There’s nothing like a great team up to find new solutions to sticky business problems. When Act-On set out to build audience insights functionality into our marketing automation platform, we knew we needed the right partner. For us, it had to be Intel.
Intel has been at the forefront of democratizing AI and making it accessible across industries. Their AI & Machine Learning Software Portfolio provides a modular and user-friendly environment to harness the power of AI for various applications. Act-On recognized the potential of Intel’s software to revolutionize the way marketers approach customer segmentation.
The problem: Advanced segmentation without the manual work
Every marketer knows how difficult it can be to segment customers the old fashioned way. It involves trial and error, guesswork, and manual lead scoring frameworks that require effort to maintain and update. Manually sifting through vast amounts of data to derive actionable insights can be time-consuming and inefficient. Customer segmentation based on behavioral data and fueled by AI has the potential to completely change the game, allowing marketers to separate the signal from the noise.
Act-On and Intel set out to transform customer segmentation into a streamlined, efficient process. We had a clear vision: a solution that could harness the potential of machine learning to automatically analyze massive volumes of customer data and suggest meaningful segments. Game on!
The collaboration: Parsing and analyzing vast datasets
The collaborative project kicked off in March 2023, with an ambitious goal: create an AI-based customer segmentation model that could be seamlessly integrated into Act-On’s marketing automation platform within six months. The tight timeline wouldn’t have been possible without leveraging Intel’s optimized machine learning algorithms, making data processing and analysis significantly more efficient.
Step one involved sorting and standardizing a vast range of data, spanning thousands of customers and dozens of industries. This would already have been a formidable task. Add to the complexity the fact that behavioral and contact data such as email opens, clicks, and form submission fields were not necessarily in a standardized format. Act-On’s team took individual behavioral data across customers and aggregated and anonymized it, taking care to standardize it for parsing by Intel’s machine learning algorithm.
The Solution: Predefined segments with customization options
Next came clustering customer data, the heart of the solution. Clustering involves grouping similar data points together based on specific criteria. In this case, Act-On’s team aimed to group customers with similar behavioral traits into segments that could guide targeted marketing strategies. Intel’s K-Modes algorithm, tailored for categorical data, proved to be the ideal choice. This algorithm automatically determined the most suitable number of clusters or allowed users to specify the number themselves. The result was a set of customer segments capable of providing valuable insights to marketers.
In addition to these predefined segments, the team also built in the ability for marketers to customize segment creation. This flexibility meant that marketers could tailor the model to their specific needs, focusing on particular behavioral and profile attributes. This customization empowered marketers to align segments with their unique strategies. We call this revolutionary feature Act-On AI Audience Insights.
Looking ahead, we plan to continue refining our AI model based on customer feedback. Expanding the range of available contact profile data and incorporating more specific behavior data are on the horizon. We’re also exploring automation, envisioning a future where the model configuration adapts to different scenarios, further simplifying marketers’ tasks.
Conclusion: Accelerating Insights with AI
The collaborative effort between Act-On and Intel exemplifies the transformative power of AI in the realm of marketing. By combining Act-On’s domain expertise with Intel’s AI & Machine Learning Software Portfolio, the project achieved the remarkable feat of deploying a sophisticated AI-based customer segmentation model within a short timeframe.
The solution not only saves time and resources but also equips marketers with powerful insights to drive targeted campaigns and create impactful customer experiences. This collaborative success story underscores the potential of AI to reshape traditional processes and enhance business outcomes.
Interested in more on AI and machine learning?
- Learn more about the benefits of AI and marketing automation working hand in hand, and where this revolution will take us in the near future.
- Learn more about Act-On AI features and solutions.