Way back in late 2022, generative AI burst into the mainstream, with many people thinking it would quickly wipe out most jobs and we would all be quickly serving our robot overlords.
And sure, that hasn’t quite happened (yet!), but there are several ways that generative AI can be used to help startup business owners become more productive and effective.
In this article, I will discuss the five ways that you can use generative AI to scale your startup and ensure you are getting the most out of these exciting and innovative tools.
Short on time? Here are the key takeaways
- Automate customer support: Use generative AI to create a comprehensive FAQ section and improve customer interaction without the need for constant human oversight.
- Optimize marketing strategies: Leverage AI to analyze content plans, assess campaign performance, and suggest improvements for better ROI.
- Conduct competitor analysis: Utilize AI tools to evaluate competitor performance, pricing, user experience, and content to stay competitive.
- Boost customer retention: Analyze customer feedback using AI to identify common issues and implement effective retention strategies.
- Streamline hiring and recruitment: Automate resume screening and candidate matching to save time and ensure the best hires for your startup.
5 Ways to Use Generative AI to Scale Your Startup
Let’s dive straight in and look at some of the most effective ways that generative AI can help you scale your startup.
To automate customer support
One of the most effective ways to use generative AI for your brand is for customer support. The most obvious option for this would be to install an AI chatbot, which allows you to provide 24/7 support and alleviate costs, but that concept is widely already known, so I won’t go into any further detail on that.
Another great way to use generative AI is to create a robust and all-encompassing FAQ section.
For example, let’s say you run a clothing brand that focuses specifically on skating clothing, and you want to build out a detailed help centre for your customers to ensure they get the best possible interaction with your brand.
By using WebPilot within ChatGPT, you can assess what other brands have common issues with and mock up a long list of frequently asked questions that you can answer and publish on your site.
Here’s an example prompt:
“I run a skating brand and want to create a robust and all-encompassing FAQ section. I want to build out a detailed help centre for your customers to ensure they get the best possible interaction with your brand. Please assess what other brands have common issues with and mock up a long list of frequently asked questions that you can answer and publish on your site. Here are some of our competitors: https://www.routeone.co.uk/ https://www.skatehut.co.uk/clothes https://www.skatewarehouse.co.uk/collections/clothing”
And here’s what we got in return:
For a more optimized marketing strategy
Generative AI isn’t just great for improved customer service, though. It can also be an excellent tool for optimizing your marketing strategy, analyzing content plans, assessing campaign performance, and suggesting improvements that could help improve your ROI.
For detailed competitor analysis
Revisiting WebPilot, the free GPT plugin available in ChatGPT, you can also use generative AI to analyse competitor performance, ensuring you are talking about the write content in your strategy, and providing your customers with the best possible prices and user experience.
Let’s revisit our skate shop example from before. Using the same chat that we have already opened up in WebPilot, we can quickly gather an idea of costs, user experience, and content in a matter of a few prompts.
Prompt one: “Assessing these same companies, please provide me with a rough price estimate for each category of clothing that each brand offers, such as skate shoes, shorts, t-shirts, and so on.”
The result:
Prompt two: “Now revisit these brands and pull out some of the key components that they all have that ensure the best possible user experience.”
The result:
Prompt three: “Now please scan through these brand’s content, and identify some topics we should be covering as part of our marketing strategy.”
The result:
To boost customer retention
Generative AI is also an excellent tool for analyzing customer feedback and suggestion interventions that you can take to retain more customers.
Say, for example, you’ve implemented a feedback survey as part of your welcome series for new customers, and now you have a ton of feedback and no time to go through it.
By pulling all those answers into AI and asking it to collate the most common answers, you can quickly identify common issues and rectify them.
You’ll notice that Amazon has started doing this for it’s customers, offering AI generated overall feedback to users before purchase.
Hiring and recruitment
Lastly, generative AI can be an excellent tool for automating the screening process, quickly analyzing resumes, and matching candidates with the perfect role within your brand.
As a startup, it’s likely that some of your first hires will be hired on a freelance basis, which has many benefits. However, one of the downsides to this approach is that you will be inundated with applicants, all claiming to be the perfect person for the role.
Sure, some of those applicants will do a good job for your brand, but many won’t and are simply looking for a quick payday before you realize they are underqualified.
By automating the initial applications, you can then only focus on the best possible applicants, ensuring you get the best hires while also saving yourself time and effort.
Final Thoughts
The true capabilities of generative AI in ecommerce are still yet to be uncovered, but one thing is for sure.
It’s certainly not going anywhere.
For more insight into how to get the most out of this exciting tool, be sure to check out our AI Accelerator Program, available as a member of Foundr+.
You can now try Foundr+ for seven days for just $1. This trial can be cancelled at any time and gives you access to every single course, not just our AI-related ones.
Become a member today and fast-track your business growth with confidence.
Frequently Asked Questions About How to Use Generative AI to Scale Your Startup
Is generative AI expensive to implement?
While some think generative AI can be costly to implement, there are actually lots of things you can do with the free tools available, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, for example. Some custom AI solutions may cost a little extra, but most things can be done at no extra cost.
Do I need technical expertise to use generative AI?
You don’t need to be a technical expert to use generative AI in the ways highlighted above. Many tools are very user-friendly and easy to use and come with several resources and support options.
How can generative AI be used in marketing?
Generative AI has the ability to significantly optimize marketing efforts when used effectively while also speeding up the content planning process.
How can generative AI help with hiring and recruitment?
Generative AI can automate the resume screening process, generate job descriptions, and match candidates to job profiles based on their qualifications, speeding up recruitment and ensuring better candidate-job fit.
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