Artificial Intelligence has been rapidly introduced and accepted into many aspects of our lives. We are living in a digital world where every online interaction – from purchase to web page view to social media like – is saved into an endless reservoir of data. While the subject of personal data is often a touchy subject, the truth remains that all of this data can be used ethically by businesses to solve customer challenges and improve sales.

By 2020 customers will manage 85% of their relationship with a business without interacting with a human. Which means if you’re not accessing the necessary prospect data, you could be missing out on understanding key information to gain more leads and close more deals. By better understanding customers and the journey they take to make a purchase, businesses can focus marketing efforts towards solving customers’ needs, moving them through the sales funnel, and providing them with personalized sales and customer service experiences. Artificial intelligence can help businesses access and utilize customer data to improve sales and the customer experience.

Here are 4 of the many reasons why your business should start using AI:

AI increases leads

According to a Harvard Business Review study, companies that use artificial intelligence in sales claimed to have increased leads by 50%. How? AI can help enhance your lead generation strategies by personalizing and humanizing automation tasks. The more we learn about our current and potential customers, the better we can interact with them and center our marketing efforts towards solving needs, and in turn generate more qualified leads.

Related: Discover how many leads you need to reach your revenue goals

AI reduces admin tasks

AI applications can support and replace many the time-consuming tasks of initiating contact with a sales lead and then qualifying, following up, and nurturing the lead. Using machine learning, predictions, and big data analytics, AI can also automate routine tasks, including product-profile matching, order-taking, transaction processing, and templating reports. By automating some of these repetitive tasks, your sales team can focus on closing more deals.

AI helps identify qualified leads

An example of an artificial intelligence product that helps predict the quality of leads from big data is Salesforce Einstein. If you haven’t heard of it yet, Einstein is an intelligence capability built directly into the Salesforce platform. Using advanced algorithms, Einstein is able to discover insights, predict outcomes, and qualify leads in a smarter faster and more accurate way. With more time on their hands, sales reps can focus their time on the most promising leads.

AI improves customer service

Many businesses have already implemented Artificial Intelligence through the use of bots to take care of initial contact with customers through chat, email, or phone, answering simple, predictable customer questions. By using AI companies can provide customers with immediate responses, address issues before they grow, follow up with leads, and maintain happy customers that will likely repurchase.

EXTRA BONUS: There are so many benefits of AI for businesses, we had to list another…

AI helps small businesses

According to Greg Pietruszynski, CEO and co-founder of Growbots, connecting with potential customers is one of the biggest challenges for any company. By implementing AI in your marketing automation process – as opposed to spending millions of dollars on ads or building expensive sales teams – smaller companies can compete with larger companies (and larger budgets). With a limited budget, small businesses can benefit from getting a head start in AI and applying a strategic approach that will help drive costs down, stand out from competition and better attract/retain customers.   

AI will only continue to become more widely used in different industries and aspects of daily life. It’s smart for businesses to start trying out AI now, and slowly incorporate it into your everyday sales and marketing practices. Interested in learning how to implement AI in your marketing and sales process? We’d love to strategize with you!