AI for Retail Marketing: The Power of Predictive Personalization & Automation
A unified data approach is critical to effective,
AI-driven personalization and automation—and the profits it can generate.
Hyperbole about AI has become an avalanche. We haven’t gone beyond Gartner’s “Peak of Inflated Expectations”—at least not yet—but most business owners are sick and tired of the endless barrage. Retailers especially hope for AI solutions that deliver business value, not just more spam and social posts.
The first thing that retailer CMOs, marketing directors, and creative service managers need to remember is that AI is only as good as the quality of data you feed it. It’s an age-old concept: “garbage in = garbage out.”
Artificial Intelligence is only as good as the quality of data you feed it.
So, before launching a new AI initiative, especially one involving personalization, ensure your data are accessible, secure, and of sufficient quality to create the right results. That starts with having a single source of truth model for your data. For retailers, it means using robust product information management (PIM) and digital asset management (DAM) systems, such as those found in Comosoft LAGO.
Make It Personal
Offering individual customers products they actually prefer is a win-win for retailers.
Personalized or “one-to-one” marketing has been an elusive goal for retailers for decades. Communicating directly with individual customers and offering them the products they prefer (and have a history of buying) is a win-win proposition for everyone.
But the problem is, with so many channels and so much complex data available, even an army of marketing production managers could find a cost-effective way to meet the challenge. At the end of the day, only a powerful, AI-driven solution will do the job well.
Thankfully, AI is ideally suited to collecting and making sense of data—even when it is unstructured and from multiple sources. AI can unify and derive meaningful marketing information from many sources, including point-of-sale, e‑commerce app transactions, CRM systems, and loyalty programs. It can also make personalized product recommendations based on user behavior and purchase history. In a recent case study,
AI uncovered shopping patterns that, once expressed as promotional offers in LAGO, resulted in significant revenue increases. In other words, AI can convert your existing data into direct, relevant communication with your customers.
AI can make personalized product recommendations based on user behavior and purchase history.
Make It Multichannel
Comosoft LAGO already enables retailers to plan, manage, and produce exceptional circulars and flyers, including versioning by region, language, and demographics. Its automated data automation approach achieves up to sixty percent reductions in labor costs and shortens time-to-market by up to thirty percent. But LAGO is not limited to printed materials or a narrow, “one-to-many” messaging formula. LAGO’s data personalization potential can combine customer data (addresses, recommendations, and purchase behavior) with product information and images, outputting the results to any digital channel.
LAGO combines customer data with product data, outputting the results to any digital channel.
Artificial intelligence can turbocharge personalization—creating and sending highly relevant promotions based on explicit individual preferences. User-specific product recommendations and AI-generated promotions can be included in that user’s in-app feeds, personalized emails, landing pages, and more.
LAGO can adjust prices or offer personalized discounts based on inventory levels, time of day, or their preference for related products. If a loyalty program participant prefers certain brands or product types at specific times or seasons, a properly designed AI can discover those patterns in the data and apply them in ways that benefit shoppers and retailers alike.
Make It Respectful
Using data to uncover customer’s preferences has its downsides. As Andrew Pole discovered when he developed a data-driven marketing approach for Target, there is a point where customers may feel you know too much about them. He found he could accurately predict a woman’s pregnancy and her due
There is a point where customers may feel you know too much about them.
date through her purchase patterns. Aware of the “creepiness factor” of using this to promote baby-related products, Target wisely included other unrelated products in subsequent promotions.
Similarly, AI-based analysis poses similar risks, especially if the frequency of emails, SMS texts, or in-app messaging increases beyond customers’ tolerance. That is the point where retail CMOs and marketing directors need to exercise authority over their AI-enabled agents. Knowing where, when, how, (and how often) to engage individual customers using personalized content is the secret to creating real connections, customer loyalty, and long-term financial growth.
Knowing where, when, how, (and how often) to use personalized content is the secret to creating real connections.
Make it Meaningful
Retailers are faced with a dilemma: so much data, so little time, and too few tools to handle complex, personalized promotions. However, all three concerns can be addressed with a unified data approach, such as that embodied in Comosoft LAGO. Starting with a single source of truth model, retail marketing
planners, designers, and production staff can automate substantial portions of the print and digital workflow. By integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning, savvy retailers can leverage that “single source of truth” to become more relevant to their customers and achieve greater efficiency, customer engagement, and measurable ROI.
The days of the local shopkeeper—that friendly, helpful proprietor who knows each customer and their preferences—are no longer a retail reality. But those needing a loyal customer base can leverage their data wisely to achieve the same end.
Please feel free to share this post and find out more about how LAGO and its AI-driven personalization and automation can revolutionize your retail marketing. Or book a demo to see for yourself.
