The latest on artificial intelligence in the customer equation

Live performance ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster and StubHub are increasingly relying on a wide array of artificial intelligence applications that enable their customers to secure tickets to their preferred concerts and sporting events more quickly and efficiently.

Each see their use of AI as a critical element in keeping ahead of the competition.

StubHub is a secondary ticket marketer that relies on chat-bots and social integration to sway customers away from traditional ticketers such as Ticketmaster.  The company believes that its use of artificial intelligence is the wave of the future.  Its management is convinced that new generations are more comfortable with AI apps and social media interaction and that they are the preferred forms of engagement to purchase any type of goods or services.

StubHub uses an iMessage app, Skype chatbot, natural language processing and voice integrations.  Other industries are doing the same.

Recently, Dr. James Nitit Mah, President and Founder of Intellegend Corp. met with Chris J. Snook, Bestselling Author of Digital Sense and Rebooting Retail (March 2019), Managing Partner at Launch Haus, Co-Founder, Editor-In-Chief of Token Standard and Chairman/Founder of WorldTokenomicForcum. They talked about being fearless in the face of emerging technology. As new technology will fuel the rapid growth of businesses today, courage must come from business leaders about how to strategically leverage technology for the benefit of the businesses’ various audiences. 

For example, more than 3,000 athletes use Opendorse, an athlete marketing platform that helps big sports brands share content on social media and that uses AI to make it easier for athletes and brands to work together. These athletes are using Opendorse to share content on social media. More than 1,500 brands use Opendorse to send content to athletes to share. The companywas covered in Forbes a year ago regarding its new SaaS solution for sports colleges and teams, allowing them to turn athletes with ties to properties into social media advocates.   Top advertisers using the platform include Coca-Cola, Head & Shoulders and Courtyard Marriott, and properties include the NFLPA, New Jersey Devils, Clemson Athletics.

The athletes represented by Opendorse receive curated content from the firm that the athletes can either approve for publishing or alter according to their wishes. Each message has a multimedia aspect included.  Opendorse helps start-ups by giving them fresh ideas for content. 

This marketing technology platform represents a start-of-the-art technology that is based on creating bonds between companies and their marketers.  Opendorse also brings a much-needed reality check to entrepreneurs, because it provides rapid customer reactions that either support or nix the CEOs’ initial corporate concepts.  None of their ideas will work unless they have customer buy-in.

Technology grows more intricately by leaps and bounds every day and Artificial Intelligence, increasingly used in branding and marketing, even imitates how the human brain functions and how human deep learning works.  But what doesn’t change are basic human needs for physical safety and sensory stimulation. These default sensory needs remain critical no matter how many centuries go by.  Those that take into careful consideration basic customer interaction and satisfying customer wants quickly and efficiently by using AI in their events marketing will lead in their industries.

StubHub is so amazing because users can customize their ticket buying experience. They can simply ask the app questions such as “What’s there to do this weekend in Los Angeles?” or “I want to have fun tonight but only spend $100.00, can you help me choose?”  Chatbots then take it from there and guide the user via enticing graphics toward events for which they would likely spend money. Via iMessaging, users can share event choices with friends and consider related purchasing options together.  

Artificial intelligence at its core is  the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. True AI does not simply answer a human’s question but reason with its users and organically interact with them.  Via these exchanges, AI applications should be programmed to become even more informed, and therefore become more effective to use, over time.

To remain competitive within the AI landscape, companies such as StubHub and Online City Tickets need to ensure that they are using the latest in AI technology to stay ahead of the competition.

In almost every industry, AI is being widely used to improve customer experiences and internal processes that make it easier for employees to do their jobs.  Most workers have become more used to artificial intelligence both in their jobs and in their personal lives, having used new AI processes for customer service in almost every company they encounter in their daily routines.

Likewise, customers in general have come a long way adapting to AI, as the technology itself has grown in leaps and bounds during the last decade.

Old AI programs contained many glitches and, if there was a robot-like voice employed, it could only answer very specific questions.  Just think about when you were first able to do your banking via a bank-authorized automatic phone line and how laborious it was.

Unfortunately, some consumers still shy away from using artificial intelligence, so it is important for the brand to create marketing collateral on its services that carefully explains the amazing technology that they are using and how easy it has been designed to work for its customers.

Also, if a bot is unable to complete a certain task, the company must make sure that it has designed the technology to turn over the confounding issue to a human on its customer service team.  But in many cases, bots are able to handle entire orders and book an evening’s entertainment and sometimes even an entire vacation without human help.

Each brand must find the optimal solutions for its best and most frequent customers and be sure to communicate its technology in a comprehensible and entertaining manner.  

Yes, AI has come a long way and we as consumers have to bone up so that we can enjoy the benefits it offers to the nth degree.