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We are all in this together, trying to figure out the best way to use AI for email marketing. In this article, we’ll explore 4 AI hacks that will revolutionize how you write emails, and, in uncovering the possibilities of AI, likely revamp how you plan content for your email marketing campaigns. Even better, these hacks will likely apply to your other marketing writing endeavors. So without further ado, read on to discover how AI can transform the way you write forever and ever.

The essential parts of a marketing email

Before diving head first into using AI for generating email copy, let’s first dissect the parts of a strong email. AI is amazing, but may create something like Frankenstein’s monster if not given the right direction.

The captivating subject line

The subject line is the advertisement to your email. When the recipient is browsing through their inbox, it’s the subject line that will earn you the click. The subject line, serving as an ad, primarily functions to entice the reader and draw them in.

When crafting a captivating subject line for your email, think about how you can best capture the attention of your reader. You want to be engaging and unique, and also ensure that it sets the right expectation for what you are trying to communicate within the body of your message. Use action words, questions, metrics are great for quantifying value, and include any keyword that could personify the subject line (first name, location, etc.)

An attractive design with a clear layout, visuals, and branding

We are not going to discuss how to use AI for an attractive design as artificial intelligence today is best suited to handle the text. But, that’s not to say an attractive design isn’t important!

An attractive design should include a clear layout that guides the reader through the email. Utilizing visuals, like images, gifs, and videos can help draw attention to important points and give your message more personality. Additionally, make sure to incorporate branding throughout your designs to ensure recognition when readers open up your emails. Remember: you want to make sure your readers can quickly identify who sent them the email and why.

An email body that provides value and provokes action

When crafting the body of your marketing email, it’s important to consider two primary principles: providing value and inciting action. You can achieve this in various ways; from minimalist emails that succinctly get your message across, to more narrative-driven ones with a strong story arc. Regardless of the approach you take (you’ll have a lot to choose from using AI), make sure that each word serves a purpose for both informing the reader and steering them towards whatever action you wish them to take.

The essential AI hacks to generate crazy effective emails

When it comes to writing emails using AI, the process has shifted from pure writing to more of a director role. Instead of staring at a blank screen and waiting for text (or tears) to appear, email marketers today with the right AI command strategies can generate great copy in a flash. These simple strategies include copy that already works, A/B testing, personalization, and rewriting. With these steps in mind, you can easily craft effective emails that provide value and drive your reader’s desired action.

Use AI to copy what is working well

Be honest. A big part of success in digital marketing is capitalizing on what is already working. In Facebook ads, you’ll likely find a type of image works for your brand, so you’ll go ahead and copy that type of image across other campaigns. In paid search, you may find a few best practices (perhaps putting the price into the ad headline) is what results in the best ROI. The same can be for email marketing, and AI let’s you copy your best copy lightening fast.

Let’s say you are working on a new email marketing campaign that is promoting an eBook about paid search match types (exact, broad, phrase, and negative). Rather than start from scratch when writing the captivating subject line, use your top performing headlines as a foundation for writing the new subjectines for this campaign (ideally from a similar eBook campaign). Check out the image below for how this looks using Jasper, our favorite AI writing tool:

The bold section after the “>” is the command. I wouldn’t blindly use all of these new headlines (#4 doesn’t really make sense), but the new headlines have similar elements to best performing headlines. With some tweaking, you should have strong subject lines that can be used for your campaign. The same process can be used for the email body.

Pro tip: The more direction you give AI, the better it will work. For example, if you want your subject line to include a stat or use specific language, than just add it to the command!

Create an A/B test variant, automatically

If there’s one thing any intelligent digital marketing pro knows, it’s that they don’t know everything until they’ve run enough A/B tests.

An A/B test is simply running two things (e.g., marketing emails or ads) alongside each other to see which performs better. Running email A/B tests can be a bit laborsome, as writing completely unique email bodies can be quite the chore. But with AI, it’s easy and fast.

Let’s get started, shall we?

The above image shows our first email for the fake SEO tool we’re promoting “KeywordEase Fake SEO Tool” (which was written in seconds with Jasper). This email is our control, or what we’ll consider the “original” email. It’s a pretty straightforward marketing email that describes the key benefits of the tool in no-nonsense kind of way.

This email may work well, but we may get a lot more sales of our handy tool if we try a different approach. Check out how easy it is to create a completely different variant with AI.

The trick with getting a great output from an AI writing tool like Jasper is to be explicit with your command (which is the bold text in the above image). If I were working on this campaign, I may have tweaked the language a bit to make the narrative a bit more emotional. But the fact that I can easily create email copy like this saves me so much time.

Personalize emails in a snap

What’s personalization? It just means tailoring your email text to your audience. That can mean including their first name in the subject line, utilizing their location in some way, or creating an email that is specifically written to appeal to a persona (which is just a fancy way to say their specific motivations).

Using an AI tool like Jasper, you have no excuse not to personalize your email campaigns and get the best results.

What this looks like in practice:

Step 1: Rather than send a broadcast email to all of your subscribers, segment your audience in a meaningful way. We’re going to use location, since that’s an easy example, but I image your list could have other segments such as different product line buyers (shoes vs. sweaters) or age.

Step 2: Take your initial email copy, and use AI to personalize it in seconds.

It’s really that simple. Check out how I personalize the first KeywordEase Fake SEO Tool from the above.

The above email definitely needs some work, but I think demonstrates the power (and the fun!) of using AI to personalize your emails. With the right command (one that is specific), you can create really relevant emails to your different list segments.

Use the rewrite command

Last but certainly not least, you can use AI to simply rewrite parts of your email text that you find are not especially strong. You can tell AI to just clean it up, or rewrite the text in a new way. Check out the following:

When your brain is fried and you can’t seem to write in full sentences, this command is a life saver. Although the tool didn’t quite catch all my spelling error (an easy fix), the text is usable, and it’s easier to tweak this text than the create new text.