AI in Email Marketing

I know it's popular to think of artificial intelligence as this big, scary thing characterized by sentient humanoids, doctored videos, and bloodthirsty Amazon robots. If not completely dystopian, it's kind of fun to imagine. Entertaining, at the very least.

Reality is much different. Reality is artificial intelligence helping you write better emails.

Listen, we didn't get flying cars by 2022. But we did get a digital world wherein success is measured by marketing campaigns. So let's find out how AI can help you improve those emails.

What is AI email marketing?

Great question, especially for an article titled "AI in Email Marketing."

AI in email marketing basically refers to using AI technology to improve your email marketing efforts and results.

It is automating processes that would be a waste of your time to do yourself. It is ensuring your writing is smooth, punchy, and error-free. It is, essentially, a time saving tool and a catch-all for most mistakes.

AI will help you determine when is the best time to send emails, who exactly makes up your audience, which email subject lines do the best with your specific audience, and how many people interact with certain segments of your emails, among other things.

TL;DR: AI email marketing is a lifesaver.

AI Email Marketing Benefits

Well if saving time and energy editing your work aren't enough to convince you already, here are some more benefits of switching over to AI-based email marketing:

• Email marketing optimization. AI technology is able to design email marketing campaigns that will provide the best results with your specific audience. It will learn your audience's habits, determining the best time to send emails and the best subject lines to use. It will automatically personalize content based on customer behavior.
• Email marketing automation. As your business and your team grow, it will become unfeasible to do everything manually. AI tools will take care of customers as they join your email list, have basic questions, and require timely content. The AI will also be able to adjust the process and content so it's always optimal.
• Evenly-spread resources. By utilizing artificial intelligence for the time-consuming tasks, you're able to focus on areas of your work that require human attention. You'll be more free to work on other things, meaning your productivity and success rates will go up.

Sounds pretty good, right?

How does AI help email marketing?

Artificial intelligence does everything you can do, better. And it does everything you can't.

AI Recognizes Customer Needs

Sure, you might think you know what your customers' wants and needs are. But AI tools study customer data and user behavior to know completely what your audience is looking for.

Artificial intelligence runs data analysis on metrics like inbox delivery rate, subscribers' engagement, subscribers' activity history, purchase history, and shopping cart abandonment rate.

Instead of making assumptions, it draws hard conclusions based on numbers and facts about your customers. This means the AI knows exactly what your customers want and need.

AI Will Create Email Campaigns for You

Based on information taken from email databases and user behavior, AI tools will create email campaigns that your audience will love to engage with.

Each email marketing campaign will be tailored towards the type of user base you have and what they like to see in their inbox.

AI Will Identify New Potential Customers

Patterns, patterns, patterns. They're what artificial intelligence thrives on.

AI will be able to look at data taken from previous A/B tests, current user demographics, and similar audience(s) data to determine what new potential customers could look like.

They'll know how they like to spend their money, how much they like to spend, what their likes and dislikes are.

Of course, this is all trial-and-error until proven successful, but using artificial intelligence beats crunching numbers manually any day.

AI Will Write Personalized Emails for Each Customer

Well, the AI wasn't just collecting that customer data for fun. It will use the data to create email marketing campaigns that perfectly target each member of your audience.

The email campaigns will have perfectly tailored subject lines based on which types usually hook your users into opening emails.

The product info will correlate with customers' search history, website visits, and previous interactions online.

By using these personalized emails, your engagement and click-through rates should only increase. “AI can help you build a personalized experience by sending referral emails encouraging them to participate in your referral programs.”

How will AI change email marketing strategy?

This is where we get into the nitty-gritty of digital marketing and email campaign management. Prepare to be seriously impressed by what artificial intelligence is willing to do to make your life easier.

Email marketing strategy can be complicated, but it doesn't have to be.

Increase Sales

Because of the way AI is able to understand your customer base, it knows who is going to want to spend money on your product, and who is not. This will ensure your emails go out to only the people who are going to interact with your content.

The customer journey refers to the way a customer will navigate through your brand and consumption process.

The AI will understand that certain customer journeys end in a higher percentage of success (ie: purchases) than others, and will create emails that cater to those outcomes.

More clicks mean more money, and more traffic to your website means more purchases (which, in turn, means more money).

Decrease Expenses

Time is money, and we basically opened this article by saying that AI email marketing is a time saver.

Artificial intelligence can do the work of multiple human employees, and in a fraction of the time. While there is something to be said about the warmth and personal touches of an actual person, the bulk of the work in digital marketing can be done by a robot. Less employees means less money going out.

By allowing the AI to do its job, this means your time will be freed up to work on other aspects of your business. If every process in your business becomes efficient and profitable, you'll save money in the long run because everything is going as planned.

Draft Email Copy and Subject Lines

Creating email subject lines for your emails may seem simple, or even unimportant, but this is actually a key step in producing successful email campaigns.

The subject line will determine whether or not a customer clicks on your email or sends it straight to the trash, since it's the first piece of the email they'll see.

A good subject line will boost engagement, whereas a bad subject line will tank your campaign.

AI can take the data that shows your customers' likes and dislikes, and create a perfectly enticing subject line based on the highest probability that they'll click.

The same goes for the copy that makes up the body of your emails. AI can draft copy that will make your audience want to click on links, go to your website, and purchase your products. It's all optimized based on existing data.

Improve Deliverability and Optimize Email Outreach

There's no point in developing a digital marketing strategy and drafting emails if they're not even going to reach their audience.

Your emails will go straight to Spam folders if you're not careful. Junky subject lines, too many exclamation points, and copy in ALL CAPS can send your stuff right into Spam, never to be seen again.

This is just another reason to let AI draft your email subject lines and copy. You'll be sure to reach a higher percentage of your audience if you avoid the dreaded Spam folder.

Create Smart Newsletters

Much like a basic email, artificial intelligence can write newsletters for you. And if you think about it, a newsletter is just a really in-depth email, right?

Newsletters typically cover company and product updates, current deals, future plans, or interesting information.

They're sent out to dedicated customers who enjoy the brand so much that they want to be updated every month with what's going on.

AI will create content based around what your customers like to read about, increasing the newsletter's open rate and predicting future behavior. Traffic to your website should increase, meaning you're making money and loyal customers.