Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Here's how some Chicago small businesses are ramping up their use of AI

suntimes.com · 3dShare

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chris Clark was furloughed from his corporate job. So he started giving tennis lessons in Lincoln Park’s Oz Park. The former college tennis player has built his onetime side hustle into the racket sports company Toss and Spin, which has offered more than 8,000 classes. Clark says he was overwhelmed at first by needing to deal with 50 to 100 inquiries a day from customers.So he searched for a system to handle customer service and email and SMS marketing. He evaluated 15 different platforms and chose Chicago's ActiveCampaign, which uses AI to automate responses to customers. He says its real-time AI analytics also offered quicker customer insights and replaced months of manual research for Toss and Spin. ActiveCampaign tailored promotions to Toss and Spin’s customers and helped launch specialized sports programs that sold out. And automated texts converted first-time customers into repeat clients. Like Toss and Spin, many small business owners have turned to

First report: Here's how some Chicago small businesses are ramping up their use of AI — wbez.org, 3d