A new report illustrates how AI-powered deliverability solutions can enhance outcomes for marketers while eliminating tedious and repetitive tasks from their daily lives. The research findings from email solutions provider Return Path, in partnership with market research and advisory firm The Relevancy Group (TRG), also highlight improved effectiveness for marketers using AI-driven email marketing tactics versus those that rely on humans alone.
In this new report, Optimizing Email Deliverability with AI, TRG and Return Path explore numerous questions about the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and email marketing, including whether marketers are ready to embrace deliverability solutions powered by artificial intelligence, how AI can be used to improve email deliverability, and what benefits marketers can expect from using AI for email.
Four-year email deliverability trend (2015-2018):
“At The Relevancy Group, we are excited by the significant potential for AI in the email marketing space—and especially its ability to drive more valuable inbox experiences,” said TRG CEO David Daniels, in a news release. “This research shows that the marketplace shares our enthusiasm, as 97 percent of survey respondents say they are confident in that AI can improve the customer experience.”
Key findings from the report include:
Email marketers using AI report better subscriber engagement
Open and click-through rates averaged about two points higher for AI senders versus those that rely on humans alone. The difference in conversion rates was less pronounced, but still favored AI senders.
AI solutions can drive improved deliverability
Many mailbox providers use engagement signals as part of their spam filtering decisions, which benefits senders with better subscriber engagement. Survey results show AI senders had a delivery rate that was one full point higher than human curated senders.
AI senders report higher AOV and email marketing revenue
Senders using AI reported an Average Order Value (AOV) of $145.08, versus $138.00 for senders not using AI. Those utilizing AI also reported 41 percent higher monthly revenue from email marketing.
Marketers who use AI are driving more revenue per subscriber
On average, AI users derive their results from just over 35 million emails sent per month, compared to 36 million emails for those who don’t use AI solutions.
“As the email industry continues to evolve, marketers are looking for more than just monitoring and best-practice based recommendations. They’re demanding real, effective solutions to the problems they face every day,” said Return Path CEO Matt Blumberg, in the release. “Over the course of two decades, Return Path has been pushing the envelope of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics to create those solutions by harnessing the power of the industry’s best and most complete data set.”
“When you pair the right data with the right technologies and the right techniques, you can help marketers drive greater performance and maximize ROI—effectively taking their email programs to a whole new level,” continued Blumberg.
In February 2018, The Relevancy Group (TRG) conducted a survey that resulted in 401 completed and qualified advertising and marketing executives. In June 2018, TRG conducted a survey that resulted in 406 completed and qualified advertising and marketing executives. Respondents were qualified based on the size of their customer database, email sending volume, familiarity of their company’s marketing efforts, and other attributes such as the individuals’ role/title. Respondents self-identified their company size and market sector category. TRG collected descriptive information about these organizations including revenue, email marketing, tactics, and performance data. The survey utilized skip ordering and randomization and screener questions. TRG designed the survey and analysis.
