Predicting customer purchase behavior within Telecom : How Artificial Intelligence can be collaborated into marketing efforts

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the implementation of an AI model that predicts customer purchases, in the telecom industry. The thesis also outlines how such an AI model can assist decision-making in marketing strategies. It is concluded that designing the AI model by following a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architecture with a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) layer, allow for a successful implementation with satisfactory model performances. Stepwise instructions to construct such model is presented in the methodology section of the study. The RNN-LSTM model further serves as an assisting tool for marketers to assess how a consumer’s website behavior affect their purchase behavior over time, in a quantitative way - by observing what the authors refer to as the Customer Purchase Propensity Journey (CPPJ). The firm empirical basis of CPPJ, can help organizations improve their allocation of marketing resources, as well as benefit the organization’s online presence by allowing for personalization of the customer experience.