Opinion: How Conversational AI is boosting the AdTech sector

John Wanamaker recognized the problem area of mass-targeting advertisements eons ago. Even so, he would have been delighted to witness the role of Conversational AI in transforming the AdTech sector in today’s age, says Amitt Sharma.

John Wanamaker, often considered the pioneer of marketing and a propagator of advertising, recognized the problem area of mass-targeting advertisements many eons ago. Even so, he would have been delighted to witness the role of Conversational AI in transforming the AdTech sector in today’s age. The advanced technology minimizes the challenge of impersonalized advertisements that are considered more spam than being helpful to the target audience.

Through its ability to interpret and convey the desired results holistically, Conversational AI is redefining how businesses, advertisers, and publishers are viewing the AdTech landscape in India, as well as globally. Today, an increased number of businesses are investing in Conversational AI advertisements for generating smart results that allow competitive advantage.

The Underlying Technologies that make Conversational AI the next frontier

To understand the true benefits of Conversational AI, one needs to delve deeper into the underlying technologies that separate it from traditional advertisements. Most of the Conversational AIs today respond to both voice and text requests, including in regional languages. Using Machine Learning, Conversational AI can perform monotonous, round-the-clock, and repetitive tasks in a fraction of the time consumed by humans, while maintaining a life-like and immersive experience for the user.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is responsible for translating the speech or voice to text for further processing. Needless to say, being automated, this technology has the power to filter and convert at speeds beyond human imagination. Natural Language Processing enables advanced intent analysis, and a high level of interpretation, all the while maintaining the human touch. Advanced Dialog Management and Natural Language Generation allow for complex decision-making and accurate responses to deliver maximized output.

Also Read: Transmedia storytelling is in focus for us now: Anshul Ailawadi, Viacom18

The Role of Conversational AI in propelling the AdTech ecosystem

Higher Call-to-Action

Conversational AI has a higher probability of conversions due to its call-to-action feature. It holds the ability to comprehend the user queries appropriately and provide the optimum solution that not just matches user requirements, but also highlights the best benefits offered by the company, creating a win-win situation for both.

An instance of this was when Emirates Vacation, the tour operating business of Emirates Airlines launched a Conversational AI Ad campaign in 2018. The ad empowered the target audience to ask travel-related questions and receive answers immediately within the display ad unit. Based on the questions, the chatbots could offer specific recommendations in terms of destinations and packages offered by the brand. It eliminated suggestions that were not covered by the business, be it destinations or packages. Owing to its call-to-action, the brand witnessed an 87% higher engagement compared to its traditional click-through ads, within just 30 days.

Predictive Analysis Leading to Personalization

Through constant data collection and its effective mining, Conversational AI enables predictive analysis of consumer behaviour. By staying a step ahead of the consumer needs, brands can create advertisements that prompt the target audience to increase their level of consideration for a product or service. According to a study by Aberdeen, predictive analysis has empowered companies to organically increase their revenues by 21%, vis-à-vis 12% in the cases where this element was missing. This leads to a high degree of personalization in the advertisements thereby leading to greater instances of conversions.

The leading media house, New York Times (NYT), was one of the businesses that used Predictive Analysis to its advantage. Leveraging advanced Machine Learning and Data Science, NYT was able to display relevant content through its marketing strategies that consequently enhanced its subscriptions, successfully.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Chatbots and Conversational AI were leveraged actively for customer support across businesses. Enabling human-like interactions, Conversational AIs have the prospect to reimagine customer experience across all segments of marketing, including advertising. With its laser-targeted approach and efficient data analysis, brands and advertisers are now able to delight the customers with focused solutions that mimic a human engagement experience. Due to the usage of advanced algorithms, these responses or solutions are free from human bias, as well. This improves the decision-making ability of the end customers and enhances their overall experience. This distinction would even foster a long-term relationship with the brand and aid in customer retention, leading to budget optimization.

Conclusion

The role of AI in advertising commenced with the implementation of data analysis to draw insights. It has transcended quite a journey with its evolved role for a myriad of functions including Conversational AI. With its scope of an interactive, engaging, two-way channel, customers feel heard like never before. In addition, the creatives are more compelling for the consumers to respond to.

Brands, on the other hand, can map consumers better and utilize the insights for a more refined, result-oriented delivery, such as enhanced ROI on campaigns, or increased website traffic, among others. Conversational AI enables both scaling and precision for a business, thereby magnifying its efficiency to reach segmenting and acquire customers. As per a report by Deloitte, the global market is expected to touch almost US$14 billion by 2025. Using relevant content, the technology is the present and the future of the dynamic AdTech sector and is poised to take it to greater heights.

The article is penned by Amitt Sharma, CEO, Vdo.Ai