A good email marketing strategy requires consistent planning, effort, and optimization. Modern tech tools that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can make it faster and easier to create more effective email campaigns.
In this installment of CO—’s premier event series, Ready. Set. Scale, Jeanette Mulvey, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of CO—, interviewed industry experts about how to effectively incorporate technology into your marketing strategy for better results.
- Tim Johnson, Director of Product and Content Marketing at Brevo, explained how your small business can use AI and automation to supercharge your email marketing efforts and maximize your ROI.
- Barbara Thau, CO—’s Editorial Director of Features, shared tech-driven marketing trends you can take advantage of right now to grow your customer base and improve your sales.
How to use AI and automation for email marketing
Before incorporating AI tools into your email marketing campaign, you need to set clear goals and objectives.
“Do you want to grow your revenue? Do you want to keep better communications with your customers? Do you want to just build awareness?” said Johnson. “Understand what you want to accomplish first, and … then [ask yourself], do you have the capacity to meet that end goal?”
From there, Johnson said you can determine who to target and leverage automation to meet those customers where they are in their journey — or where they want to be.
“If they are just failing to [take that next] step [toward a purchase] and they need a little push to get over the edge, or a little encouragement or need some additional information, you can use the automation … to help with that,” Johnson explained. “[The email will] give them the information they want and get them in a state where they're ready to do business with you.”
In other words, automation can help you send the right message to the right customer at the right time without manual intervention.
Here are a few specific ways Johnson recommends using AI and automation to improve your email campaigns:
- Optimize subject lines. AI can help suggest clever subject lines that draw the attention of the recipient. This increases the likelihood of higher open rates.
- A/B test your campaigns. AI can automatically send different versions of an email to subsets of your contacts and then analyze performance metrics (like open rates and click-through rates) to identify the most successful version.
- Create more personalized content. AI can analyze customer behavior and preferences (e.g., past purchases or browsing history) to recommend products or services tailored to each recipient. For example, if a customer bought a pink umbrella, AI might suggest a matching pink raincoat, leading to higher cross-sell opportunities.
“AI is so powerful with those things, and to do that manually would just take an army of people,” said Johnson.
Understand what you want to accomplish first, and … then [ask yourself], do you have the capacity to meet that end goal?
Tim Johnson, Director of Product and Content Marketing, Brevo
Current small business marketing strategies to learn from
During the second segment of the event, Thau highlighted three recently published CO— features that explore emerging small business marketing strategies.
Use AI to optimize product listings and advertising
Although automating product listings sounds “really unsexy,” explained Thau, “it’s so foundational.”
Google's AI-driven Product Studio, for example, helps small businesses streamline their product listings and advertisements. By simply inputting a prompt, businesses can generate content, lifestyle images, and even videos that align with their brand voice.
“[Google] found that 80 percent of merchants said that [the tool] is helping them be way more efficient,” Thau said. “It's like product listing at scale.”
[Read the full article: Google Exec Shares Latest AI Tools for SMBs]
Prioritize emotional engagement to gain more customers
Glassybaby, a Seattle-based company that sells hand-blown glass candles, is making sales by tapping into emotional marketing.
The business was born in a basement where a cancer survivor was making products and giving them to people suffering from cancer and other illnesses. Since then, glassybaby has bloomed into a business where customers can shop for products based on feelings, such as hope or gratitude.
“They are literally getting customers by providing them [an] emotional outlet,” Thau said. “This … is a $32 million business.”
The company complements its strong digital presence with physical stores, pop-up shops, and direct mail to cut through digital clutter.
[Read the full article: How 3 Businesses Combat Customer Acquisition Woes]
Turn your customer reviews into new sales
Thau noted that using user-generated content like positive customer reviews in marketing campaigns can help small businesses drive sales.
“The messages from big companies … are not as powerful or as impactful to business as the consumers’ messages,” she said.
Brands like Jansport and La Colombe Coffee have effectively used customer feedback in their marketing strategies. Thau discussed Jansport’s approach to gathering and showcasing positive reviews for their mobility-focused bags which led to a significant boost in sales.
Similarly, La Colombe Coffee integrated customer feedback directly into their advertising by using phrases and sentiments that resonated most with their audience.
[Read the full article: How Big Brands Turn Customer Reviews Into Sales]
Tune in to the next Ready. Set. Scale. event on September 19, 2024, where CO— will interview T-Mobile on future-proofing business technology for 2025 and beyond.
CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.