Artificial intelligence (AI) in some form is growing in popularity. The concept that machines could learn to think and interact with humans and other machines without ongoing input from human intelligence has been a hotly debated topic for decades. As server capacities, computing speeds and a proliferation of new technologies increased exponentially, the Sci-fi notion that real human beings could be out-thought and out-performed mentally by the machines that they created has become a reality.
Each passing generation experiences increased use of AI in their daily lives, spawning fears in many that machines may someday soon rule the world. While such total machine dominance is still more fantasy than reality, AI is making inroads into performing accelerated learning and comparative analysis at far greater speeds and accuracy than mere mortals are capable of performing. Despite fears of AI taking away human jobs in marketing in the future, AI is more likely going to enhance the creative experience and optimize marketers’ abilities to connect with customers with higher quality and more effective messages.
AI technology is promising to maximize consumer engagement and conversions by automating email content, send times and frequency. Content remains king in all things digital marketing. AI technology is enabling content creators to learn more quickly what combination of content performs best and alleviates a lot of time spent on A/B testing while providing for greater variations of testing elements. More personalized campaigns can be tailored to smaller, targeted market segments improving an email campaign’s conversion rates. Based on each subscriber’s engagement history, the technology can automate the process of determining the ideal send times and frequency rates of each email effort, thereby maximizing campaign engagement.
Much of the promise of AI still remains unrealized, but where the technology has been implemented it is having a significant positive impact on the email marketing process and, like all new advances in tech, caution should be exercised in its implementation. Mike Muse, Google NextGen Tech Policy Fellow, speaking on the subject said, “For every advancement, there are unintended consequences to be mindful of that we’ll need to solve for. There is still a human at the beginning inputting the data, a human with implicit biases.” In the end, AI outputs are only as good as human inputs. So where is this new technology taking email marketing in the future?
Zoe Belisle-Springer, Social Media & Content Executive at Phorest predicts, “In 10 to 15 years from now, bulk and impersonal email marketing will undoubtedly be long gone. With email providers making it harder and harder for marketers to reach inboxes, we’ll see Artificial Intelligence and powerful algorithms come to the surface. In fact, Artificial Intelligence – with tools like Alexa – will probably be used by customers to tell marketers how they want to be marketed to. With highly sophisticated interactive and personalized marketing campaigns, better targeting and real-time outreach, the conversion rates and ROI on email should see a dramatic increase – better than ever before.”
To learn more about how AI can improve your email marketing efforts, contact Junction Creative Solutions at 678.686.1125.