Ever feel like some brands know what their subscribers need and when to deliver it? It's not that they can read minds—they've harnessed the potential of AI in email marketing.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the email landscape, and it has entered the B2B industry, too, helping B2B professionals make email communication with decision-makers simpler and more engaging.
If you're looking to integrate AI in your B2B email marketing strategy, we'll discuss five ways to let it take some weight off your shoulders. But first...
Why Should You Use AI in B2B Email Marketing?
One 2024 survey of marketers has found that 70.6% think AI can outperform humans in key marketing tasks; moreover, nearly 60% fear it could replace their roles—up from 35.6% in 2023
But the key with AI is to have it work with you instead of against you. In the B2B industry, there are certain benefits when using AI to prompt subscribers to see and act on your emails:
- Improving personalization. Business professionals won't waste time reading generic emails. AI-based email marketing lets you deliver content that speaks directly to their business pain points.
- Reducing costs and effort. Using AI for B2B emails automates time-consuming tasks, minimizing the need for manual labor. The right tool frees up time for teams to stay creative and build relationships. In other words, you get to do more with less.
- Predicting customer preferences. As a B2B marketer, you have to deal with vast amounts of data. AI algorithms analyze data to provide deeper insights into customer preferences. Plus, they predict future trends so you can make faster optimization decisions.
Five Ways to Transform Your B2B Emails Using AI Tools
By November 2023, 54% of companies had used generative AI in some areas of their business .
Even if it seems daunting at first, you can elevate your emails with AI. Let's see how.
1. Email Creation
B2B email marketing is about clear, branded, and beneficial communication. AI technology helps you create messages that resonate with your audience in several ways:
- Writing eye-catching subject lines, preview texts, and email copy
- Generating images that align with your branding and campaign goal
- Proofreading your work and providing suggestions to improve it
- Matching the email copywriting to your brand voice
- Converting long-form content, such as blog posts, articles, and webinar presentations, into email copy
Some marketers still hesitate to use AI in email marketing because they feel it complicates things. Especially if they must switch between platforms. But they can dive into AI-driven email creation through the same platform they already use for their emails.
How? By using l ow-cost email marketing software with built-in AI features that saves them time and money from relying on multiple tools. Several affordable email services, such as Moosend and GetResponse (and others), have integrated AI functionality into their editors, facilitating email creation without the user leaving the builder.
Assisted by AI, you can improve your text for clarity, adjust the length, or tweak the tone to match your brand voice for various types of email content, from announcements to personalized product recommendations based on historical data. Some email AI algorithms can use industry trends and user input to generate email content, also offering to include stock images from their image library.
2. Segmentation and Targeting
Manual list segmentation is a tiring process, and there's always the possibility of human error. And that's something you'll want to avoid when managing groups of decision-makers and stakeholders.
B2B marketers turn to AI technology to divide their audience into highly specific groups based on shared characteristics or behaviors. AI-driven segmentation allows you to collect and manage data on your subscribers (e.g., job title, industry, and behavioral triggers, such as content downloads).
List segmentation using AI models is a dynamic process. AI technology updates segments as real-time data on audience behavior or market trends comes in, ensuring your messages stay relevant. Did a group of subscribers attend your webinar? AI can move them into a specific segment and target them using follow-ups with useful resources.
3. Personalization
Delivering personalized emails to B2B professionals goes beyond including a first name in the subject line. Recipients should feel that you understand their business challenges and can help them overcome them.
One of the most effective ways to deliver personalized emails through AI is dynamic content creation. AI-powered solutions help you design email templates with dynamic content blocks that can be customized using the subscriber's characteristics.
That level of content personalization affords you various options, from determining the best email frequency based on your subscribers' level of engagement to delivering personalized product or content recommendations.
For example, if a user has been browsing for cybersecurity, consider directing them to a blog post with best-practices against phishing, whereas another one looking for tools might be more interested in a cost calculator.
4. Email Deliverability
What good will come out of creating the perfect email if it doesn't reach its target? AI helps brands solve the email deliverability puzzle and increase their chances of hitting recipient inboxes.
In B2B email marketing, timing is everything. For instance, if you're sending an email at 12 PM to a busy executive, chances are they'll ignore it. So you need to start with send time optimization. AI tools analyze several factors, such as past engagement patterns, industry standards, and time zones, to identify trends regarding send times.
By considering those factors, AI systems estimate when recipients are more likely to interact with your emails and automate to dispatch them at the optimal time. Plus, these tools continue to learn with every email sent, helping you drive long-term engagement.
Another prerequisite for increasing deliverability rates is maintaining your email list healthy. AI automates the process of sanitizing your subscriber list by verifying email addresses and automatically updating them.
Use AI-based email list cleaning tools to analyze subscriber engagement metrics like open rates, unsubscribes, and bounces. Artificial intelligence will identify and remove invalid addresses, spam traps, and duplicate contacts.
Also, it can detect inactive subscribers so you can either use win-back campaigns or delete them. That process will keep your lists healthy, which, in turn comes with several benefits:
Source: WordStream
5. Predictive Analytics
Think about what you would achieve with your email marketing if you could anticipate recipients' actions. That's where AI comes in to analyze past emails, customer demographics, and social media interactions. Then, it uses that information to find patterns and predict future behaviors.
Here's how AI boosts your B2B emails through predictive analytics:
- Evaluating and scoring leads. This process allows you to prioritize the audience groups who are more likely to convert into paying customers.
- Providing accurate revenue forecasts. AI technology analyzes similar past emails to predict the revenue of a new campaign, helping you focus on the most valuable strategies.
- Preventing customer churn. With AI, you'll know when customers are about to disengage. Then, you can take active measures such as sending a personalized incentive before they churn.
Start Using AI in Your Email Campaigns
AI has turned from a nice-to-have into a must-have tool in B2B email marketing. And as new AI-powered solutions emerge, leveraging them is easier than ever. With the wide variety of tools, you can pick an affordable option—without compromising quality.
To make the most of AI technology, though, you must keep in mind that it's meant to amplify human creativity, not replace it. Its true power comes from working together with human creativity and strategic thinking.
So, let AI handle routine tasks like send time optimization so your teams use the data to refine the personal approach that builds lasting connections.
More Resources on AI in Email Marketing
Optimize B2B Email Marketing With Generative AI: How Integration Saves Time
The 'Best' Use Cases for Unique Generative AI-Crafted Emails (Unfortunately!)
Email Marketing and Artificial Intelligence: What's Coming and What You Need to Know
