Der Einfluss von KI-gestützter Marketing Automation auf die Kaufentscheidung

Abstract

The ongoing digitalization and the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into marketing have fundamentally reshaped consumer purchasing behavior. Companies face the challenge of reaching their target audiences more efficiently, delivering personalized content, and ultimately influencing purchasing decisions. AI-powered marketing automation opens up new opportunities to engage consumers purposefully along their customer journey. At the same time, the increasing use of these technologies raises critical questions: Which AI technologies are effective at which stages of the buying decision process? What impact does this have on consumer behavior? And how do ethical and data privacy considerations affect the acceptance of such technologies? This thesis begins with a comprehensive theoretical foundation of the buying decision process and the core concepts of marketing automation and artificial intelligence. It then examines key AI technologies - such as machine learning, natural language processing, predictive analytics, and generative AI - and their specific application areas. Building on this, the influence of AI-based measures is systematically analyzed across the five phases of the consumer decision process: from need recognition to the post-purchase stage. The research methodology combines a structured literature review with a practical application following the Design Science Research method. As a core artifact, an automated newsletter and content workflow was developed, capable of generating, personalizing, and distributing content using AI. This was implemented via the Make.com platform and language models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet and GPT-4o and subsequently evaluated. The findings show that AI-driven marketing automation can significantly influence consumer decision-making across all stages—particularly through personalization, need-based recommendation systems, and automated communication. However, not every examined application proves equally effective in every phase. The evaluation of the developed artifact confirms its functionality and practical relevance, especially in terms of increasing efficiency and content relevance. At the same time, it becomes clear that transparency, data protection, and ethical responsibility are essential prerequisites for the long-term acceptance and effectiveness of AI-driven marketing tools. Thus, the thesis not only provides a systematic overview of AI’s role in marketing but also offers practical recommendations for successful implementation

Date of Award	2025
Original language	German (Austria)
Supervisor	Armin Johann Schnürer (Supervisor)