How to Use AI in Your Email Marketing

Email is one of the most important ways you can reach customers, clients, or followers. Unlike social media, where you’re dependent on an algorithm to get your message out, you control who sees your email marketing and when. Plus email marketing audiences are usually some of your most engaged and loyal customers.

That said, staying on top of updates and promotions for your customers takes time and planning. Adding an AI content generator and automations to your workflow can help you save time while driving visits to your website.

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How AI email marketing tools work

AI email marketing tools use machine learning to simplify the many tasks involved in email marketing. These artificial intelligence tools process a large amount of example information, then use that to generate results or new content. 

For example, AI tools used to draft marketing emails are trained using Large Language Models (LLMs), which are large quantities of written content. Using that information, the machine learning tools generate complete text by predicting each word based on the words that came before it. 

You can use AI email marketing tools to draft email copy by directing the artificial intelligence program to write a promotional email about a product, an update about a specific topic, and so on. Or use the tool to optimize your copy and ask it to write for a specific audience or simplify your existing draft.

Learn about copywriting with Squarespace AI

How to draft emails with Squarespace AI

If you’re having trouble getting started, you can use Squarespace’s AI tool to draft or refine your email copy. Squarespace AI is built into the Email Campaigns tool, so it’s simple to jump in.

1. Open or start a new marketing email.

2. Click on any copy or into a text box and click the lightning icon in the text styling bar.

3. Ask Squarespace AI to write a paragraph, sales pitch, or blurb, including any preferences about tone of voice, format, or length.

4. Click “Write” to get your draft.

5. Highlight any copy to use the AI tool to edit it.

6. Ask Squarespace AI to simplify, lengthen, or shorten the copy.

7. Make any other edits you’d like to see to the design or content.

8. Send a test email to check for design or link issues.

9. Send your message or schedule your automated email.

You can get drafts tailored to your brand voice even more quickly if you use the Brand Identity tool (under Settings > Brand). Feed the tool a short description of your business or website and the tone of voice you want to emulate. Now every email draft—and any AI copy you generate on Squarespace—will sound more unique to you.

Learn more about using Squarespace AI

Benefits of using AI in email marketing

There are several tools you can use to support your email marketing workflows. AI tools can:

• Speed up the drafting and writing process

• Automatically send messages based on customer actions

• Target emails to specific audiences

• Help you analyze data to increase open rates and email clicks 

Choose which tools you use based on what you need the most help with. Jumping between multiple tools on different platforms could cancel out any extra efficiency you gain from using AI, so start with one or two or choose a more all-in-one platform.

Best practices for using AI email generators

Even though using AI tools can help you work faster, remember that your audience signed up to hear from you for a reason. There are a few things you can keep in mind to ensure your emails still sound authentic to you and your brand. 

• Do an accuracy check. AI tools aren’t always error-free, even when what they generate looks correct at first glance. Spot check any outputs, especially if you’re asking the tool to generate something from scratch or anything analytics-related.

• Keep it on-brand. Regardless of the tools you’re using, your audience will trust and enjoy your emails more if they feel connected to your brand. Take the time to make sure the tone of voice feels right and the design mirrors your branding.

• Remember to make it personal. Email personalization doesn’t end at including customer names in your subject lines. Before you send any email, make sure it sounds like you and feels right for your target audience so you don’t end up in their spam folder.

• Testing is key. Not everything that worked for another brand or business owner will work for your unique audience. Try different email styles, lengths, and subject lines, and keep an eye on analytics like opens and clickthrough to learn what works.

• Accessibility is a priority. An accessible email is an email your whole audience can understand, regardless of physical or digital restrictions. Keep best practices, like adding alt text to images, in mind.

Read our guide to email marketing

Other tools to automate your marketing emails

Whether the tools you’re using are branded as AI or not, there are many ways you can make your emails work smarter and faster for you. 

Automated email delivery

If your email marketing is part of or integrates with the tool you use to run your business, set up email automations. The options look different on every platform, but between Squarespace and Acuity Scheduling, you can automatically send emails for:

• Abandoned shopping carts

• Appointment confirmations and changes

• Appointment reminders

• Completed orders or payments

• Discounts and coupons

• Follow-up emails

• Product recommendations based on purchase history

• Welcoming new subscribers

Each of these automations is tailored to the customer and goes out based on an action the customer takes. For example, once someone subscribes to your email list, you can make sure a message that welcomes them with a discount code gets delivered to their inbox shortly afterward.

Once you’ve set up the email, you can set it and forget it. That allows you to keep customers feeling valued and encouraged to support you again without designing and sending every message.

Learn more about sending emails with automation

Audience segmentation

Audience segmentation is when you split your full subscriber list into smaller email lists, usually based on their interaction with your business. Segmentation helps you send personalized emails to a certain group, like repeat customers. Speaking more specifically can help you convert more subscribers.

Again, a tool that connects with your business platform can make creating these audience segments easier. Once you have segments, find ways to speak to them based on their relationship with your business. For example, you can send a discount code to all of your customers, but use a subject line about making their first purchase or showing your appreciation for their loyalty depending on which segment you’re sending to.

Design templates

Email templates are pre-designed so that you can quickly choose a template and customize it with your design and copy. Especially if you have fonts and colors chosen for your brand, templates save you time on choosing and adjusting every element from scratch every time you want to send something.

If you use Squarespace Email Campaigns, you can easily pull in the same typefaces and color palette you use on your website. You can also add products from your store or grab images from elsewhere on your site from your Asset Library. 

Ready to automate your workflows?

This post was updated on March 11, 2024.