improves customer satisfaction but also makes your staff happier. Delegating boring and repetitive tasks to artificial intelligence while providing your employees with meaningful projects engages and retains talents within your company.

If the reason you are still hesitant to implement AI in your business is because you are not equipped with the necessary resources to implement AI, that is not a problem either.

MaxinAI is pleased to offer you a free consultation call with our Artificial Intelligence experts so that we can better understand the project you have in mind and provide you with a customized AI solution that will ensure its success.