5 ways AI can boost your small business

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a controversial issue within the business world — especially within the small business community. 

Companies of all sizes are asking questions about the future of employment. As the role of AI in the workplace evolves and expands, giant corporations are becoming better equipped to integrate these changes. They also tend to have more money to invest in new and emerging technologies. Small businesses, on the other hand, don’t always have this luxury and view many of these changes with a skeptical eye.

Even so, many small buisnesses are starting to see the positive effects of integrating AI into their small business. Here are 5 additional benefits AI can bring to your business:

Smarter CRM can mean improved sales

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools, like Salesforce, are designed to improve the sales process by automating as much as possible. Integrating AI into CRM tools can multiply their efficacy in a variety of ways. 

By improving lead generation or optimally aggregate sales insights, AI can ultimately make CRM much more efficient and improve sales overall. 

Sharper email marketing

Email marketing is an important sales strategy, but executing it correctly — and successfully — can be difficult without the help of a marketing expert. 

AI can help create effective marketing emails, nudging customers who have not visited your website or pulled the trigger on the items in their shopping cart in a personally tailored way. A well-timed message offering a discount or mentioning that a particular item is running low or back in stock can prompt customers to finally make a purchase. 

Superior customer communication

Using AI to start conversations with customers (or customers-to-be) when they visit your website is an effective way to capture more leads. If your business is just starting out and has limited staff fielding customer queries during limited hours, an AI chatbot could be a great option for you.

Improved analytics

Better data drives better decisions in business. AI is a great way to collect better data — especially about competitors. 

Developing AI can be used to track competitors across a variety of digital channels, such as social media and websites, gathering information that is both deeper and more detailed than ever before. This allows businesses to respond more quickly to the marketing efforts and price fluctuations of those they’re looking to edge out.

Deeper customer insights

Mapping customer website navigation is a big task and extrapolating and using the data is still not much more beyond an educated guess. Integrating AI can allow you to gain better and more nuanced insights into consumer behavior.