3 Customer Experience Trends AI Can Help You Discover

In an increasingly fast-paced online ethos where most of us are using our mobile devices more than ever before and apps like TikTok create global trends almost instantaneously, predicting which content, products, and offers will appeal to individual customers can be a daunting task for any marketer. 

Thankfully, analyzing massive data sets and making real-time predictions is what Artificial Intelligence (AI) does best.

While people power is still a vital ingredient for marketing teams to solve problems creatively, AI-driven algorithms are unrivaled in their ability to accurately predict everything a customer might be interested in, which content is most likely to make them click, and even the specific stage of their customer journey you can expect to see engagement decline.

Therefore, it stands to reason that marketers who fully embrace AI are the ones in the best position to deliver what their audience wants — in many cases, before these buyers even know it themselves.

If you’re still skeptical of the impact AI can have on a digital marketing strategy, keep reading to find out how industry innovators are using this advanced technology to discover three mission-critical customer experience trends.

Predict buyer behaviors before they happen

One of the most appealing aspects of AI is the fact that these tools can analyze millions of data points from myriad data streams to create a larger, more transparent picture of emerging engagement trends. By harnessing the power of AI in digital marketing, it’s almost as if marketers can predict the future by offering products, services, and content customers didn’t even know they needed.

Sephora has long been a leader in driving customer loyalty due to its early adopter AI approach. Through these intelligent algorithms, the brand has built a cohesive omnichannel strategy that puts the customer experience at the center of its marketing strategy.

For example, Sephora’s website and in-store shopping experience offers almost 600 different shades and brands of lipstick to choose from. Obviously, few customers have the time or patience to sort through so many options and find their favorite.

But by adopting AI-powered tools and combining these insights with first-party data insights like purchase history and survey responses collected throughout the email onboarding process, Sephora’s product recommendation engine can predict what each individual shopper is most likely to buy. And that small, AI-fueled touch makes any trip to the virtual cosmetics counter a much more easy, convenient, and rewarding experience for any customer.

Make your content, events, and data dynamic

Of course, the type of content your customers are looking for varies depending on any number of mutable factors — location, time, and weather just to name a few. That’s why so many brands are using AI today to promote events and deliver dynamic personalization. 

To better curate individual readers’ content preferences, Condé Nast partnered with Marigold Engage by Sailthru to analyze its user profiles and first-party data by using AI-driven personalization tools. The result?

Highly relevant and engaging email newsletters that are automatically tailored to users’ geographic locations, time zones, and specific story interests based on the information Condé Nast collects about each reader. By allowing AI algorithms to customize the content each newsletter contains, the publisher maintains a much more personalized customer experience than its competitors — and a culture of innovation that has increased CTR by 88%.

Reach customers before they jump ship

It can be difficult for humans to predict when customers are ready to churn. According to ThinkJar, only one in 26 customers actually complain to a business before walking away — the rest simply leave without saying anything at all.

Fortunately for you, AI is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to predict customer churn and help you make changes to prevent it from ever occurring. By tracking engagement and customer experience trends across every step of your customer journey, you’re able to monitor the live engagement level of every potential buyer and proactively make adjustments to improve your overall customer experience. 

When grocery retailer Thrive Market wanted to increase its email engagement and reactivate previously loyal customers, the company turned to Sailthru’s AI capabilities to optimize its outreach and drive better results.

Using AI to test and update its email campaigns dynamically, Thrive Market built a member reactivation campaign with re-onboarding email messaging targeted to specific personas and individuals. Rather than dropping re-engaged customers into a random promotional stream, the brand delivered a tailored email experience to welcome back shoppers — immediately improving the organization’s online engagement rate and lifetime customer value.

As you can see, incorporating AI into your digital marketing strategy not only gives your organization an advantage in identifying the customer experience trends your audience expects, it also frees up your time and energy to dream up even more creative ways to reach your customers. So, don’t fear the algorithm — embrace it!