AI-Powered Email Marketing: The Secret Weapon Your Business Needs

Is your email marketing team under pressure to stand out in crowded inboxes? CMOs and marketing directors: artificial intelligence (AI) might be the strategic advantage you’ve been looking for.

Whether you’re running a lean operation or leading a full-scale marketing department, it’s a challenge to personalize emails at scale, analyze performance metrics, and keep pace with evolving customer expectations.

It’s no wonder so many teams question whether their current strategies are delivering true ROI.

But here’s the good news: AI-powered tools are transforming how marketers build, execute, and optimize email campaigns—making it easier than ever to drive meaningful engagement.

AI is quickly changing how we approach email marketing—and its influence can’t be underestimated. In fact, according to a 2023 study from Ascend2, 57% of email marketers at large companies now use AI to improve their campaigns. 

Research shows AI can increase market revenue across sectors—by significant margins. As more businesses recognize its value, the prevalence of AI in email marketing will likely keep on growing.

Meanwhile, European Union regulations around AI and data privacy offer a clear framework for responsible innovation—boosting consumer trust while guiding marketers on ethical data use.

As a marketer, AI-powered email marketing platforms are built to help marketers do more—with less effort. Here’s why they’re changing the game:

• Predict customer behavior: AI sifts through massive data sets to detect patterns and forecast how recipients will engage with your emails. With these insights, you can build campaigns designed to boost open rates, clicks, and conversions.
• Automate complex workflows: Free up your team from repetitive tasks. AI can manage workflows, trigger sends, and make decisions in real-time—freeing up your team to focus on strategic initiatives and creative execution.
• Personalize at scale: AI helps you deliver custom content to thousands of contacts—automatically. By analyzing customer preferences, behaviors, and purchase history, it creates relevant experiences that traditional email tools simply can’t match.
• Encourage experimentation: AI gives your team the freedom to innovate. With built-in testing and optimization tools, marketers can continuously learn, refine, and improve without heavy manual effort.

Ready to make AI a part of your email strategy? Here are six high-impact ways to get started.

1. Implement hyper-personalization

Deliver content that speaks directly to each recipient. AI tools analyze user behavior and demographics to personalize subject lines, copy, images—even send times—at scale.

The result? Higher open and click-through rates, and emails your audience actually wants to read.

2. Optimize send times

AI can identify exactly when each customer is most likely to engage based on historical data, so your emails land at the perfect moment.

This strategy significantly improves open rates and click-through rates, leading to better overall campaign performance.

3. Implement predictive segmentation

Go beyond static segments. With AI, you can group contacts based on likely future behaviors—not just past actions.

Predictive segmentation enables more precise targeting with tailored messaging. It’s a smarter way to increase relevance across every stage of the customer journey.

4. Automate A/B testing and optimization

Let AI handle the heavy lifting of testing subject lines, images, CTAs, and more. Then, instead of running manual tests, AI can test and iterate around the clock—learning what resonates and refining your campaigns in real time.

That way, your marketers improve their email performance at scale—with a success rate that manual testing could never achieve.

5. Prevent churn with predictive analytics

AI can spot early signs of customer disengagement and trigger personalized re-engagement campaigns before it’s too late. This proactive approach helps protect long-term revenue and strengthens customer loyalty.

6. Optimize for conversion

AI tools analyze which combinations of content, offers, and timing drive conversions—and then apply those learnings automatically across campaigns.

It’s an efficient way to boost ROI while delivering better experiences for your audience.

Looking for real-world examples? Learn how two companies partnered with SAP Emarsys to increase the engagement, revenue, and efficiency of their email campaigns.

Ryderwear: Finding success with a new CRM

Ryderwear, a fitness apparel brand, implemented SAP Emarsys’ AI-powered CRM platform to bring new life to their customer engagement strategy.

The challenge: Despite their best efforts, the brand’s email marketing efforts were yielding limited returns, with only 4–5% of their email revenue coming from automated processes.

The solution: Ryderwear adopted the AI-powered platform and immediately benefitted from:

• AI-driven automation to deliver personalized messages at optimal times.
• Predictive analytics via SAP Emarsys’ Max AI to fine-tune targeting.

The results: After implementation, email revenue jumped to nearly 20%, with 80% of that driven by automated campaigns.

DCH Motors: Modern approach for a traditional industry

DCH Motors, a leading automotive service group in Hong Kong, chose SAP Emarsys and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to increase customer engagement and the efficiency of their operations.

The challenge: Despite offering many services across premium car brands, DCH Motors struggled with staff resistance to new technologies, faulty data quality, limited AI expertise, and siloed communication between departments.

The solution: To address these challenges head on, the DCH Motors team:

• Championed staff adoption programs, workshops, and training.
• Centralized their CRM, anchoring their tech stack with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to unify operations.
• Embraced AI-powered automation for fleet and car body maintenance.
• Established a digital business unit to lead the transformation.

The results: Introducing AI at DCH Motors was a game-changer for refining the company’s marketing efforts. Department leaders and teams gained the tools to personalize campaigns at scale and operate with greater efficiency.

AI is no longer optional—it’s a critical driver of success in email marketing.

From personalization and automation to segmentation and optimization, AI empowers marketers to deliver customer-centric experiences that convert.

And while the technology is powerful, success also depends on adapting to local cultures, technologies, and regulations.

Bottom line? AI-powered email marketing isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a competitive edge that drives sustainable growth.

Ready to see what’s possible? Request a demo with SAP Emarsys and discover the future of smarter, faster, more impactful email marketing.