Get Comfortable with Artificial Intelligence

By Patrick Dorsey, EVP Marketing, Impexium

In 1955, Stanford Professor John McCarthy, a computer and cognitive scientist coined the term artificial intelligence (AI).

Now, nearly 70 years later, the ability for machines to simulate human intelligence is creating global impact across industries. Today’s AI technology helps organizations solve problems and make fast, data-driven decisions cost-effectively and at scale.

Rather than replace humans, the technology is meant to enhance their productivity—a compelling business proposition. According to Statista, the market revenue for artificial intelligence may grow to more than 1.5 trillion by 2030. This continuous innovation will continue to shape the way associations work and serve members well into the future.

As the technology becomes more mainstream, associations that have become acquainted with the technology and its uses earlier will be better positioned to leverage the latest innovations to further enhance the member experience and improve organizational efficiency. If you haven’t already, a good place to start leveraging the power of AI is with your association management solution (AMS).

Modern AMS platforms embrace AI to innovate easily, do more with data, and expand their possibilities—think of it as automation on steroids. Through various models, the technology can boost engagement levels, improve the adoption and acquisition of existing products and services, and transform the member experience.

Engagement Scoring

You may have heard of lead scoring, a technique where quantifiable user behaviors are used to numerically rank a potential customer by likeliness to convert. A similar practice, engagement scoring, is used to identify your most valuable (or vulnerable) members and prospects in real time.

In an AMS, AI provides for supercharged engagement scoring by tracking member/prospect touchpoints and applying (or automating) a predictive model to derive actionable insights.

“AI analyzes your membership data together to create an evolving membership persona,” Danah Crissy wrote in an Impexium blog post dated May 2, 2022. “This persona tells you what type of member is most likely to be engaged, what motives him or her to become involved, and how much involvement you can typically expect.”

Marketers can use AI-derived engagement scores to target individuals with a high probability of engaging with a message or interaction, or to create messaging that resonates with disengaged audiences.

Data Integrity

Artificial intelligence is only as accurate as the data it processes. That’s why data integrity—the process of maintaining a clean database of optimal quality—is so important. Research from Dun & Bradstreet shows that 70 percent of data in CRM systems goes bad each year, 91 percent is incomplete, and 18 percent is made up of duplicates.

According to research by Dun & Bradstreet, 91 percent of data in CRM systems is incomplete, 18 percent is duplicated, and 70 percent is rendered stale each year.

But the sheer amount of data produced and stored today makes it nearly impossible to cleanse data manually. In 2020 alone, nearly 64.2 zettabytes of data were created or replicated, according to the market intelligence provider IDC. That figure will continue to trend upward at exponential rates.

As Dave Reinsel, senior vice president of IDC’s Global DataSphere puts it, “The amount of digital data created over the next five years will be greater than twice the amount of data created since the advent of digital storage.”

This is where AI comes to the rescue, rapidly identifying and addressing duplicate, irregular, and corrupt AMS data before processing it.

Sentiment Analysis

AI is also highly applicable in sentiment analysis. This natural language processing (NLP) approach allows associations to monitor and understand emotions, tones, and intents in selected text.

An AI-powered AMS can analyze massive volumes of text, ranking member feedback and messages as positive, negative, and neutral based on keywords. Analyzing the intent of a member’s email message, for example, allows an AMS to frame an accurate, relevant, automated response, or if the situation dictates, a human response.

Sentiment analysis can also be used to identify prospects likely to purchase new products and services, to intervene when members are unlikely to renew, or to recruit members likely to volunteer for the association.

Member Onboarding

Never underestimate the power of a first impression, including when you’re bringing on new members.

AI assistants can be used to guide new members through every step of your onboarding process, from collecting vital information to providing access to online communities and resources. The result is a consistent, seamless member experience regardless of spikes in membership registration that would otherwise cause a drain on staff resources.

No matter how you decide to apply AI through your AMS, the key is to walk before you run. By using AI to solve one issue at a time, you better grasp the technology’s potential for your organization and how much support you might need from vendors.

---

To learn more about how Impexium’s Association Management Solution (AMS) empowers associations to innovate easily, do more with data, and expand possibilities, request a demo.

(Handout photo)