Customisation is nothing new. Businesses have been refining their marketing techniques to better resonate with target audiences for years. Key to note, however, is that early attempts at customisation were restricted to general categories like location, gender and age. Transitioning from a broad but stratified strategy to hyper-personalisation offers businesses a unique opportunity to enhance client interactions. Personalisation is the process of knowing and understanding the needs, preferences, and interests of existing and prospective customers to provide exactly what they are looking for when they are looking for it. This enables businesses to create marketing campaigns that are personalised, individually catered to, and streamlined for each user by using real-time data and sophisticated algorithms made possible by AI and machine learning.

How AI Enhances Personalisation

Based on behaviour, preferences, and real-time data. Businesses can now analyse variables such as social media involvement, past purchase history, and browsing patterns to target customers more efficiently. For example, local marketplaces like Daraz leverage AI-powered segmentation to provide more relevant content. Daraz analyses user browsing history and product preferences to provide personalised product recommendations and incentives to optimise its marketing outreach. In a competitive market where customers want businesses to fully understand their preferences and properly satisfy their needs, this kind of targeted customisation is critical.

Digital platforms now have a new advantage thanks to the kind of recommendation systems that AI has made available. Recommendation engines are already a part of the business models of international behemoths like Amazon and Netflix, and now local marketplaces are also starting to use AI to boost client loyalty. Take OLX, which is among the top online marketplaces in the region. By tracking users’ activities, AI enables OLX to suggest goods or services that a particular user may find interesting based on their recommendation engine. With this type of advertising, the platform guarantees its users an engaging and dynamic purchasing experience, in contrast to basic searches for smartphones or home appliances, where the system suggests related products based on the user’s past search results. Similarly, companies in the food delivery space like Foodpanda are using AI to suggest eateries and menu items based on previous orders placed by consumers.

Also known as dynamic pricing, the price varies based on the relative demand from customers and market influence. Previously used in the travel and hotel industries, this approach is being implemented by locally-based retailers. E-commerce businesses like Daraz frequently employ pricing strategies like the dynamic pricing strategy, which allows them to offer incentives to customers and adjust prices based on how engaged a specific customer group is. For instance, customers who frequently browse a specific category in your store but haven’t made any purchases will be eligible for a special discount on the goods they are interested in. Real-time pricing adjustments result in high conversion rates by improving the buyer’s perception of the external environment.

Customer care has always been a crucial step in the customer experience map, and using AI chatbots is shown to be a significant approach to increase the degree of personalisation. Thanks to AI, chatbots can now provide clients with something pertinent and acceptable in addition to starting one-on-one discussions and guiding them through the purchasing process. Businesses such as Foodpanda are a great example of how to use AI-enhanced chatbots to engage with clients during food ordering. In this situation, these chatbots can offer to place a restaurant order, make special offers based on the customer’s past purchases, and, if needed, assist in real-time question answering for the consumer. Customer satisfaction is increased by this kind of personalised, round-the-clock service, freeing up personnel for other essential tasks.

One of the most effective ways to use AI to create personalisation is through predictive analytics. In fact, because AI evaluates consumers’ historical behaviour, it may predict their future behaviour and preferences. This allows firms to reach out to specific customers proactively. For example, Zameen.com, a real estate portal, uses AI to predict when a visitor is most likely to purchase real estate by examining his or her online behaviour. The user can obtain what he wants without even notifying the platform, and the platform tells them about properties they are interested in. This is also used in e-commerce, where the system makes suggestions on what the buyer could need next, resulting in more efficient and timely marketing.

Benefits of AI-Driven Personalisation

A business can achieve several advantages by using AI to customise its operations:

This is essential when it comes to customer satisfaction because it makes them feel more special and loyal to the company.

When customers realise that a company is aware of their preferences, they are more likely to buy the goods. It is more likely that specific information will be responded to and/or specific products and services will be proposed when individual information is used.

AI enables the broad implementation of tailored services in the corporate setting to allow for individual campaigning strategies. This would be difficult when a company has millions of active customers but is made entirely feasible with AI systems.

AI has been found to help firms with efficiency in several ways, which reduces the need for laborious, traditional chores.

Personalisation: The Future

Personalisation in marketing will become even more forward-thinking and customer-focused as AI technology develops. Keep an eye out for the following trends:

Whether a consumer is on a brand’s website, navigating a mobile app, or scrolling through a social media page, most elements of the customer journey will become completely configurable, enabling marketers to offer a unique experience.

Given the increasing usage of voice assistants and smart speakers, voice-activated personalisation is expected to increase. Recommendations based on what users say to their devices will be available soon.

As the idea of personalisation gains traction, businesses must manage customer data responsibly. In the phases that follow, recognising and maintaining consumer trust will depend heavily on transparency and privacy.

AI is redefining customisation in marketing by allowing businesses to communicate with their customers in more meaningful, timely, and immediate ways and those that use AI will be able to survive in the highly competitive digital marketplace as personalised products become more and more commonplace. In the marketing of the future, every customer interaction will appear customised, enhancing the ties that bind audiences and companies.

Fauzia Kerai Khan is CEO, I&B Consulting, Assessing, Learning, Consulting. fauzia@iandbconsulting.com