• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 2, 2023

Email marketers are taking tentative steps to use AI, and believe it will help their businesses. But most are not there yet, judging by Email Marketing & AI 2023, a study by Ascend2 and research partner RPEOrigin. 

Of the firms surveyed, 35% are using AI in their email marketing campaigns, 11% extensively. Another 33% say they have plans to use it.

Marketers are using AI (or plan to) for: 

• Email retargeting — 55%
• Content personalization — 53% 
• Subject-line optimization — 44% 
• Dynamic content generation — 42% 
• Automated segmentation and targeting — 40%
• Send time optimization — 37% 
• Predictive analytics for customer behavior — 33%
• A/B Testing and optimization — 26% 

Of brands using AI, 42% describe its impact as extremely positive and 54% as somewhat so.  

A mere 3% say there has been a negative impact, and 1% that there has been no significant effect. 

But firms face these challenges in trying to implement AI: 

• Data quality or availability issues — 44% 
• Concerns about customer privacy and data protection — 42% 
• Lack of an effective strategy — 36%
• Limited budget for AI implementation — 35% 
• Lack of internal expertise — 33% 
• Lack of tools and/or limitations of current tech stack — 30%
• Resistance from stakeholders or team members — 22%

• Enhanced personalization algorithms and recommendation engines — 51%
• Automated content creation and copywriting — 47% 
• Improved predictive analytics and customer behavior modeling — 46% 
• Better integration with CRM and other marketing tools — 40%
• Advanced testing and optimization functionalities — 36%

Looking forward, the respondents predict the following: 

• AI will play a central role in all aspects of email marketing—32%
• AI will have a significant impact but won’t replace human creativity and strategy — 40%
• AI will have limited applications in email marketing — 12% 
• Not sure — 16% 

In general, 25% say their email strategy is very successful at achieving objectives — they are the best in class.  

But 64% say they are somewhat successful. Only 11% are unsuccessful.

AI aside, firms plan to include these tactics in their email program for the year ahead:

• Mobile-friendly design — 56%
• Personalization (beyond the name) — 52% 
• Email marketing automation — 48%
• Interactive content — 40% 
• Privacy/security features — 39%
• Use of AI — 30% 
• Accessible design — 30% 
• Revamping of metrics/KPIs/attribution to track performance — 18% 

There were some significant shifts between 2022 and 2023. For one, only 16% mentioned AI as a goal last year.

But revamping of metrics has fallen--it was cited by 25% in 2022. 

As for tests, marketers say the most important are:

• Message (e.g. greeting, body, closing)—43% 
• Subject line—38%
• Content (e.g. short/long, plain text/html)—34% 
• Timing and frequency — 32% 
• Layout & ‘images — 29%
• Interactive content — 22%
• Calls-to-action (CTAs) — 22%
• Landing pages — 17% 

The last two items saw declines YoY. Calls-to-action was mentioned by 30% in 2022, and landing pages by 24%. 

Ascend and RPEOrigin surveyed 378 marketers during the week of July 17, 2023. Of these, 25% are in B2B, 51% in B2C and 24% in both equally.

The respondents are in firms with more than 500 employees (19%), 50 to 500 (29%) and fewer than 50 (52%).