AI-powered personalised email saw an increased reach by 35% in 2021: Report

AI-powered personalisation and delivery email reach increased by 35% in 2021, states a report by Sofware-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm Netcore Cloud. Many companies from the Southeast Asia region have embraced AI in email delivery and are strict on their permission marketing policies. It has contributed significantly to their inbox placement, notes the study.

The report also highlights the growing adoption of technologies like AI and ML (Machine Learning) across audience selection, content optimisation, channel preference, and email delivery.

The report also shows that online dating and the media over-the-top (OTT) industry have the highest email spam complaints, with almost 30 emails every 10,000 emails sent.

It further informs that job portals and the travel industry also feature in the third position with 14 emails getting complaints on Gmail on an average for every 10,000 emails sent. Since Gmail is highly sensitive to spam complaints in determining inbox placement, they play a significant role in sustaining deliverability.

“In the last two years of the global pandemic, email has become the prominent channel for personalised and conversational marketing. The coming years will see AI-powered tools and interactive emails emerge as the most effective components of customer engagement,” said Kalpit Jain, Group CEO, Netcore Cloud.

The report analyses over 100 billion emails and showcases findings across 22 major industries, including BFSI, Retail & e-Commerce, Beauty, Food, Entertainment, and Media. It covers the shifts in email marketing & benchmark metrics since the global pandemic and aims to help marketers strengthen their email strategy in 2022.

Email marketing has prevailed to be one of the most trusted channels for marketing departments to connect and convert customers into loyalists. However, the pandemic and its subsequent challenges have ushered in a new era of email marketing with giant leaps into interactivity, privacy, and multimedia, the report said.

The report shows that email deliverability rate was the highest for the retail industry at 98.6% followed by the food tech/food delivery industry at 98%. Foodtech grew positively during 2021 due to intermittent lockdowns and restrictions on social mobility.

It has also been observed that entertainment media over-the-top (OTT) companies have the lowest deliverability with an average of 77%. A high frequency of emails combined with sending regional content seems to have affected the inbox placement.  

Another report by ResearchandMarkets, in 2021, the global marketing automation market was valued at $5.45 billion. The market is anticipated to propel to $8.58 billion in 2026.

The market is expected to grow at a fast pace during the forecast period, due to given several latest trends such as integration of AI with marketing automation software, increasing focus on personalised marketing, growing use of predictive analytics, growing shift towards multi-channel marketing and introduction of chatbots, noted the study. 

It further mentions that AI combined with marketing automation software, can empower businesses to better understand customer needs, translate data into decisions, interact with potential customers, and positively impact business outcomes. 

Use of AI enables better personalisation of offers, analysis of customer behaviour and offers data to build mailing campaigns, it points out.