Marketing 0

Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Another exciting development is in the area of NLP. It is about
teaching machines to replicate the human way of communicating,
which covers both written and spoken language. NLP is a critical
aspect in the development of AI, especially for one requiring
language inputs, such as in voice assistants. It is also a challenging
feat since the human language, in its natural form, is often fuzzy,
intricate, and layered. A large volume of real conversation transcripts
and video recordings is required to teach machines the nuances of
language.
The most widespread application of NLP is for chatbots. Chatbots are
being utilized not only for servicing but also for selling. It will reduce
the need for higher-cost channels such as inbound call centers and
outbound telemarketing, especially when it comes to serving lower-
tier customers. Companies like Lyft, Sephora, and Starbucks are
already using chatbots for order taking and customer interactions. In
B2B space, companies like HubSpot and RapidMiner use chatbots to
qualify leads and direct prospects to the right follow-up channels.
The popularity of online messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger, and WeChat, is the key contributor to the rise
of chatbots. For the same reason, people expect to communicate with
chatbots in the same way they would chat with other people.
It is why NLP is so important. Unlike simple chatbots capable of
answering only closed-ended questions, NLP-powered chatbots can
interpret and respond to arbitrary questions. NLP allows chatbots to
understand a chat message, although it contains noise such as typos,
slang, and abbreviations. Powerful chatbots can also understand
sentiments, for example, to detect sarcastic statements. And they are
capable of understanding the context to infer the intended meaning
of ambiguous words.

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With voice tech, machines have also gotten much better at
responding to verbal commands. There are many available voice
assistants: Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and
Microsoft Cortana. These applications are already very capable of
answering simple queries and executing commands in multiple
languages. The Google I/O demo of the Duplex in 2018
demonstrated how a virtual assistant could also smoothly carry out
natural conversations. When calling a salon or a restaurant to book
an appointment, the voice assistant ditches the robotic tone and even
adds the use of pauses and filler words, making it more realistic than
ever.
With this recent development, more and more customers begin to
search and shop via voice assistants. The assistants will compare
products and make recommendations on brands to buy based on
historical decisions—the more products purchased, the more
accurate the suggestion. To anticipate this whole new way to shop,
brands need to be ready and collect big data on their own to
understand the purchase algorithms, which reflect the user
preferences.