Strategic futurist, author, and speaker Dr. Mark van Rijmenam on how to use artificial intelligence to change your B2B marketing.
/ AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. MARK VAN RIJMENAM
The following summarizes an interview facilitated by Capterra team member Kyle Rich and strategic futurist Dr. Mark van Rijmenam. This conversation was edited for length and clarity.
If you’re old enough, you may remember the first time you purchased something from Amazon and then received an email with a message along the lines of: “Based on your recent purchase, we thought you might be interested in these products,” or “People who bought that product also purchased these products,” followed by recommendations for products that matched your preferences.
It was almost an eerie feeling, because the recommendations were things you would actually consider buying.
Recommender systems, introduced by Amazon 25 years ago in 1998, began to change the way businesses market to customers. These systems were one of the first uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and eCommerce, and helped usher in the age of marketing personalization.
We’ve been having fascinating discussions around the digital future with Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, a leading strategic futurist, keynote speaker, five-time bestselling author, and founder of the Digital Futures Institute.[1]
In our first conversation, we talked about the future of the business-customer relationship. Now, let’s look specifically at AI, how it’s already changing marketing, and how it’s likely to change your marketing practices in the future.
Recommender systems pioneered digital personalization
“When Amazon started using recommender systems,” says van Rijmenam, “they saw an increase in their sales of 30%.”
Today, recommendation algorithms contribute to approximately 35% of Amazon’s transactions.[2] And these recommender systems are only getting better, says van Rijmenam. With better data, companies can create better algorithms, which means better recommender systems.
Can AI predict what we want? Van Rijmenam observes that we think we are unpredictable and make changes to our lives all the time, so AI can't possibly figure it out.
The truth is that we are extremely predictable, he says. We do the same things over and over. “That's perfect for AI to figure out what you are about to do next,” he adds.
Retailers can know that you're going to order certain items based on your patterns of behavior. Van Rijmenam notes that this is where AI is extremely powerful, to discover those patterns in huge amounts of data, to understand what's happening, and to figure out the underlying patterns that help us lead our lives.
And that’s good. We need structure, or our lives would be way too chaotic. “Think about how difficult life would be if you had to decide what you’re having for breakfast every day. Our routines make AI capable of predicting what we will do next.”
Deep learning makes hyper-personalization possible
If we take this ability of AI to predict our behavior to the next level, we reach deep learning. Van Rfijmenam explained deep learning in our conversation: It’s a subset of machine learning, and machine learning is simply learning from data. The more data we have, the more we can learn from that data.
Deep learning uses several deep learning neural networks. They have different techniques to gain a better understanding from that data. It can get more technical, but van Rijmenam says: “The main thing is that we use these techniques to understand and to learn from the data about what’s happening in the real world.”
He shared the following example to help us see what deep learning does.
If you want AI to understand what a cat is, it needs to see millions of pictures of cats because AI isn't inherently smart. Humans would only need to see one or two pictures of a cat to be able to pick out a cat from 1,000 different animals. AI can't do that with a mere two images. So, it needs to use large amounts of data to understand what's happening, and what's required.
Neural networks and deep learning mimic how the human brain works to make those connections and create an algorithm, which in turn creates the AI to make predictions and identifications.
"Then, an image recognition system can say: 'With 80% or 90% certainty, this image is X, Y, Z.' And that's what happening. Just from the data, it knows what's happening.”
What can marketers use for hyper-personalization today?
In our previous conversation about technology that is changing the business-customer relationship, we talked about modern conversational AI chatbots that use natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) to create human-esque communication. Marketers can use these tools to provide buyers with the answers they need before they are ready to speak with a salesperson.
We also discussed generative AI, which can help you automate the creation of emails, blog posts, and other types of marketing content at scale.
To show the power of these technologies, after our conversation, van Rijmenam wrote an entire book in just five days with the help of a new generative AI that is taking the internet by storm. His book, "Future Visions", was written, edited, and designed by AI as an experiment to showcase what is possible today with off-the-shelf AI.
Businesses can use predictive analytics powered by AI to create the right product for the right moment, for the right buyer at the right price, through the right channel. Van Rijmenam emphasized that this all starts with data. You can’t hyper-personalize unless you know your customers, where they are in the buying cycle, and what they may do next.
If you know what the customer is going to do, you can create the right message or the right product at the right price. If my offering and the customer's needs match, I have a high conversion rate.
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam
Leading tech strategist
What does the future of marketing look like?
Knowing that AI is here to stay, van Rijmenam shared his predictions about the future of marketing: “I think it will become a lot more personalized and a lot more automated.”
He went on to describe a future with an immersive internet that will allow marketers to know and influence buyers to an even greater extent. In the B2C world, van Rijmenam used the fashion industry as an example, noting that the industry annually discards some billions in returned clothing. “There's nothing wrong with these clothes. Somebody orders a sweater in three sizes, tries them all on, sends two back, keeps one. Those two that have been sent back are ending up in landfill because it's cheaper to throw them away than to clean them and resell them. If apparel retailers can use immersive technology, customers will be able to see how they look in that sweater, how that sweater moves with them when they walk or run. Then the buyer can order one size and know it will fit. Not only is this cost-effective, but it can also have a massive impact on sustainability.”
It’s important to remember that in the future, it will still be about human relationships. Before today’s technology, businesses relied on personal selling. They knew their customers and their needs via a one-to-one relationship. With AI, we can now have one-to-millions relationships—with the same personalized experience.
Advice for marketers just getting started with AI
Van Rijmenam’s advice for marketers embracing AI solutions for the first time is straightforward: Educate yourselves, experiment, and take a long-term perspective.
He also warns that there are many tools in the market that promise AI, but don’t really use it, so do your homework.
“If you understand what AI is, if you understand what technologies are out there from a marketing perspective, and how it can influence your work, then you start to experiment with it,” advises van Rijmenam. “And when you finish experimenting, you start implementing it with a long-term focus."
He shared one more piece of advice from his personal experience:
"As a company, you should start today, because if you don't do that, you'll be the Blockbuster of tomorrow. If you haven't embraced digital technology in some form or shape today, then you'll be too late for tomorrow, because it moves faster and faster.
It's my job to keep up to date, and it's difficult for me because it evolves so fast. I can only imagine [how difficult it is] for a chief marketing officer who is busy running their business and doesn't have the time to think about how the world is changing. But they should, because it will change. Otherwise, if you blink your eyes, you've missed the train."
You don’t need to take this on by yourself. Have someone on your team help you stay ahead of the evolving technology or look to a trusted outside advisor.
Remember: your competitors are also implementing these new technologies, and it's an essential part of any marketing function to incorporate the right technology.
AI shouldn’t make your job more complicated. It should help make your job easier and better.
As van Rijmenam advises, “Experiment. If it doesn’t work, you’ve learned something. Take small steps. It doesn’t have to be intimidating.”
/ Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of getting started with AI? You don't have to do it alone.
Browse our list of top artificial intelligence service providers and learn more about their service offerings in Capterra’s hiring guide.
Be aware of personalized marketing tactics and relevant regulations
Technology can always be used for good or bad ends. As recommender systems became ubiquitous, they also began to encroach on our free will, notes van Rijmenam; these systems direct people down a certain path, through the sellers’ filter.
When people are steered in a certain direction without realizing it; they don’t see it happening.. That’s why van Rijmenam’s Digital Futures Institute focuses on ensuring a thriving digital future for both business and society. And one of the components of that thriving future is education.
“People can be digital natives without necessarily being digitally literate, and there is a big distinction between the two. People use the tools, but they don’t necessarily speak the language of the digital world. They don't see the dangers because they don't understand the dangers.”
The bottom line here is that buyers, whether B2B or B2C, need to stay alert so they don’t rely solely on marketers for their purchasing decisions, and marketers need to ensure they comply with ever-evolving regulations around customer data.
Wondering how to continue your marketing personalization strategy without third-party cookies?
Here's how retailers can keep targeting customers effectively with first-party data.