In today’s ever-evolving email marketing landscape, senior marketers need to stay up-to-date with the latest trends to succeed in the email marketing landscape. As AI continues to revolutionise the way marketers build email campaigns, brands need to stay on top of the latest trends. In this guide, we’ll explore the latest strategies and insights from leading industry experts in the email marketing space. From cutting-edge hyper-personalisation techniques to cutting-edge autonomous tools, this guide will give you the knowledge and insight you need to succeed in the ever-evolving world of email marketing.
Redefining Personalisation with AI
AI in email marketing personalisation now only means, hyper-personalisation, which is precisely what it sounds like. It’s not just name tags, it’s more than that. Today’s sophisticated algorithms not only analyse your customer data points, but they also curate relevant customised content, offers and product recommendations based on that data. From basic personalisation, all the way up to hyper-personalised content is possible thanks to AI’s ability to understand and learn from your customers’ behaviour, transaction history and in-person interactions.
That’s why email marketers can deliver content that resonates with your customers at every stage of their journey, increasing their chances of conversion. The goal is for every email to feel like a personal conversation with your brand. AI is the tool that makes this personalisation scalable across all types of brands. As email marketers, adopting this level of AI personalisation isn’t just a good thing; it’s a necessity in a market where personalised experiences are the key to staying relevant.
The Rise of AI Machine Learning in Email Marketing
Machine learning has taken email automation to the next level, providing marketers with the insight they need to engage customers better in the future. Using historical data only misses the mark on what AI can do. AI can predict future customer behaviour and preferences, so email marketers can deploy timely, relevant emails not only based on actions taken but also those not taken, not just purchases but the actual journey to those purchases as well.
With this proactive approach, email marketers are several steps ahead of their competitors. They are not prepared to deliver content aligned with a subscriber’s next move but can do so for them without any human intervention. It’s not predicting when to send the next email anymore, it knows precisely when for every individual consumer as it changes constantly.
AI predicts the next best purchase a customer will likely make. With autonomous machine learning, email marketing is ushering in a new age of intuitive and efficient email marketing. With increased data-driven decision-making, marketers are empowered to make better, more accurate decisions, leading to higher engagement and higher conversion rates, supporting email’s continued relevance and success.
Email Content Relevancy
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now being used in email marketing to create intelligent content curations. Algorithms are now making intelligent content selections that are tailored to each recipient. It’s no longer about personalisation, it’s about relevance on a large scale. AI systems analyse user interaction, content engagement and conversion data and determine what resonates best with each product selected for each individual to whom it is sent.
This automated content curation process optimises each piece of content (from images to articles) for the individual’s interests and likelihood of engagement. The result is dynamic, responsive email campaigns that evolve with the changing preferences of the user and maximise the impact of each message.
For email marketers, less guesswork means more impactful, high-impact messaging that delivers results. It’s too big to ignore. It delivers 20 times the ROI of all other forms of email marketing combined. Intelligent email content curations are essential for delivering a high-quality, engaging, hyper-personalised customer experience.
The Value of AI Email Marketing Integration
Email marketing platforms can now be seamlessly integrated with your other business systems. Integrating email automation tools such as SwiftERM, Klaviyo and HubSpot with your CRM, ecommerce platforms and analytics tools allows you to create a single view of your customer journey. It is important to stress that they are vastly different in purpose and mechanics. Data is shared across systems, allowing you to create more targeted and consistent email campaigns that capture a customer’s interactions with your brand across every touchpoint.
This synchronisation means that every email you send is updated with the most up-to-date customer data, eliminating the possibility of sending irrelevant or outdated content. For your business, this means faster workflows, improved campaign performance and, ultimately, stronger relationships with your customers. Integrating your email marketing tools isn’t just a technical enhancement; it’s a strategic asset that can dramatically improve your brand’s communication efforts.
What is hyper-personalisation software?
First let’s define exactly what hyper-personalisation, sometimes called individualisation is. A customer-centric term, meaning “to be unique and absolute to the individual consumer“. Ron Shevlin at Forbes, proposes “It is a series of interactions that strengthens a customer’s emotional connection to a product or company,” in his recent article. Emphasis is on “a” customer, (an integer of one) not a segment – a section of people on a database, to which “a” customer belongs. i.e. All people who bought red wine in the last 30 days. If you read anywhere else it is something else, that someone is trying to gaslight you.
There is zero collusion of either the data or how it is used, to bias or sway application of it between individuals, despite some providers suggesting the edges can be a little bit more fuzzy, to bend the definition to suit their purposes. One example is Amazon’s “remarketing” software first launched back in 2012, which isn’t personalisation. It is what everyone else who bought that product also liked. Not a ringing endorsement of the uniqueness of the individual to whom it is addressed, unless you enjoy lemming culture.
The absolute opposite, and perhaps nemesis of hyper-personalisation is segmentation, the definition of which is division into separate parts or sections. That stalwart of email marketing for the last 20 years still has a place in certain echelons of FMCG marketing, because it offers the opportunity to group what are hopefully a cross-sections of a database that have similar interests.
The Top 10 Email AI Software Providers
The following companies purport to offer “hyper-personalisation”, hence their consideration to appear here. We don’t presume to know your priorities or the scope of your particular considerations. Please feel free to recommend alternatives, which we will gladly add, should you feel they are worthy of consideration and inclusion below.
1. SwiftERM.
SwiftERM is an AI hyper-personalisation SaaS plugin for ecommerce email marketing. It uses all the data, captured on your site, about each consumer’s purchase history, products they look at, for how long, how often etc, to calculate what they are most likely to buy next. It then populates an email stylesheet with the products most relevant to that person, and emails it to them, when they are most likely to respond. You don’t have to wait for them to visit your site.
It does all this autonomously – with zero human involvement whatsoever. Each selection reflects that person, aware of their ever-changing needs. It uses AI to deliver one of the highest ROI’s in ecommerce marketing. This is machine learning technology, perpetually refining the selections for ever greater accuracy. It has been widely acclaimed globally. SwiftERM offers you immediate use of this AI hyper-personalisation technology, as a download. Take our FREE 30-day viability trial today – no lock-in required. It can be used independently or alongside existing email software.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): Yes
AI: Yes
Integration: Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Opencart and bespoke.
30-day free trial: Yes
Lock-in / Notice requirement: None
100% Autonomous: Yes
2. Dynamic Yield
Create lasting impressions with customer experiences that are personalised, optimised, and synchronised. With Dynamic Yield’s Experience OS, you can algorithmically match content, products, and offers to each customer’s preferences and anticipate future behaviour using AI across any digital channel, fostering loyalty and driving revenue.
Target different promotions to different audiences in the same email. Targeting rules enable you to serve different promotions and content to different audiences all within the same email. If a customer doesn’t meet your conditions, you can easily define a fallback variation.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No
AI: No
Integration: https://www.dynamicyield.com/integrations/
30-day free trial: No (14 days)
Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 Months
100% Autonomous: No
3. Qualtrics
Make every interaction an experience that matters. Know what people need, and when they need it, and deliver it every time with our powerful Experience Management (XM) software. Seamlessly combine experience and operational data from digital and offline channels in one place and get the insights needed to predict customer behaviour and drive the actions with the biggest impact. Target your outreach to ensure you reach the right people at the right time. With over 20 behavioural and location-based criteria and seamless integration with digital platforms like Adobe and Google, you can easily deliver more personalised experiences.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No
AI: No
Integration: https://www.qualtrics.com/marketplace/integrations/
30-day free trial: Yes
Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
4. Salesforce
Cross-Channel Personalisation. Personalise every customer experience with AI and real-time data to optimise conversions and reduce costs.
Create personalised experiences with machine learning and AI. Customise everything, from webpages to in-app experiences, product recommendations, content, and more. Tailor each customer experience for driving a specific KPI, from acquisition to customer retention, using a mixture of real-time user behaviour and historical customer data. Improve page personalisation with machine learning, informing CTAs like banners or pop-ups. You can even target and test at the speed your customers are browsing, with personalisation decisions happening in milliseconds.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No
AI: Yes
Integration: https://www.salesforce.com/eu/products/integration/overview/
30-day free trial: Yes
Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
5. Bloomreach
Ecommerce personalisation, powered by AI. We power marketing automation, product discovery, content management, and conversational shopping. At every touchpoint in the shopping journey — for any kind of shopping journey — customers see what they want to buy. With marketing automation from Bloomreach Engagement, marketers have the freedom to create powerful omnichannel campaigns with lasting impact — all from a single place. Easily create, test, and preview email newsletters with our visual builder. Drag and drop in product recommendations, add personalisation elements, and set conditional blocks to selectively display content to custom audiences. Drive value quickly with prebuilt templates and automation based on high-converting campaigns.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No
AI: Yes
Integration: https://documentation.bloomreach.com/engagement/docs/email-providers
30-day free trial: Yes
Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
6. Bluecore
Turn your untapped retail data into one-to-one campaigns that make an immediate impact on revenue. Unlike other email and mobile platforms built for mass communications, Bluecore matches shoppers with their next great buy so marketers can drive lifetime value — without limitations. Automated workflows so you can stand up 1:1 campaigns in minutes — and drive the revenue you need now. Quickly and dynamically send the right content, offers, and recommendations to each shopper, in every email and mobile message. A supercharged set of triggers within your full control that go way beyond abandonment. Set up behaviour and product triggers — like back-in-stock, new arrival, and price-drop — to show shoppers the products they want to see, when and where they want to see them, recommend other products — and optimise without limitations.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No (triggered)
AI: No
Integration: https://help.bluecore.com/en/articles/3567271-integrations-overview
30-day free trial:
No Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
7. Yieldify
Yieldify is an onsite personalisation platform for global brands. Engage customers with tailored onsite content from browsing to checkout – and drive better performance. Whether you’re an emerging brand or an established business, take the guesswork out of personalisation. With local sector expertise from our client services managers, on-brand experiences from our designers and optimisation insights from our data scientists, the Yieldify team has always got your back.
Reliably hit your ecommerce goals with an AI-backed platform, end-to-end support and in-depth performance metrics – all tailored to your business, not someone else’s. Browse abandonment doesn’t have to mean lost customers. Easily drive more shoppers back to your site with personalised on-brand remarketing emails.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No (Remarketing)
AI: Yes
Integration: https://www.yieldify.com/partners-integrations/
30-day free trial: No Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
8. Listrak
Listrak’s single, integrated platform gives retailers and brands unmatched channel orchestration. From data unification and identity resolution to personalization and owned channel automation – Listrak ensures you deliver exceptional customer experiences and increased revenue. Turn influence into revenue with GXP. Capture more zero- and first-party data, increase first-time conversions, and personalise shopping experiences on and off-site… all with guaranteed results.
Retailers trust Listrak’s robust, highly scalable, highly available enterprise-class send engine to send billions of targeted emails every month generating over 50X ROI. Sophisticated email marketing tools like predictive analytics, advanced retail segmentation, dynamic content and predictive product recommendations allow marketers to translate customer data directly to personalised messages resulting in increased engagement and revenue.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No (Segmentation)
AI: Yes
Integration: https://gxp.listrak.com/integrations
30-day free trial: No Lock-in / Notice requirement: Yes 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
9. Klaviyo
Data-driven power meets captivating design, ensuring that your message not only reaches its mark but makes an impact. Send standout emails that generate revenue. In the age of AI, intelligence drives success. Klaviyo has integrated powerful AI, predictive analytics, and reporting to ensure that your email marketing is not just effective, but exceptional. Goodbye, generic blasts. Hello, hyper-targeted campaigns. With Klaviyo’s advanced segmentation capabilities, your emails can reach the exact audience segment they’re designed for.
Build a unique flow from scratch, or start with tons of built-in essentials: welcomes, browse/cart reminders, in-stock and price-drop alerts, shipping updates, post-purchase follow-ups… and many, many more. Ultra-relevant messages are the real moneymakers—and Klaviyo makes sending them a snap. Break your email contact list down into super-focused audiences (also known as segments) so you can target exactly the right people with more influential, tailored email content.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No (Segmentation/Triggered)
AI: Yes
Integration: https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000032731
30-day free trial: No.
Lock-in / Notice requirement: 12 months 100%
Autonomous: No
10. Hubspot
HubSpot is an AI-powered customer platform with all the software, integrations, and resources you need to connect your marketing, sales, and customer service. HubSpot’s connected platform enables you to grow your business faster by focusing on what matters most: your customers.
With personalisation tokens, you can show personalised content to your contacts based on their property values in your CRM. Personalisation can increase engagement with your website and email campaigns. You can personalise content in your HubSpot emails, website pages, and landing pages with any default contact property or custom contact property.
Hyper-personalisation (above definition): No (Segmentation)
AI: No
Integration: https://www.hubspot.com/integrations/content-library
30-day free trial: No
Lock-in / Notice requirement: 12 months
100% Autonomous: No
Conclusion
It is critical to appreciate the distinctions there are among potential AI applications, in your selection. The biggest of which is that the word segmentation does not exist. If it does then the solution you are using, or considering, is neither AI nor autonomous – evident because by its very nature, AI is. Each of your consumers is unique, so if you try and maintain the practice of segmentation – because you are used to it, you fail to grasp the significance between the sales you’re used to, and the enormity of the additional revenue you are depriving yourself of.
Likewise, if you don’t “get it” then your peers will. You’ll become aware that they are beginning to do rather well, as your returns creep up, theirs seems to have fallen away completely. Their profitability rises, as less effort is needed to know exactly what each consumer wants, and when, and deliver the opportunity of purchases is made, every time without exception. You will get there, but how much will the inability to be able to move quickly enough when needed have been the downfall of many generals before you?
