It was only a few years ago that market research companies were somewhat reluctant to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into their digital marketing strategy. What changed were the results: AI can deliver more strategic insights and better data, and thus make marketing analysis more robust and more innovative towards problem-solving.
While the amount of information on potential consumers grows, computer sciences related to AI (like machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing), will be of utmost importance when conducting customer research and making data-based decisions.
According to a MemSQL survey taken by over 1,600 marketing professionals, 61% of those surveyed mentioned that both AI and machine learning will be the most important data initiatives for 2019. Another survey conducted by Salesforce indicated that 51% of marketers are already using AI, and 27% more are even planning on incorporating this technology in 2019.
Here are some key AI-related market research trends to keep an eye on for 2019:
Chatbots
Chatbots can have all sorts of applications, from dealing with basic customer service inquiries to driving sales. Chatbots are making the process of automating responses to potential buyers’ frequently asked questions even easier by providing them with a way to search for the product or service they’re looking for. Companies don’t need to have a huge budget to create a chatbot either: you can use Facebook bot tools, like wit.ai bot, to train bots in example conversations and make them continually learn from their user interactions.
Voice Search
There have been two big AI advances that revolutionized internet search and search engine optimization (SEO): voice search and Google’s algorithm, RankBrain. Over the past year, around 60% of consumers have used voice search to find information and almost half use voice search daily to source local businesses. It’s also predicted that half of all searches will be voice-based by 2020. This will force companies to rapidly adjust their SEO and content search strategies.
Big Data
As humans are unable to process massive amounts of data quickly, machine learning algorithms really come into their own here. One of the most obvious uses of this data will be in the personalization of marketing messages. Social media will continue to be an important part of data collection, and become even more vital to marketers in 2019 with the acceleration of face recognition and advanced customer targeting.
Augmented & Virtual Reality
Moving from the realm of novelty and gaming, more companies will begin to embrace Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality as a powerful part of their marketing strategy. There are already a few examples: Ikea’s Place app allows you to try furniture in your own home prior to purchase, along with several fashion brands.
by Amar Diwakar, Associate at SIMPA MR.
