MARKETING MINUTE

Normally, new technology takes a little bit of time to take off; regardless if it becomes life-altering, like the cell phone and television set, or a game changer for your industry, like social media. However, ChatGPT has taken the digital era by storm. In only five days from launching, ChatGPT acquired over a million users! Keep in mind, Netflix took 3.5 years, Facebook took 10 months, and Instagram took 2.5 months (which was mind blowing at the time) to reach that number of users.  As of February, 2023, it now has over 100 million users worldwide!

But let’s break this revolutionary new tool down for you to explain what it is, how it might benefit you, and what limitations to keep in mind.

What is Chat GPT?

ChatGPT stands for Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer. It is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) language model that has been trained on vast amounts of text data from the internet, allowing it to find general patterns and relationships in the data, as well as recognizing patterns in language, understanding grammar and syntax to generate coherent and natural-sounding text.

How is Chat GPT different from Search Engines and Alexis or Siri?

Google (or any search engine), plus Alexa, Siri, or any other digital assistant, are limited to specific remedial tasks. They rely on keywords and ‘commands’ to preform properly. Chat GPT is designed to understand and talk to you about almost anything you’re curious about. Additionally, it doesn’t belong to any one company, which means I can help you without trying to sell you anything or be limited within a company’s constrained ‘ecosystem’ (like Amazon or Google).

Chat GPT takes the information you would have received from a search engine or digital assistant and it recognizes the patterns to find an overall response to your inquiry and is able to explain it in a personalized and conversational way.

How can Chat GPT benefit your business?

1. Enhanced customer engagement: ChatGPT can be used as a chatbot on websites or messaging platforms to engage with customers in a conversational way. This can help to increase customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty.
2. Personalization and targeting: ChatGPT can use information from previous interactions with customers to personalize their experience and provide relevant product recommendations, promotions, and other offers. This can help to improve customer satisfaction and increase sales.
3. Data insights: ChatGPT can be used to collect customer data, including preferences, opinions, and feedback. This information can be used to improve product development, marketing campaigns, and customer service.
4. Lead generation: ChatGPT can be used to qualify leads and capture contact information from potential customers. This information can be used to target marketing campaigns and increase sales.
5. Cost savings: ChatGPT can provide 24/7 customer support and assistance without the need for human intervention, which can help to reduce support costs and improve efficiency.
6. Increased productivity: ChatGPT can handle multiple conversations simultaneously, which can help to increase productivity and reduce response times.

For businesses, ChatGPT is helpful because it can help them talk to their customers in a friendly and helpful way, even when there are a lot of people to talk to. ChatGPT can also remember things about the customers, like what they like to buy or what questions they’ve asked before, and use that information to make better recommendations or give better answers. It will also save money and time because less employees are needed to talk to customers, it can talk to many customers at once, and it never sleeps; which offers convenience to your customers as well.

What are the current limitations of ChatGPT?

While ChatGPT can be a useful tool for marketers, there are also potential risks and drawbacks to using it, including:

1. Privacy concerns: ChatGPT collects user data in order to provide personalized responses and recommendations, which can raise concerns about privacy and data security.
2. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations: As an AI language model, ChatGPT may occasionally provide responses that are inaccurate, inappropriate, or offensive. This can damage the brand’s reputation and harm customer relationships.
3. Limited emotional intelligence: ChatGPT is not capable of understanding or responding to emotional cues, which can be problematic in customer service situations where empathy and emotional intelligence are important.
4. Lack of human touch: ChatGPT is not a human, and some customers may prefer to interact with a real person. This can lead to frustration or dissatisfaction, particularly in situations where complex issues or emotions are involved.
5. Over-reliance on automation: Relying too heavily on ChatGPT for customer interactions can lead to a lack of human touch and personalized interactions, which can ultimately harm the customer experience and damage the brand’s reputation.

Overall, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for marketers looking to improve customer engagement, personalization, insights, lead generation, and cost savings. By leveraging the power of AI and natural language processing, businesses can enhance their customer experience and achieve their marketing goals more effectively.