Getting the right message to the right client at the right time is the holy grail for any marketing leader. But these days, a growing universe of marketing channels can leave marketers wondering which path they should take—and how best to meet the fast-changing needs of consumers.
But even as the marketing landscape continues to shift, Michelle Taite, global chief marketing officer for Intuit Mailchimp, believes in the enduring power of email marketing and its unique ability to deliver personalized messaging that converts at scale. In a conversation with Fast Company, Taite shared her thoughts on why marketers need to embrace innovative, AI-backed email marketing strategies to get the best results and stand out from the crowd.
Michelle, can you explain why email is so critical to any truly effective marketing strategy?
Email is a special marketing channel because it reaches an audience that’s opted in to receive communications from you. In a survey of repeat purchasers for our recent Science of Loyalty report, we found that 47% of all email subscribers explore new product offerings through brand emails, and 39% go on to make a purchase after reading. It’s a repetitive game that enables marketers to engage with the right customer with the right message, continuing to iterate and optimize to capture value and revenue over time. This creates deep and meaningful relationships between consumers and brands.But the key to any effective marketing strategy is an omnichannel approach. Email, when paired with channels like SMS and social media, is an even more powerful way to accelerate growth and build stronger connections with your customers. For instance, marketers today are finding a competitive advantage when they combine the long-term success of email marketing with the unmatched 98% open rate of SMS messages.
What are the biggest challenges faced by email marketers?
Marketing isn’t defined by the traditional funnel anymore. It’s now a craft that incorporates creativity, data, and analytical rigor to fuel performance. Marketers’ success is dependent on their ability to interpret data and creatively exploit it to predict and influence customer actions. This requires personalization at scale.
Each consumer needs to feel like the marketing message was crafted just for them; that a brand is having a one-to-one conversation with them. And that doesn’t just mean inserting their name into an email—it goes far, far beyond that. It’s about reaching that person with the right message at the right time with the right content.
The solution is to use all the data they’ve collected and the marketing tools available to them to better understand their customers, then automate it all. Put the data that you do have to work for you and act on it continually.
How can marketers do a better job reaching customers with personalized emails?
Marketing is no easy task. Even if a marketer has access to extensive customer data and past performance metrics, they may not have the bandwidth, expertise, or tools to analyze it effectively. Marketers that build AI into their routines will have a leg up on the competition.
As I mentioned before, put your data to work for you. Behavioral data can help marketers segment customers who have engaged with previous emails or visited their website. For example, marketers can send emails to customers who have abandoned their shopping cart, reminding them to complete the purchase and offering a discount code. Or they can create segments based on which links customers clicked in an email. Using their own purchasing data can also allow marketers to segment based on customers’ interests and preferences. For instance, marketers could create a segment of customers who already purchased a coffee maker and send relevant offers for coffee beans or other adjacent products.
Every time a customer opens or clicks through an email, visits and engages with a website, or makes a purchase, marketers know a little bit more about their audience. These pieces of data can provide marketers with a blueprint on how to engage in more personalized, meaningful, and relevant ways.
Hypersegmentation is gaining ground in the marketing world. What is it to you, and how are marketers successfully using this strategy?
Hypersegmentation can enable marketers to reach the right customer with the right message at the right time. When customers receive more relevant and personalized emails, it drives loyalty and conversion. An astounding 97% of repeat purchasers said their preferred brand makes it quick and easy to purchase; hypersegmentation can offer more curated experiences and product recommendations, thereby eliminating decision-fatigue and making purchasing more streamlined.
Marketers must choose the tool that allows them to utilize the customer data they’ve collected and makes the most sense for their specific marketing needs. For example, maybe they’re a clothing retailer who wants to send an email promoting their new summer apparel to loyal customers in a certain age range who live in warmer climates and have visited their website recently. They would need a tool that allows them to take all their purchase, behavioral, and personal data and use it to create a segment targeting only the customers who meet those qualifications.
One of our customers, Farm to People, a delivery service for fresh, local food in New York City, provides their customers with the ability to receive produce based on their preferences—whether through a subscription box or a la carte. They’ve successfully used segmentation tools to upsell and cross-sell to customers with different behaviors and preferences. For instance, the company’s founder, Michael Robinov, says that if a customer cohort is ordering a la carte but not subscribed, then they’ll send them a specific email about trying a subscription box. And if a cohort is subscribed but not adding other products that people tend to like, Farm to People will send them a targeted email to nudge them in that direction. Hypersegmentation coupled with the power of AI and automation will unlock personalization at scale for SMBs.
How is AI helping marketers overcome the challenges they’re facing?
Right now, I see many marketers experimenting with new AI tools in order to tackle the manual, sometimes tedious parts of marketing, along with using it to minimize mistakes due to human error. But they’re also using AI in more powerful ways, like analyzing customer data, unlocking actionable insights, and creating personalized content.
Leveraging AI can allow marketers to deliver more relevant content, faster. For instance, Warm Glass UK, a glass supply and materials company, has been using Mailchimp’s AI tools to create compelling email campaigns. The company’s managing director says that editing AI-generated copy takes only a few minutes, rather than starting from scratch with a blank screen, which would take far longer. In that sense, it’s like having a “digital assistant” with you.
Our vision for the future is one in which AI becomes a marketer’s copilot. AI can give marketers the ability to refine their marketing strategies and more accurately anticipate trends and measure performance. When paired with thoughtful human guidance, AI can be an equalizer and an accelerator, ultimately allowing marketers to evaluate, understand, and decide more quickly than ever before.
Learn more about Intuit Mailchimp’s Forward Awards, celebrating the best in email marketing.