Modern email marketers rely on AI insights and its assorted applications for their daily marketing activities.
Artificial intelligence is on the cusp of making a systematic central breakthrough and subsequently, businesses need to prioritize it as a prerequisite part of their email marketing in lieu of perceiving it as a nice-to-have part.
Imagine a scenario wherein you bought some black trousers from a retail website. Within a couple of hours, you begin receiving emails that showcase matching shirts and shoe options that go with it.
Wouldn’t you feel enticed to purchase those as well?
That’s precisely how artificial intelligence (AI) functions. It assists in dispatching more pertinent email marketing campaigns that the subscribers would be keenly interested in and ultimately drive more higher conversions. Ensure not to freak out your prized recipient though. You don’t want to annoy them or you’ll come across as a stalker, instead let them chance upon it as a pleasant surprise.
So, how must one implement artificial intelligence without alarming their email recipients?
Here are some techniques and pointers to help you out with the same:
1. Cultivate and retain a transparent approach
As privacy concerns are unceasingly on the ascend, always notify your subscriber about how, why and where you plan on incorporating their information once they sign up for your emails.
Do not disregard seeking of permission for the use of cookies. It is highly recommended that you send out a greeting/welcome email (as an acknowledgment) when your followers opt into your email list and inform that they should expect to receive marketing or promotional emails from your business. You can go up a notch by mentioning the frequency of these emails.
These straightforward tricks will update the recipient when they can anticipate your emails so that your email campaign does not show up as dismay in their inboxes.
2. Make an effort to understand your target audience
Whilst planning your email marketing strategy, keep in mind to consider the buyer personas in your recipient list. Research studies have proven to show that Gen Z looks forward to a personalized experience and do not care much about their confidentiality. Contrarily, senior citizens who are not very savvy with tech do not appreciate personal customization and prefer to be at the receiving end of subtly personalized emails.
3. Only utilize authentic data
Whenever a new subscriber chooses to receive your email marketing campaigns, reaffirm their email address by shooting out a verification email. Request for the absolutely essential personal details only and let the recipient know beforehand that you will use this data to send them emails in the future. Specifying this minute detail will encourage the prospect to submit accurate information and engage with your email campaigns without giving the bothersome feeling of you stalking them.
4. A proper demographic segment is key
Gender, age, past purchases, geographical location, products or services searched for, and downloaded resources are apposite variables to categorize your subscriber list into and formulate personalized emails to boost subscriber engagement with suitable offers. Your recipients might ghost your business if you keep sending them pointless emails. Rejoice the capabilities of artificial intelligence and extract requisite data and craft better emails. Swear by AI to make emails better.
5. Ascertain the best time to shoot your emails
The most befitting time to send out an email will differ across diverse industries and business types. You can fixate upon your ideal send time of emails by analyzing your email marketing metrics, which will provide you with a clear idea regarding the hour of the day as to when maximum recipients have opened your email. On the other hand, you could also keep an eye on the website traffic. Send your email when your website experiences the highest number of visitors. That might be the time your subscribers are most likely to open your emails. Avoid sending emails early in the morning or late at night as it could come across as a little intrusive of the individual’s personal space.
6. Establish the right frequency
Majority of the recipients unsubscribe from a business’s emailing list owing to their blast of too many emails. Let the recipients elect when they wish to receive your business’s emails. As soon as they sign up, guide them to a preference center and let them choose the kind of emails they’d like/ want to receive and its frequency. Consequently, this will make things much easier for the marketer as AI will take care of the rest.
7. Develop interesting subject lines and copy
There are AI-powered platforms and tools that let you draft intriguing subject lines and copy based on the recipient’s activity. Apply them to yield the most out of your business’s email marketing strategy. Despite that, make sure not go overboard in the quest for building personalized emails, you don’t want to end up being creepy.
8. Request for the subscriber’s assessment/feedback
The impact and effectiveness of email marketing depend on how well your emails resonate with the recipients’ choices and whether they find your emails appealing enough. Of course, your metrics spill a lot about it, but an even superior option is to directly ask the subscribers what kind of emails they would want to read. As easy as that!
9. Begin with unembellished and simple personalization
Hyper-customization and micro-compartmentalization are the concurrent buzz words for email marketers. Start small with simple tailor-made campaigns and then go for hyper-customized emails. Prior to employing artificial intelligence as a full-fledged strategy, you must instill the right tone for your business’s various recipients on your list.
10. Examine and learn
Conduct A/B testing to infer whether your tactics are working or not. If your business is unable to obtain optimum open rates and click-through rates, there could possibly be something inaccurate with the way you are utilizing artificial intelligence. Test a little bit more and perhaps you will be able to get your emails to work effortlessly.
There’s a fine line between customizing your emails for significance and getting stalkerish. Striking just the right balance amid the two will add value to your recipient’s experience if your business incorporates the ‘ gigantic personal data’ it has accumulated wisely.