There are no buzzwords that get more attention today than "artificial intelligence" and "machine learning". AI and ML, as the cool kids call them, are the talk of the town.
Venture capitalists want to invest in AI and ML companies, founders want to start them, and enterprises are… learning what the heck these terms mean.
Today, we will briefly touch on what AI and ML are but, more importantly, we will spend time exploring how artificial intelligence can create better user experiences.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)?
Traditional software development follows a straight line. Features that are shipped and used by users are stable. Every time I open my podcast app and download a new episode, that episode downloads and I am able to start listening to it.
By comparison, developing artificial intelligence is more circular. When you perform a Google search, for example, there is a large variance in the search results. Searching for “sushi restaurant” provides different results based on your device, location, preferences, whether you're logged into Gmail or not, and so on.
At Tragic Media, we say that artificial intelligence (AI) software is aware of the context and provides different results based on that shifting context. It makes no sense, for example, to show you sushi restaurants that are open in Salt Lake City, Utah when you are on your mobile device in downtown San Diego, California.
Moreover, we can think of AI as programs that understand, learn from, and make decisions based on patterns hidden in data. It's the umbrella term. Machine Learning (ML) is the process that allows algorithms to perform better by being trained with data.
Leveraging AI to Create Better User Experiences
Let's shift gears and evaluate how artificial intelligence can improve engagement, create brand loyalty, and increase your revenue.
Opportunity 1: Improve the User Experience (UX)
Technology: Recommendation Engines + Data Analysis
In essence, successful artificial intelligence and user experience design have the same end goal: to help a user get to their intended result.
Recommendation Engines are machine learning models built to help users find helpful content or products. They are a great place for companies to start. As an example, you can recommend other relevant content for people who reach the end of a blog post or other products on your ecommerce store.
Furthermore, AI Behavior Analysis is a powerful tool that can measure and improve the useability of your application. You can show users recently accessed files, information that they might have missed, or guide them new features that they haven't explored yet.
Opportunity 2: Provide help or solutions to your customers with bots
Technology: Natural Language Processing (NLP) + Recommendation Engine
Natural Language Processing is the understanding and manipulation of natural language by software. That is, using programs that can understand text or speech, and can respond with text or speech.
NLP programs can be coupled with Recommendation Engines for a powerful way to automate customer support. Users can start to type their complaint and be referred to videos or text articles that walk through how to solve the problem.
These implementations can start simple and become very advanced. On the sophisticated end of the scale, there can be automatic escalation of support tickets based on the sentiment detected in customer messages!
Opportunity 3: Create New Experiences
Technology: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
With a combination of AI tools, user behaviors and preferences can be analyzed and experiences can be adapted to suit individual users.
The best example for this might be the new screenless devices that people interact with. Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortona learn people's voices, preferences, locations, and terms. They know how you want your work and home environment configured.
Moreover, apps on smartphones and wearable devices can provide contextual notifications that provide the right information and the right time. The key is to notify users to engage with your product when it's needed, and not have them feel tethered to devices.
Conclusion
Businesses of all types, from local accountants and lawyers to international ecommerce and software giants, will benefit from AI. When used properly, artificial intelligence saves money, time, and increases customer satisfaction.
Instead of filling out a contact form that goes into a black box, a chatbot would be able to guide to the right webpage or help take down your information and route it to the right person inside the organization. Similarly, marketing promotions can be specified tailored to your preferences – taking into account things like your size, preferences, and previous purchases.
Tragic Media has provided cutting-edge technical solutions for businesses for over a decade. We have seen firsthand how improving the user experience of a product can drive real business outcomes, like reduced customer support costs and increased revenue.
Looking to learn more about how to leverage artificial intelligence? Contact Tragic for your free consultation today.
