Hollywood has many people thinking of artificial intelligence (AI) as robots who want to take over the world (hello, Terminator). But that’s a false impression of what AI really is or how it has changed the world we live in today.
While the definition of what constitutes artificial intelligence has evolved over time, the main idea remains the same—machines that are capable of thinking, learning, and making decisions like us. The fact is, we use AI to make our lives more convenient. Siri and Alexa are just two examples.
Businesses use AI to make their workplaces more efficient and improve user experience at a lower cost. Facebook relies on AI to deliver the right content in your personal news feed. It also uses AI to weed out fake news.
What does AI have to do with your website?
How is AI essential?
Customers decide a business’s credibility based on web design
According to the Stanford Web Credibility Research, 75% of users report that they judge the credibility of a business based on the design of its website. The same report showed that credibility is also achieved when a website is easy to access and useful.
While usefulness is mostly based on the content of your website, ease of access and use are both reliant on the design. For people who don’t know how to code, AI can make it easy for them to build and manage their own website—one that is designed according to their theme, content, and preferences.
Usage of voice assistants & intelligent chatbots has greatly increased
AI-based chatbots and voice assistants have become more popular because they are able to provide a better customer experience. AI-based chatbots, for example, converse more meaningfully with customers because they are able to understand what the user is asking even if the question is worded differently.
Voice assistants have become more personalized as well. These AI tools can analyze past conversations, learn user preferences, and respond accordingly to ensure better engagement and increase customer satisfaction.
Why integrate AI in web development
There have been huge advancements in the field of artificial intelligence and it’s not over yet. Experts predict that this technology will become even more prominent in our lives. In fact, IBM states that 85% of retail and 79% of consumer products intend to implement an AI-based supply chain management solution by 2021.
This year alone, 86% of CEOs stated that AI is a mainstream technology in their office. In addition, 80% of retail company executives expect that they will be using AI-powered intelligent automation by 2027.
Obviously, AI is flourishing in a variety of industries and will continue to do so. But what does it have to do with your website? Below are just some of the benefits of integrating AI in web development.
Lowers website costs
The creation and design of a website used to require the expertise of professionals, and the cost can be quite expensive. For businesses with a limited budget, web design and creation can be more affordable using AI tools. Moreover, it makes the process easier because the AI uses user preferences and themes to guide the “creators” in the design, layout, and even content of the website.
Managing the website is also considerably less costly. Not only does the AI perform various tasks related to website management such as bug detection, it can help developers create solutions faster by creating code from scratch. The faster turnaround time means less cost.
Elevates website design
AI can not only design your website according to your specific preferences, this technology can go deeper than the superficial. AI can use current market trends as well as analyze customer behavior to create a website designed for all your users.
Ensures positive first touchpoint experience with customers
First impressions last. In fact, you only have about 0.05 seconds to make a good one before the user decides to stay on, or leave, your site. A personalized homepage experience can ensure that your customers stay on your website and keep coming back. AI can help you gather valuable customer data and analyze it to provide real-time customer insight.
This technology can help you understand how people are consuming and interacting with your website. More importantly, it can use that understanding to provide your customers with a positive experience. For example, using that data, it can provide customers with personalized recommendations such as helpful articles or products they might be interested in.
Another way AI can create a positive first touchpoint experience is by providing 24/7 assistance to those who need it. AI-based chatbots can easily understand customers’ questions even though they are phrased differently. They can even tailor their response based on language and behavioral cues of the customer. More importantly, AI-based chatbots get smarter over time using data they’ve gathered on their interactions with customers. Simply put, they can get better at their job at making sure your customers find the answers they’re looking for.
Performs more tasks compared to non-developers
Aside from designing and creating your website, AI can also perform a lot of other tasks that can help your business achieve its goals. Lead generation is one example. Instead of having a dedicated sales team handling all the inquiries on your website, an AI-based chatbot can reduce the load by handling some of the leads or even all of them. Using data and machine learning, the chatbot can sound more conversational and provide a more personalized experience.
AI can also help your sales team qualify leads by gathering and analyzing data much faster. They can categorize leads based on where they are on the pipeline. They can even analyze data and determine who the company’s “best prospects” are.
Sales is not the only aspect of your business that AI can help improve. It can help improve marketing efforts by gathering and analyzing current marketing trends as well as analyzing online sentiment regarding your brand. It can use data to identify issues on your website that affect your ranking on Google and provide you with solutions on how to improve it.
AI can even help ensure that your website is accessible by transcribing videos or providing audio readings of the content on your website.
How to provide inclusive content to everyone
Speaking of accessibility, it is important that your company complies with web accessibility laws. While it is best and much easier to do this when you’re designing and creating your website, it’s not ideal for a majority of companies who already have one. Fortunately, AI can come to their rescue.
AI-powered solutions can analyze all aspects of your website, from content to navigation, based on WCAG 2.1 principles so that you can fix any issues. For example, AI can create audio descriptions of content for visually-impaired people. Below are other examples of how AI can help you create inclusive content.
Learn more about your audience
As we’ve mentioned before, AI can gather data on current market trends as well as customer behaviors. It can also process all of that information and relay how you can use it to reach business goals. Specifically, it can provide you with real-time customer insight that you can use to make sure your content is available to all.
Remediate PDFs and documents
AI can make sure that any documents you have made public are accessible to all. AI-based PDF remediation tools will analyze your documents and show you what needs remediation so that they can be read using assistive technology.
While document tagging will still involve some degree of manual effort, this will shorten the amount of time spent tagging documents. It can also increase the accuracy of your remediation efforts.
Include alternative text
Accessibility means that all of your content can be consumed by users, regardless of their disability. AI tools can be used to identify images that are missing alternative text so that you can add descriptions that allow people who are visually impaired to fully engage with your website.
Final Thoughts
As we move towards the future, there’s no denying that artificial intelligence is going to continue to evolve. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Advancements in AI are not just about making our lives easier, but also better. With the AI of today, anyone can create a fully functioning, aesthetically-pleasing, accessible website that will help them reach their business objectives. Imagine what else it will be able to do for us years from now.
