How to Use AI in Your Business and Website

To many creators and small businesses, artificial intelligence may seem out of reach, both in terms of technical proficiency and monetary investment. However, AI-driven processes are more affordable and accessible than ever, and there are several ways you can harness this technology to benefit your business.

Here’s what you need to know about how to use AI in your business and website.

What is artificial intelligence?

AI can be a confusing concept, but you might be surprised by how often you use this technology without realizing it. In general, AI is when computer systems are able to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence. According to SAS Institute, AI allows computers to learn more by regularly completing human-like tasks.

One common example of artificial intelligence is a voice assistant, such as Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa. You can talk to these computers as though they’re human, and the more you interact with them, the better they can hone their responses and be more helpful.

How to use AI in your business

There are several ways you can incorporate this technology into the marketing and customer service elements of your business. You might be surprised to find that prepackaged AI services are not only relatively simple to implement, but they’re affordable as well.

1. Improve customer service with a chatbot

Have you ever been on a website and experienced a chat window pop-up asking if you need help? It may seem like a real person offering to assist you, but these “chatbots” are powered by AI.

Why are chatbots so popular? There are several benefits to using an AI-powered chatbot on your website, according to Sprout Social:

  • You don’t have to pay an employee to field customer requests or take the time to do it yourself.
  • Chatbots help customers get the information they need faster, resulting in higher satisfaction.
  • Chatbots can collect customer information and generate leads.

If you have a WordPress.com plugin-enabled plan, you can choose from a variety of chatbot plugins, such as the IBM Watson Assistant.

2. Get better results from your marketing

If your brand is just starting out, it can be tricky to target the right audience with your social media marketing campaigns. A lot of business owners end up using a trial-and-error strategy, which can be time-consuming and expensive.

Luckily, AI can help you receive better results from marketing. Tools like Facebook’s Lookalike Audience use AI to help tailor campaigns more effectively, using information about your existing customers to find the most promising potential customers. This will help you get the most return on investment and save you valuable time and money.

3. Recommend products to site visitors

If you sell products through your WordPress.com Business website, you can increase sales with an AI-powered plugin like Recomendo. This highly rated service analyzes a visitor’s interaction with your website in real-time, then uses the information to curate and display the kind of products they’re most likely to buy.

You’ve probably seen similar services used on Amazon and other large online retailers. According to Recomendo, many of its users see a spike in both time on site and conversion rates after installing the service.

With the ability to install AI-powered plugins, a WordPress.com plugin-enabled plan makes it possible for you to reap these benefits for your own business, no matter its size.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Camryn Rabideau

Camryn Rabideau is freelance writer specializing in digital lifestyle content, ranging from pop culture to smart home technology. Camryn has contributed to popular media sites such as InStyle, Taste of Home, Martha Stewart, Food52, USA Today, The Spruce and more.

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