AI In E-commerce: What Is Already Working Today?

Technology has always helped copywriters with technologies like book printing and the Internet. Today we have even reached the point where intelligent machines write texts. Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in designing marketing content, especially in e-commerce.

2020 was the year for tech geeks as OpenAI launched GPT-3. It is a language processing model that a wide variety of copywriting software is based on. GPT-3 uses machine learning and deep learning to produce new texts. Machine learning is about AI ​​learning to perform tasks without human instructions. It analyzes data, determines a pattern, and applies it to create new texts. Deep learning is the AI ​​brain. A massive neural network that aims to replicate the way people think. With 175 million synapses, GPT-3 is the giant computational linguistics transformer and is, therefore, the most similar of all technologies to the human brain. It has 125 trillion synapses.

How does the AI ​​work, for example, to feed the most important data so that a suitable result comes out? What do you have to pay attention to?

The AI ​​adapts itself through progressive learning algorithms. It finds structure and regularity in data so that the algorithm acquires a skill: it becomes a sorting machine and a predictor that teaches itself skills through data. AI analyzes more and deeper data using neural networks. It would help if you had a lot of data to train deep learning models because you learn directly from the data and become more accurate.

“AI is only as effective as the information and data it is fed with”

“You are what you eat.” This quote applies to AI, as its existence is determined by the information and data people to feed it with. She works by learning through diligent training and then gets feedback on the result. With time and a multitude of documents, the system is then able to make intelligent guesses. She then classifies the documents, namely appealing and non-appealing documents.

If people do not feed the system with a representative or sufficiently large selection of content, it will not learn what it needs to do its job. If the person training the system does not have sufficient knowledge to accurately teach the AI ​​the difference between responsive and unresponsive documents, they will learn wrongly. So the AI ​​is only as effective as the information and data it is fed with.

GPT-3 uses a neural network based on a deep learning model. It uses specific AI algorithms and existing content to create new content. The AI ​​looks for specific patterns and tries to conclude them, just as it did at school. The teachers taught you theories, and you had to apply them to different tasks.

This is basically how it works with GPT-3. The AI ​​trains its algorithms by collecting data, drawing conclusions, and applying them to new content. As a result, she receives feedback and improves her algorithm. If the algorithm is good enough to conclude, then GPT-3-KI uses this knowledge for new texts. GPT-3 was trained with a Western text corpus and got along best with English and German.

Generating texts with AI: the step-by-step implementation

Copywriters are often overwhelmed with the how, where, and what. Therefore, the following explains how best to generate texts with artificial intelligence. First of all, you must choose the marketing channel and type of text. They should sort the marketing channels for which texts make an essential difference for its marketing performance. It is also essential to consider which type of text you invest the most time in and prioritize it accordingly.

Then it is essential to find the right one with a multitude of tools. One should pay attention to what the reason for the change is. Is it about language or expression, subject lines or product descriptions, or is it about writing short creative texts optimized for the target group? Different AI-based tools focus on different factors. Therefore, a lot of time should be invested in research.

You then register on the website of the corresponding tool and provide input to the machine. It is sufficient to convey the topic with a few keywords or a brief description with most tools. The result is then texts generated by the AI ​​on the specific topic.

Choosing the best text is a relevant decision

How can the copywriter choose the best text among the different versions?

The critical point is to choose the best text. The AI ​​writes different versions of texts on a specific topic so that copywriters can choose how they want to convey their product to online shoppers. The AI ​​makes predictions of success for the different versions. Let’s take a subject line generator as an example: Here, the AI ​​predicts the percentage by which the open rate will increase if the copywriter decides on that particular subject line. The copywriter should accordingly compare the success prognoses of the different text options and, at the same time, make sure that the text fits the corporate language.

Finally, copywriters should add performance data to train the AI. Information on the opening rate and click rate can be conveyed to the AI ​​in retrospect to analyze the data and thus learn from it to create better forecasts. Dr. Jonathan T. Mall, the co-founder of neuroflash, thinks: “The future does not lie in a generation. The future lies in curation. It’s about helping the person make choices and understand which of those millions of words they can use will work. ”

How e-commerce and retail benefit from AI-based texts

AI has many advantages, especially for copywriters in retail and e-commerce. Because especially in these areas, you have to write creative texts quickly and often, which is not always that easy at the push of a button. AI-based tools take a lot of the pressure off them because they work quickly and offer many different text options.

Copywriters also save a lot of time and thus a lot of money needed for A / B testing. Many tools validate the written texts and show the forecast of success for each option. Furthermore, the texts written by the AI ​​are already so good that perfect subject lines are tested against other perfect subject lines, and the effect is thus improved.

You can see from the advantages of AI how important it can be for companies. Many are already very convinced of this technology, which can be seen in some statistics: A study by Accenture shows that by the year 2035, AI can increase the profitability of companies by around 38%.

Limits of AI in e-commerce

But although GPT-3 and AI are milestones in computer history, the way forward is still foggy because there are some limits. As already mentioned, she needs a lot of data so that her predictions and decisions can be trained correctly. But data is now the most sought-after commodity that has become a new currency.

Large amounts of data are in the hands of large companies. And that is the problem: Large companies have the advantage of having enough resources to obtain a large amount of appealing data. Small companies and start-ups are neglected and find it difficult to enter the race for AI.

That brings me to the next point, which is the high cost of collecting, storing, and analyzing data. Qualified engineers in this area are currently a rare commodity and, therefore, also a costly commodity. This, in turn, is a disadvantage for small businesses and start-ups, which can rarely bear these costs. In addition, it should not be forgotten that although AI is brilliant and can generate good content, it lacks life experience, human knowledge, and, above all, human emotions. It can be very rational and factual, but it just can’t create emotions. So AI is there to simplify the tasks of copywriters and copywriters.

How AI also supports e-commerce

So the AI ​​generates creative texts for retail and e-commerce, but what else can it do? AI can also predict shopping patterns by looking at a buyer’s past purchases. E-commerce companies can then use the analyzed forecasts to target customers with relevant offers. Personalized product recommendations increase the conversion rate by 915 percent and average order values ​​by three percent (source: Perzonalization).

In addition, chatbots and virtual assistants can consistently make customers happier. You don’t have to go shopping at a specific time to get assistance. AI technologies are becoming more intuitive and human-like, so the buyer feels more and more comfortable. AI-based copywriting is not in the future but is already used by many brands in e-commerce today.

It’s a fantastic technology that not only makes life easier. It will also revolutionize business areas, mainly marketing and e-commerce. How fast the AI ​​spreads depends on how companies accept it. First of all, you have to trust her to take on human tasks and be willing to incorporate her into your company processes. Technologies are developing faster and faster, so one can only wonder what the future will bring with artificial machines.