The trade fair for digital marketing and advertising DMEXCO 2018 in Cologne ended a few days ago and was successful according to Dr. Dominik Matyka, Chief Advisor DMEXCO. The global platform for the digital advertising industry, as DMEXCO sees itself, was able to boast a few hundred more visitors than in 2017, with around 41,000 visitors. However, the number of exhibitors dropped slightly; the organizers cite just under 1,000 exhibitors. Increasing the satisfaction of the exhibitors was more important than the concrete figures and this was successful, those responsible announced. We were there as visitors and were looking forward to the topics Future, Marketing, Media and Tech.
More than 500 speakers covered DMEXCO topics and presented the challenges and trends of the digital economy. Trends 2019, which will shape marketing and thus also e-commerce, are artificial intelligence (AI) and the associated personalization of offers, chatbots and messengers as well as voice and speech assistants.
Artificial intelligence and the implementation of AI technology are present in almost all branches of industry. AI helps to predict customer preferences, provide rich content and product information in an automated way, and personalize shopping experiences to help companies better target future planning and investments. It is therefore clear to most companies that AI helps to accelerate processes, increase their efficiency and influence the basis for decisions with noticeable effects on the economic success of companies.
According to the study. Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Marketing of the SRH Berlin, over 80% of the marketing experts rate the role of AI as important and see a future increase. However, currently only 7% of the marketing industry actually uses AI. In the day-to-day business of companies, the situation is different, with over 30% of companies using AI. Certainly this development is linked to the decision makers, since the majority of CEOs decide on the AI budget and AI deployment, the CEOs, and only then the CMOs. The greatest potential for growth through AI is seen in the availability of better data and knowledge about customers. However, long-term strategies should not be determined by AI, but rather by people.
We are developing in the direction of combining man and machine. In this process, man will provide impulses in consulting and creativity and the intelligent systems will support data preparation and automation. AI is only as smart as the database from which it draws its data. Data quality becomes the top priority.
The personalized user approach holds out the prospect of maximum sales growth, as customers receive customized and personally relevant content such as product recommendations in real time. This requires an individual approach to new and existing customers. Marketing and consequently e-commerce are moving towards onsite personalization and for this, shop operators need to understand and effectively use the collected data. Only those who know their customers and their individual needs can address them with personal recommendations or discounts appropriate to the situation and ensure a good online shopping experience. It's all about creating convincing, consistent and personalized customer experiences in order to remain relevant to the market.
Personalized websites and landing pages are next; the visitor should get the impression that this page was written just for him. Personalized web design allows websites to automatically adapt to the interests of the user. Properly implemented, the company thus increases attention to call-to-action, increases website retention time and improves conversions.
Chatbots and messenger marketing are closely linked to the topics of artificial intelligence and personalization. Meanwhile, numerous chat and messenger platforms increasingly offer marketing services for companies to make it even easier to contact consumers. Through the more personal contact level and approach, providers can communicate with customers quickly and directly, send them product recommendations on their smartphones or inform them about the current shipping status. Content can be assembled in a targeted, fast and personalized way.
At the same time, chatbots can help with requests and interact with the customer around the clock. This is customer service in real time, day and night, at low cost to the company and its customers. Users hardly notice any difference whether they are communicating with a real person or a chatbot. Crucial for the success of chatbots will be that the interactions between users and the chatbot can be correctly analyzed and the chatbot can be adapted to the needs and behavior of the customer. This is possible with a well-maintained CRM, which bundles and documents all marketing, sales and service activities centrally. The chatbots then only have to answer the requests themselves based on the available data. The only thing missing is the possibility to talk directly to the chatbots.
Language assistants are becoming more and more intelligent and are evolving from question-and-answer games to conversation-like situations. Retailers, service providers and marketers therefore have to provide various search engines with content in terms of quantity and quality. In practice, this means that keywords have to be created on the basis of verbal articulation in order to facilitate control via speech. Language expands the digital ecosystem: acoustic identity, audio advertising, dialogue and skill development, and voice search. The transaction-oriented use of this technology is becoming increasingly important as we navigate through the digital world using speech; the voice will become the next interface for data-driven and thus target group accurate and personalized customer approach. For example, the use of sophisticated voice controls will take customer service to a new level. The visual and auditory impression will become an important part of the brand image and we will then ask ourselves: what does a brand sound like?
In addition to these four AI-related trends, World of Agencies was also presented at DMEXCO 2018, as the trade fair, which takes place once a year, is to become a platform where the marketing industry can exchange ideas and experiences throughout the year. Set up as a software system that offers the user tailor-made access to personalised content. How this will look like was not explained at first.
The basic trends of DMEXCO 2018 predict an innovative and data-intensive future, resulting from and embedded in the field of artificial intelligence. Only with AI development will it be possible to offer personalized services, round-the-clock chat rooms and conversational language assistants. Thus, AI technology is the basis for future tools of the marketing industry and at the same time the template for the coming basic direction of e-commerce.
