If the past few decades have proven anything, it’s this: Consumers and businesses expect constant innovation, and brands must evolve or perish. Mediocrity won’t cut it. That’s where AI can help, even if it brings a sense of uncertainty.
While some marketers fear that AI will replace them, the reality is far more interesting. Instead of taking over, AI can act as an always-on collaborator, enhancing creativity, sharpening problem-solving and handling the grunt work so marketers can focus on what matters most: their customers. In recent months, a number of prominent marketers have shared how they are using AI in news articles, sharing how this tech is allowing them to lean into personalization and higher-value tasks.
Julie De Moyer, chief data and AI officer at LVMH, sums up this shift perfectly: “Our goal isn’t to turn this into a numbers game but to empower creators and decision-makers to do their best work … the art is in the craftsmanship – the designer, the perfumer, the creative mind behind the product. The science is the data and technology that enhance the decision-making process, providing valuable insights that make those creative decisions even more impactful.”
With AI driving smarter engagement, email and mobile (two of the strongest opt-in, first-party channels) are undergoing a much-needed change. The outdated batch-and-blast strategies are being superseded by more individualized approaches that fundamentally shift how customers engage and the ways marketers work.
AI: The marketer’s new best friend
From what we’ve seen across companies, batch campaigns often make up 95% of send volume but have been plagued by declining performance, yielding conversion rates of less than 1%. The approach typically casts a wide net, leaving many customers disengaged. Why do marketers continue to rely on it when there’s a far more impactful solution?
With an AI-powered platform, marketers can personalize campaigns by dynamically generating tailored content based on real-time data, user behavior, and predictive analytics. The platform can automate content creation, optimize messaging for different audience segments, and ensure that each customer receives the most relevant, engaging experience across email, mobile and web channels.
Imagine every message making millions of decisions about what each individual customer sees – that’s a level of scale that’s impossible to achieve manually.
From cumbersome to seamless
Marketers have their hands full. They’re managing segments, creating content and juggling calendars. This makes it difficult to focus on personalization. To grab customers’ attention fast, brands tend to lean on quick fixes like discounts, while strategies for retention, engagement and discovery get sidelined. AI changes that equation.
L.L.Bean offers a prime example: AI-driven automation unlocked 1.1 million unique content variations for their marketing team and allowed them to tailor messaging and imagery based on individual customer preferences, past interactions and behavioral data. By ensuring that each customer received highly relevant content, the campaign drove a $1 million annual revenue lift. As Devon Phelan, senior manager of digital CRM programs, put it, this would have been “inconceivable” without AI.
Victoria’s Secret experienced similar successes, particularly in improving workload efficiencies and customer experiences. Instead of manually crafting and segmenting campaign assets, Victoria Secret’s team leaned on AI to streamline the process, allowing the marketing team to focus on strategy rather than execution.
Automation not only freed up the team’s time but ensured that customers received hyper-personalized content at scale, according to Lindsay Massey, VP of marketing for Victoria’s Secret. She has touted AI as helping her team improve workload efficiencies and deliver a better customer experience, which drove better results. The retail giant saw double-digit lifts across all key KPIs.
Embracing experimentation
AI isn’t just a tool for automation; it’s a catalyst for a more agile and experimental marketing mindset. Instead of relying on manual A/B tests, AI continuously optimizes campaigns in real time, identifying what works best for each audience segment. This shift allows marketers to move beyond a reactive approach and embrace change as an opportunity for innovation and stronger customer relationships.
But as the pressure to innovate mounts, the window for action is rapidly closing. A staggering 85% of business leaders believe they have less than 18 months to deploy an AI strategy before feeling adverse effects. The time to act is now.
For more articles featuring Vivek Sharma, click here.
