5 Companies That Gave It a Go with AI to Leverage Their Customer Engagement – And It Worked

Gone are the days when AI was a luxurious innovative technology that few brands, with an exception of FAANG, could afford. More and more companies of all scales are introducing machine learning algorithms into their business; the latest stats suggest that there are currently 37% of companies and organizations already taking advantage of AI, and the number is growing steadily.

When we think about the AI-empowered customer experience practices, most likely we’d recall the mechanics of Amazon’s suggested purchases or Netflix’s tips on the shows that we may like. However, there is much more to AI that can boost brands’ customer experience and create a stronger bond with their audience.

Here are a few examples of the companies that introduced AI tools in seemingly straightforward customer journeys – and it was a win-win for all.

Chase Goes More Human

It’s taken the banking system a long time to shift from conservative advertising strategies to creative marketing. The rise of numerous FinTech startups promising Gen Z bureaucracy-free experience has urged traditional banks to seek new ways of fostering their customer engagement.

JPMorgan Chase was one of the first big brands in this sphere to unleash the potential of AI in their marketing. Their tests of digital ad copies demonstrated an astonishingly higher success rate for those created by a machine-learning tool, sometimes almost doubling the click rate of their human-crafted alternatives. The AI-generated lines were introduced by Persado – a software startup that builds marketing messages with the help of artificial intelligence.

In the case of Chase, the new version of the ads had a clearly more conversational tone of voice. The headline “Access cash from the equity in your home” with a call to action “Take a look” was drastically outplayed by the machine-written version “It’s true—You can unlock cash from the equity in your home” suggestion to “Click to apply”. The latter version resulted in 47 weekly client leads compared to 25 from the original version. No wonder the bank appointed Persado to continue providing them with marketing messages for the next five years.

The Press Is Finding Ways to Revive

While many traditional media outlets struggle to maintain their readership even despite going digital, some find their way back into the agenda by deploying AI. At least that’s what has helped “The Economist”, a well-known British newspaper focusing on current affairs, politics, business and culture.

With its first printed issues dating back to 1843, the outlet managed to withstand the challenges of the digital transition. Nevertheless, by 2016-2017 its audience figures demonstrated a steady declining trend.

It was then that the AI algorithms were deployed for analyzing consumer data and identifying the specific reading preferences and habits of the website visitors. As a result, “The Economist” was able to tailor its approach to various segments of its audience and eventually boost its readership. Since the technology was introduced in 2017, the number of subscribers has been growing steadily, with up to 9% of new loyal readers joining in 2020/21.

Dressing Like a Celeb with ASOS

It’s no secret that many people look up to celebrities when it comes to assembling their looks. So why not save them the hassle of searching for the right items? To tackle this problem, a UK-based retailer ASOS introduced a computer vision tool that would allow their customers to simply upload the image with the clothing they liked – and leave the rest to the machine. The AI scans ASOS’s 85.000 product database and offers the best match for purchase,

The Style Match tool is just one of the numerous deep personalization tools that ASOS has been using to leverage its customer experience. Another well-known AI-based instrument that has gained their users’ trust is the “Fit Assistant” technology, which helps make more informed purchase decisions based on specific size parameters and fitting preferences.

Capturing huge amounts of customer data allows ASOS to make better purchase suggestions based on the users’ preferences, which makes it much easier for them to find that perfect dress or jumper – and pick a few matching items to complete the look.

Emails That Helped Walgreen’s Vaccination Campaign

Once the COVID-19 vaccines were widely available, the Walgreens pharmacy chain suddenly faced the challenge of convincing people to book vaccination appointments – or even to open the emails that would encourage them to do so. It was not until they applied the Brand Language Optimization technology to transform the message in their letter that they saw the impact of AI on customer behavior.

Simply applying the technology to email subject lines increased the open rates of the emails by 30%, meaning that more people were likely to book their appointments and get vaccinated. Having tested this AI tool on the COVID-19 campaign, the company is now looking into other ways of deploying the same technique into other segments of their customer journey – no longer for the sole purpose of saving lives, but to generate more sales.

Finding Alternative Transport Routes with Citimapper

Most of the journey planning apps are fairly straightforward in their suggestions – apps like Google Maps would usually give you a few options to travel on public transport and rough assessments for a journey by car or on foot. However, some transport apps seem to be cleverer than others.

Citimapper is applying machine learning to analyze the most popular routes taken by its users, and include them on the list of suggestions. The algorithms of the app have processed the data collected from millions of journeys. Hence Citimapper knows that we sometimes don’t mind a 20-minute walk to skip a tube line change, or that a certain part of the trip would work best with the taxi – even if you’re happy to travel the first lap on the metro.

The majority of the app’s functions are free, but certain routes and other features can only be unlocked via purchasing a membership. While the monetization of this business may be questionable, the brand presents a clear case of an efficient AI application for gaining customer acknowledgment and loyalty.

Ready To Introduce AI Into Your Customer Experience Practices?

There are many ways to develop a more personalized connection with your customers by helping them feel that their needs are understood and catered for. That’s when the right application of AI tools can work wonders. There is no need to cover the whole customer journey with various machine learning advancements – sometimes even one simple addition may dramatically increase the retention and sales.

Even if you’re only starting to look into the gaps in your customer journey that you could potentially fill with AI solutions, our experts might be able to help you with some advice based on our extensive experience. Contact Six Consulting to learn more about how we can help you rediscover the power of AI for your business.