Ornis Mala, CEO and Founder of The Social Plus.
Email marketing has been around for quite some time, and it’s an effective marketing tool. A study by DMA.org.uk found that for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return on investment is $42. According to Harvard Business Review, in 2020 “there were 4 billion email users globally, and 59% of consumers said marketing emails influenced their purchase decisions.” With the rise of artificial intelligence, there’s even greater potential for email marketing.
Marketers now have the opportunity to customize email content and create a tailored experience for each individual subscriber using AI-powered algorithms that can analyze vast amounts of data on subscriber behavior, preferences and interests. In other words, AI can enable marketers to send the right message to the right person at the right time.
Let’s take a closer look at how and why AI is changing email campaign marketing and personalization—and what advertisers can do to take advantage of this game-changing technology.
What are the limitations of AI?
Campaign marketing still needs to be personalized. Humans will want to review the final message before it’s sent out into the world, but AI can gather customer data to help marketers customize the email to the recipient. How? One tool marketers can use is Urless, a link shortener that collects data on your customers from the moment they click on your website. Once on your landing page, your website can gather even more information thanks to the use of cookies. The combination of using a URL shortener like Urless and cookies can give you vital consumer information so that an AI mass emailer (like, for example, Sendbat) knows exactly how to market to different customer segments.
What’s the difference between a URL shortener and cookies?
Cookies are small files that are stored on a user’s computer when they visit a website. Cookies can gather customer information such as:
• User preferences. Think language, font size and other settings.
• Session data. This tells you about a user’s session on a website, including what pages they visit and how long they stay on each page.
• Authentication data. Login credentials can be stored so a user doesn’t have to enter them every time they visit a website.
• Behavioral data. Cookies can track customer browsing behavior, such as what products they view and what pages they visit.
URL shorteners are services that create short URLs that redirect to a longer URL. Shorteners can gather information such as:
• Click data. This tells you how many clicks a link receives, as well as where those clicks come from.
• Referral data. You can see which websites or social media platforms are referring traffic to a website.
• Location data. A user’s location is based on their IP address.
• Device data. This tracks what type of device a user is using to access a website.
It’s important to note that while cookies and URL shorteners can gather customer information, they should be used ethically, transparently and with proper consent from users. You can also gather additional important data through questions and reviews from existing customers. This information can then be flagged as positive or negative based on the keywords or phrases used.
After you gather a good amount of customer data, then it’s time to get excited because this is where AI tools can help you personalize to your target audience.
How can AI be used for email marketing campaigns?
There are several ways AI can be used to improve email marketing campaigns, such as:
• Predictive analytics. AI can now analyze subscriber/website visitor data to predict how likely they are to open an email, click a link or make a purchase.
• Automated campaigns. AI can automate email campaigns by sending targeted messages based on specific triggers such as a subscriber’s behavior or a specific event.
• Subject line optimization. AI can analyze subject line data to determine which emails will most likely result in higher open rates. Experian Marketing Services found that personalized subject lines are 25% more likely to be opened and generate six times higher transaction rates.
• Spam filtering. AI algorithms also analyze emails to determine whether they are spam or legitimate. This can help prevent your email campaigns from ending up in the spam folder.
• Natural language processing. NLP can help analyze customer feedback to understand their sentiment and identify keywords and phrases that can increase customer interactions.
• Chatbots. Chatbot integration can help improve customer engagement by providing personalized support such as rescheduling, cancellations and answering FAQs.
Leveraging AI technology and personalized email campaigns, marketers can be better equipped to create a tailored experience for each individual subscriber, generate higher open and click-through rates and ultimately drive sales and revenue.
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