Artificial intelligence in 2018: 27 predictions for business
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This article was originally posted on Airport Technology
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2017 has truly been the year the business world embraced artificial intelligence, but it’s nothing compared to what’s in store in 2018. From a transformation of customer service to the rise of business-focused voice assistants, enterprise AI is set to take companies big and small by storm.
To find out more, Verdict AI magazine collected the thoughts of 27 AI experts about the many impacts artificial intelligence and automation is set to bring in the coming year, including Philippe Aimé, CEO, Convertize.
In 2018 AI will allow retailers to understand customers’ preferences as well as their five closest friends do, if not better. AI will memorise their browsing pages, purchases, likes, clicks and most intimate wishes. While this might sound Orwellian, it also means you will be able to take a cognitive load off of your customers’ minds and offer a more pleasant customer experience.
AI in 2018 will also bring SEO-voice activation, which is an as-yet unexplored opportunity for online marketers. What if, rather than being overwhelmed by choice, your customer knows exactly what they want? All they need to do is take out their phone and talk to it. It is your job, however, to make sure that your business is SEO-optimised and comes up in top lists of voice search results. The applications of Siri and Alexa will become far-reaching. Even if your customers are not looking for anything particular, but are merely enquiring about the weather, their phones will be smart enough to suggest the timely purchase of an umbrella. Or 20 minutes later, when the sun re-emerges, a pair of sunglasses.
Retargeting ads will have real-time applications to benefit your business, and will offer important customer usability.
It seems like the evolution of AI will first be preceded with the evolution of actual intelligence in 2018.
Online marketers will be benefiting from unprecedented knowledge of their customers. By taking advantage of this knowledge, they will be able to guide their behaviour in desired ways more easily. This will be done by offering personalised real-time recommendations, enhancing cognitive biases, being interactive and generally bridging the gap between customer and salesperson.
by Philippe Aimé
Philippe is the CEO of Convertize. He created his first website in 1998 and has spent the past 20 years finding ways to make digital marketing more persuasive. He now heads a team of CRO consultants.
