How to Accelerate Startup Growth with AI
Diving head-on into the world of AI as a startup might seem like a daunting prospect at first, considering how quickly it has evolved over the last year.
However, the good news is that startups who are just entering the scene can take full advantage of its offerings.
By tapping into the capabilities of AI-powered tools, startups can make smarter decisions, streamline processes, and gain valuable insights from vast amounts of data. Whether it’s optimising marketing campaigns, enhancing customer experiences, or automating repetitive tasks, AI can make your business and marketing objectives significantly more efficient.
Let’s look at some of the best ways you can adopt AI into your marketing strategy to accelerate growth early on.
Think About How AI Could Help You
There are so many AI tools out there at the moment, so it’s normal to feel overwhelmed about where to start.
The first step is to identify the specific needs of your startup, and then choose the right AI tools to address those needs. For example, if you’re an e-commerce startup aiming to enhance customer experiences, you could use a chatbot to help direct their query or solve their problem.
The key is to understand your startup’s challenges and objectives, and then explore the AI landscape to find the tools and approaches that align with your business needs.
Leverage AI to Boost Productivity
One of the biggest benefits AI has brought to the table is how it can boost productivity, save time and alleviate the mundanity of certain routine processes.
As a startup, you will know all too well how much mental and emotional labour goes into running your business. So, implementing an AI tool that can take over some of your repetitive tasks is a no-brainer.
For example, say you need to analyse customer feedback to improve your product. Manual analysis would likely be time-consuming and inefficient. With AI, you could automate sentiment analysis, quickly identifying trends and actionable insights.
Freeing up time using AI allows you to make informed decisions faster, optimise your offerings and boost productivity.
Plus, these tasks aren’t exactly enjoyable or engaging for employees. In fact, a recent study by 3GEM on behalf of SnapLogic concluded that employees want more AI in the workplace because of how it transformed their lives for the better.
Invest in an AI Analytics Tool or Platform
One powerful application of AI in analytics is predictive analytics, where machine learning algorithms crunch historical data to predict future trends.
For startups, this means unlocking the ability to understand customer behaviour and buying patterns. By diving into predictive analytics, startups can identify potential customers, anticipate their needs, and personalise marketing messages accordingly.
For example, a fitness startup could leverage predictive analytics to spot customers likely to cancel their gym membership, enabling targeted campaigns to retain their loyalty.
But AI-powered analytics goes beyond predictions. It enables startups to gather and connect various data types, such as demographic, social, geography, and browsing patterns. With AI working in the background, you could collect vital user information to help you make informed decisions on how to communicate with your audience and promote your offerings.
Plus, competitor monitoring becomes a breeze with AI. Rather than constantly reacting to competitor moves, startups can utilise AI tools to track and analyse competitor activities, gaining valuable insights to stay one step ahead.
Enhance Customer Experience With AI
As a startup, customer service and experience should be high on your list of priorities. In fact, 90% of businesses, regardless of the vertical they are operating in, have stated that they have made CX their primary focus.
With AI, businesses can now communicate in a more personalised way, enhancing their brand reputation and driving exponential growth. Gone are the days of robotic, impersonal replies!
According to studies, 79% of businesses say offering live chat has had a positive effect on sales, revenue and customer loyalty. Following this, 41% of consumers prefer chat support as it provides fast and efficient problem-solving.
AI-powered chatbots are becoming the preferred platform for customers to reach out to brands when they need assistance.
But it doesn’t stop there, 60% of marketers are now using AI to predict customer behaviour and needs. Startups can identify peak business hours, determine the right number of support agents needed, and understand customers’ preferred support channels, whether it’s chat or phone.
As a startup owner, ensuring existing customers are satisfied and loyal is paramount, and conversational AI can be an incredibly helpful and time-saving tool.
Make Processing Payments Easier
While not strictly AI, implementing a secure website checkout should be high on every startup’s list, but what happens when you’re on the move?
Every startup should have a backup payment solution for when they’re away from the desk. Whether it’s a networking event, a pop-up store or an exhibition, investing in a physical transaction solution allows you to easily process payments swiftly.
Investing in a simple and portable card reader such as the SumUp Air, is essential for the travelling entrepreneur’s digital toolbox. Having an easy way to track and process transactions on the go is crucial for businesses that move around regularly.
By investing in a portable payment solution, startups can optimise their sales operations and deliver great customer experiences wherever they are.
Streamline Hiring and Management With AI
Your employees make your company what it is, so finding the right talent is paramount to your success.
AI has drastically changed the landscape of recruitment for the better. Where recruiters used to take hours or even days trawling through CVs to find the top candidates, AI programmes can now cherry-pick the best applicants through algorithmic analysis.
Some of the benefits of using AI in your hiring process might include:
Improved candidate matching: arguably the most impressive feat at its disposal, AI recruitment software can analyse candidate data and job specs to cherry-pick the best candidates for the role.
Reduced bias: human bias is sometimes hard to ignore, but AI doesn’t have that problem. By eliminating human bias, companies are able to hire based on a candidate’s skill set and experience rather than gender, ethnicity or age.
Enhancing decision-making: torn between two candidates? AI can use data-driven insights to help you make that tough decision and reinforce your reasoning based on hard data.
AI brings a sense of calculated fairness, efficiency and recruitment quality to the industry, which leads to better hiring, better talent and a more successful company.
It’s a Great Time to Be a Startup
Yes, AI is developing at a rapid pace, and the markets are being inundated with a plethora of AI-powered tools and technologies – but this is good news for startups!
Startups can take full advantage of AI to make their processes more efficient, reach their target audience faster and personalise their content while saving time.
Large businesses have definitely started investing and implementing these tools, and startups should be taking advantage of them to ensure that they can scale their business rapidly and edge out their competitors.