Humanize Your Email Marketing in the Age of AI

Email marketing has come a long way. AI can now help automate everything from send times to product recommendations, creating highly personalized content at scale.

But here’s the catch: personalized automation might add a personal touch by definition, but that alone isn’t enough to feel genuine and make a lasting impression with users.

Your audience may see their name in the subject line, or get emails based on what they clicked last week, but that doesn’t mean they feel seen, understood, or emotionally connected to your brand.

That’s where strategy and creative direction still matter most—and it pays when it’s human-generated.

AI Doesn’t Know Your Audience Like You Do

AI, at its core, is a pattern-recognition tool that’s learning more and more every day. It can:

• Segment audiences based on behavior. AI can analyze user actions (browsing history, purchase behavior, or email engagement) and assign them to relevant segments, allowing for more tailored messaging at scale, without manual list sorting.
• Recommend content or products automatically. Using predictive algorithms, AI can insert dynamic content blocks or product suggestions that reflect what a user has previously viewed or interacted with, removing the guesswork from testing and adapt quickly to performance data. and adapts quickly to performance data.
• Run subject line tests in real time. AI can A/B test multiple subject lines across different segments and optimize for opens as the campaign runs. It removes the guesswork from testing and adapts quickly to performance data.
• Optimize send times for higher open rates. Based on engagement history, AI tools can predict the ideal time to send an email to each individual on a list. This improves the chances of reaching users when they’re most likely to engage.

These tools, while valuable and timesaving (especially in high-volume campaigns or evergreen flows), only represent one side of the story.

AI can guess what someone might want. It can’t understand why they care.

Personalization vs. Connection in Email Marketing

It’s easy to conflate personalization with emotional relevance. One is based on surface-level information and behaviors—like a customer’s name or last purchase. The other digs deeper into how a brand makes someone feel.

"Hi Jordan, you left this in your cart!" is personalized. But it’s transactional and generic. Now imagine an email that communicates, “Here's why our customers love it, and how it fits into a lifestyle like yours.” That’s connection. That speaks to values, habits, and identity. It feels just that much more human.

In other words, creative teams bring something AI doesn’t have: instinct. They understand voice, tone, cultural context, and timing in ways data alone can’t. A well-written email should speak to real motivations, beyond just clicks and conversions.

Do’s & Don’ts of Combining AI Efficiency with Creative Insight

Using AI in your email marketing workflow can unlock powerful efficiencies—but only when it’s paired with a strong sense of brand, voice, and audience understanding.

Here are a few key reminders to help you stay grounded in creative strategy while leveraging the best of what automation offers.

• Don’t rely on AI to write full campaigns from start to finish. Use it as a tool, not a replacement.
• Develop voice and tone guidelines, and apply them across all email content, automated or not.
• Revisit automated flows regularly. Check for language that feels robotic or off-brand.
• Make space for story-driven emails. Highlight real people, mission moments, or customer experiences.

The Ultimate Win: Creating Emails People Talk About

One of our favorite ways to test email content during our internal review process is something we nicknamed The Referral Test.

Before an email goes out, we ask ourselves: will our target audience screenshot this and send it to a friend? Will they forward it because it actually says something worth sharing?

If the answer is no, it’s time to go back and refine.

The Referral Test helps us gut-check for authenticity, clarity, and emotional value. It keeps us from sending filler. It pushes us to write with an engaging voice, not auto-generated fluff.

How to Use It

• Before hitting send, read the email from your audience’s perspective. Look for a quote, idea, or moment that would make them think: “I know exactly who needs to see this.”
• Look for the spark. That might be humor, honesty, a powerful CTA, or a line that feels so real and relatable that it hits.
• If it reads like marketing slop, it’s probably not passing the test.

The inbox is a personal space. When your content is good enough to earn a forward, that’s the signal you’re creating a campaign that connects.

Human Insight Is Your Edge

We use AI to enhance the process, not replace the people behind it.

Nuance, emotion, and brand loyalty: that’s the stuff that builds brands and doesn’t come from a prompt. It comes from real humans who know how to connect with other real humans—as well as connecting the dots between audience, message, and moment.

Use AI as the powerful assistant it is and know this: at this stage in the email marketing game, the best email strategies are hybrid. They use AI for scale and speed but rely on creative teams to provide those pieces of your brand story that resonate with audiences.

Though the tech is here to stay, your brand story still needs a soul. For assistance driving your narrative forward, let’s talk.

‍