Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool that is taking the business world by storm. It’s no longer some distant sci-fi concept. Instead, AI is seen as a hugely useful tool to help employees improve efficiency, maximize productivity and increase sales.
If you are hoping to improve your sales funnel, AI may just be the answer you’re looking for. We’ll look at what it is, the benefits, and why AI may be the secret to improving your sales funnel.
What Is AI For Sales?
AI encompasses any technology which is programmed to function cognitively and mimic human intelligence. AI for sales, then, is the use of these capabilities to optimize the sales process.
Businesses can leverage AI in sales to interpret and analyze data, automate certain tasks and interact with customers. Additionally, AI can process large amounts of data, helping with strategic decision making.
While you shouldn’t eliminate the human aspect of your sales funnel – most people still like talking to people! – AI can certainly help to improve it.
Image sourced from deloitte.co
Benefits of AI and Automation in Sales
There are many benefits to AI, including:
– Increased efficiency. When it comes to repetitive tasks such as data entry or lead generation, AI can complete tasks quickly and efficiently. In fact, in a recent study, 54% of executives said that implementing AI is increasing productivity in their organization.
– Better sales forecasting. AI programs can process large amounts of data, allowing for data-driven sales forecasts. Teams can use this forecast information to make strategic business decisions. For example, a business selling inbound sales call center solutions, can use AI to better understand their sales forecast for repeat clients and potential future clients.
– More time for relationship building. As mentioned, AI is great for automating certain operational tasks. This frees your sales team’s precious time, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks or relationship-building with clients.
– Gain deeper insights. A major benefit of AI is its ability to process and analyze large amounts of data. Whether it’s risk management, large scale A/B testing, or predictive analytics, AI provides your sales team with the insights they need to make informed decisions and offer your clients the best possible solution to suit their needs.
How Can AI Improve Your Sales Funnel?
So you know what AI for sales is, and some of the benefits. But how exactly can AI improve your sales funnel?
Data Analysis
As we touched on in the previous section, AI can help you enhance and optimize the sales process by providing insights gleaned from large amounts of data using predictive intelligence. Gathering and analyzing information from multiple channels would take a large amount of time and manpower if done manually, but AI platforms can take this data and quickly make sense of it.
For instance, if you’ve recently invested in some .ca domain names, you’ll need to compare their traffic to your .com domain. Rather than manually comparing what search terms lead to click throughs and what marketing campaigns are working, AI can quickly pull the results together – meaning you can better understand how people are arriving in your sales funnel.
Using AI for data analysis improves your sales funnel by giving sales teams a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of prospects, leads, current customers or any other relevant information. The sales funnel can then be optimized using these valuable insights.
Lead Automation
Any business hoping to grow, needs to generate leads. An AI-based lead management system can help your sales team prioritize leads and provide them with the information they need to give an insightful and more attentive experience, right from the start.
You can utilize AI technology to automate the lead management process by:
* Identifying leads
* Collecting data about leads
* Guiding leads through the sales funnel
* Tracking and monitoring leads
Ultimately, AI can help businesses identify prospective customers, leaving your staff free to build on these introductions and cultivate ongoing customer relationships.
Content Creation
In order to stay relevant, businesses continually need to create content for their website, social media pages, blogs, emails and more. While AI cannot replace your human content producers, it can certainly help them create more effective content.
AI tools which use natural language processing (NLP) can produce outlines and content ideas that can be spun into relevant articles. Alongside effective Voice of the Customer tools, sales and marketing teams can leverage this technology to quickly create content that meets their needs. AI can also generate relevant keywords for search engine optimization and make your content more searchable.
However, don’t underestimate the need for human input here too. AI is only as useful as the information it is fed, so it is essential to carefully consider what you are asking the technology to produce for you. What’s more, content creators will usually need to review and edit the content before it is truly fit for purpose.
With that being said, using AI here can both help you find out what your audience wants to see, as well as generate fresh ideas and speed up the process of content creation.
Email Marketing Automation
Email marketing can increase sales by driving customers to your website and boosting customer engagement. Using AI for UX research can ensure your email marketing campaigns are optimized to boost sales. Do they prefer video content, or text? What subject lines catch their interest, and which turn them off?
Using email marketing automation can also ensure your content is sent out appropriately. Whether it’s an abandoned cart email the day after they leave your website, or a feedback request one week after they receive their purchase, you can make sure emails hit their inbox at the right time.
Final Thoughts
With benefits such as increased efficiency, automation, and better data insights and sales forecasting, businesses can no longer ignore the power of AI in sales. Whether you use AI for content creation, automating tedious tasks or for data analysis, your sales team will thank you.
Of course, AI technology can’t replace your human sales team. But it can enhance them – letting them do what they’re best at, and improving your sales funnel.
