7 Signs Your AI Tools are Driving Results
More than a year has passed since AI went mainstream. Already, at least half of all organizations use the emerging technology in two or more business functions. The AI market is expected to increase from $241.8 billion in 2023 to nearly $740 billion in 2030. To date, more than 75,000 AI companies across the globe offer businesses the promise of increased productivity and efficiency.
It’s safe to say that AI has made quite the debut.
Yet many of these so-called AI tools are actually just AI toys — novelty apps that are visually cool but do little to drive business results.
Case in point: 97% of business owners believe generative AI tools like ChatGPT will help their business, but just 46 out of 876 respondents say these tools actually increase their bottom line. A 2023 article from The Atlantic went so far as to call AI a “waste of time.”
Clearly, there’s a difference between AI tools with a real purpose and ones that are just surface-level “cool.” Sure, some of the tools are fun to play with. But others truly help you get results and achieve a higher job performance.
So how do you determine if your AI is a tool or a toy? Unfortunately, the task is often easier said than done. But filtering through the noise to find the most useful AI tools is possible — and essential for businesses that want to increase their competitive advantage.
Here’s how to determine which AI tools have a genuine purpose and which tools are just distracting toys:
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Are Your AI Tools Effective?
We’ve all heard the hype: AI has the potential to reshape the world as we know it, drastically boosting workplace efficiency and allowing humans to be more creative, productive, and innovative than ever before.
While that prediction may someday become a reality, many of today’s AI tools are still extremely limited in their capabilities. They’re little more than a gimmick, sold to organizations with a flash of buzzwords and empty promises.
Luckily, there’s good news. Some AI tools really can move the needle, helping you do your job smarter, faster, and all-around more effectively.
To spot this caliber of AI, look for these seven signs.
1. It Delivers Results You Can See
Above all else, truly great AI tools deliver a return on investment you can easily see. Whether you’re looking to increase leads, expand reach, reduce expenses, or anything else, you should see a clear tie between your goal and the AI tool that’s helping you get there.
2. It Offers Measurable ROI
On that note, your return on investment (ROI) shouldn’t just be obvious — it should be measurable. Maybe you’ve noticed that you have more leads or reduced ad spend ever since you started using AI. But do you know exactly how much things have changed? Do you know how long it will take you to reach your long-term goals? And what to adjust to help you accelerate ROI? With the right tools, you’ll have measurable results that provide answers to these questions.
3. It Improves Over Time
Artificial intelligence learns over time. That’s pretty much its M.O. Consequently, the best AI tools get better the more you use them, giving real-time, actionable insights that allow you to optimize workflows and make the most of your workday. As you evolve, your AI tools should evolve too.
4. It Provides Data-driven Insights
Top-tier AI tools leverage historical data and statistics to provide valuable insights and suggestions that make you better at your job. They track your performance, highlight what’s working, and offer solutions to solve pain points. Like your favorite coach, they work with you to improve decision-making and overall processes.
5. It Works with You, Not For You
The greatest AI tools let you kick back and relax while they get the job done, right? Wrong. Many people have the misconception that AI will either take their job or do it all for them. In reality, the best AI works seamlessly with you, not for you. It’s the yin to your yang, stepping in where humans fall short to let your creativity and unique abilities shine. We call this, “Human in the Loop” - meaning your AI works alongside you, making you better.
6. It Seamlessly Integrates with Existing Platforms
Too many AI tools are siloed, one-trick ponies that work only in isolation. What makes an AI tool really incredible is when it seamlessly integrates with all the tools you’re already using, from your CRM to your email platform and everything in between. When your tools are available everywhere you are, that’s when the magic happens.
7. It’s Scalable
Maybe you’ve found a cool AI tool that works for you right now. But will it work for your entire organization? Will it continue to grow and evolve alongside your company? How will it integrate with processes six months or a year from now? The right tools are scalable, meaning they work now and far into the future.
KPIs for AI: Metrics for Success
Hopefully, you now have the skills to decipher an all-star AI tool from a silly toy. But finding a great tool isn’t enough. Now you need to implement it successfully.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) can help ensure you stay on the right path, but not all KPIs are created equal. Here are some essential KPIs to measure the success of your AI initiatives.
Return on Investment
As we discussed earlier, the best AI tools have a tangible ROI. They need to deliver clear benefits that justify the cost of the tool — and then some. If you can’t trace your tool to any obvious benefits, it’s time to kick it to the curb.
Adoption Rate
Even the coolest AI tools won’t do you any good if your employees aren’t using them. The best AI has a quick learning curve and buy-in from employees across the organization. These tools are easy to adopt and offer immediate results that are useful to workers.
Client Experience Metrics
The right AI tools improve experiences across the board, including employee experience and customer or client experience. These tools should give a boost to client satisfaction scores and engagement rates while reducing churn rates, and more.
Time-to-Value
You’ve invested in a fancy AI tool and your workers are putting it to use. But how long will it be before you actually see the benefits of this AI project? Will it be months, or even years? Don’t wait around. Invest in AI tools with lightning-fast time-to-value, so you can see results right away.
Accuracy and Precision
Technical KPIs allow you to really put your AI tools to the test. Is the tool doing what it claims it can do? Is it successfully completing the tasks you need it to accomplish? How often does it have bugs or flukes? Even seemingly small hiccups could have serious repercussions, so it’s important to keep a close eye on these metrics.
Operational Efficiency
AI is heralded as an efficiency tool for the ages. So of course, the greatest AI tools actually deliver on this promise. To see if your AI tool measures up, track how much time it takes to accomplish a task, how much waste is created, how much it costs to produce results, etc.
Lavender: AI with a Purpose
There are novelty AI tools, and then there are legitimate AI tools. Lavender is the latter. Though it feels like magic, it’s actually math — math that delivers instant results you can see.
With Lavender, you can write better sales emails faster and with twice the replies. You can drive more leads into your pipeline, book more meetings, and keep getting better results over time.
Lavender’s AI Email Coach scoresgrades your email and gives tips on how to improve. It finds and fixes content that hurts your chances of getting a reply, suggests ways to personalize your emails, and helps you create deeper connections with your recipients.
It’s all based on data, transforming cold sales email into a science and an art — rather than a guessing game.
The proof is in the pudding. Lavender reduces email writing time, increases response rates, and turns sellers into email wizards.
So why waste time on nifty, just-for-fun AI tools when you can leverage ones that make you better at your job?
See a demo or get started for free to experience the magic of Lavender today.
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