The Complete Guide to AI for Amazon Sellers in 2024

Over 60% of Amazon sales are made by independent sellers, with most running small to medium-sized businesses. AI for Amazon sellers has the potential to help smaller sellers close the distance between themselves and more prominent brands even more.

But here’s the catch: You must know how to use AI effectively.

For this guide, I share my first-hand experiences as a content manager for a large e-commerce marketplace. I also share insights from Amazon sellers who use AI in multiple business areas.

AI and the Amazon Marketplace

How AI Has Helped Amazon Sellers

Building an AI strategy for Amazon

AI Tools for Amazon Sellers

AI for Amazon Sellers: Levelling the Playing Field

AI and the Amazon Marketplace

In 2021, I was a content manager for a large e-commerce marketplace with over three million customers.

Open AI had yet to open up the floodgates with ChatGPT back then. But let me tell you, AI was already top of mind on the content front. Only a few years later, the potential for AI in e-commerce seems endless.

As we speak, Amazon sellers generate optimized product listings at scale and automate mundane tasks. That’s not to mention use cases like customer service, product research, price optimization, marketing, and inventory management.

Simply put, AI has the potential to help you in all areas of the Amazon Marketplace.

How AI Has Helped Amazon Sellers

I spoke with six Amazon Sellers who are currently using AI in several areas of their business. Here’s what they had to say about how the tech is helping their business succeed.

Better Visibility in Search

“As an Amazon seller, AI has been a game-changer for me,” says Adam Hawke, head of acquisitions at Myrtle Beach Home Buyers.

“[AI] tools help me track market trends, optimize product listings, and adjust pricing strategies dynamically,” Hawke explains. As a result, Hawke’s products have experienced increased visibility in search.

The Takeaway

Market trends show you what people want so you can stock in-demand products. If you stock them already, you can prioritize adding resources to existing products to meet the demand faster.

Market trend data also indicates which of your listings to optimize first and how to optimize them.

When you optimize in-demand products for search, you’ll usually experience better search visibility and product rankings on Amazon.

That makes it easier for the right customers to find the products they need from your store rather than your competitor’s.

Product Text Optimization

“As an experienced Amazon seller, I have found AI to be an invaluable tool for streamlining and optimizing my business,” says Rahul Paragi, founder of AIWritingHacks.com.

According to Paragi, AI is a game-changer for enhancing Amazon product listings. More specifically, AI services can generate optimized titles, bullets, and descriptions in seconds using machine learning.

Paragi says this saves time and “enables me to convert page views into sales at a higher rate.”

The Takeaway

Optimizing the written word for search and conversions is my wheelhouse. Do I use AI to do this? Not when it comes to the actual writing part, because I LOVE to write.

But what about Amazon sellers with many moving parts to their business? I can see the appeal of using AI writing assistants — so no judgment from me.

That said, I use AI tools to help research product text. Regarding e-commerce, I use AI to help me with keyword research. I also use it to help me find voice of customer (VOC) data.

The keywords help me optimize text by using people‘s words and phrases to find the specific product I’m selling. Meanwhile, the VOC data (typically sourced from existing customer reviews) helps the listing resonate with prospective customers.

Product Image Optimization

“When people run a search on Amazon, they get thousands of results,” says Freddy Linares, director of Neurometrics. “Users pay attention first to the images, but sellers don’t.”

That means Amazon sellers may choose “good but random images.” Instead, Linares recommends using AI to help pick images more likely to sell.

AI image tools use “computer vision to help sellers pick the image with the highest engagement,” explains Linares. Some tools also show “the best visual attention among the [image] alternatives.”

The Takeaway

Product images matter a lot in e-commerce. So much so that it doesn‘t matter how well your product listings rank on Amazon search if your photos aren’t optimized.

That’s because choosing the wrong image or not uploading images can stop customers from buying from you.

Etsy data evidences this point. The marketplace found that 90% of Etsy shoppers rated the quality of product images as the most crucial factor when deciding to buy.

Long story short? Invest time and effort into optimizing product text and images. Your goal should be to get increased attention on the marketplace, then clicks, and ideally, conversions.

Reduced Stockouts

“As an Amazon seller, I’ve integrated AI to optimize my product listings and forecast inventory needs,” says Gil Clark Jr., owner of G.H. Clark Contractors, Inc.

Clark also uses AI-driven tools to analyze customer reviews, refine product descriptions, and predict sales trends.

Like Hawke, Clark has experienced improved search rankings (i.e., better search visibility). Clark also reports reduced stockouts when using AI tools to predict and monitor customer demand.

The Takeaway

You can run your Amazon shop like a well-oiled machine when you always have the needed stock. When they go to purchase, a customer finds the product they want and doesn’t meet any roadblocks (like the product being out of stock).

That means you will guarantee the sale rather than see the customer bouncing to another Amazon seller.

Improved Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

“I use AI extensively as an Amazon seller to enhance multiple facets of my business,” says Ben Seelen, marketing manager for Rugby Bricks. Like Hawke and Clark, Seelen uses AI for price optimization and inventory management.

Ben also uses AI for Amazon in customer service and product research. “I use chatbots to handle basic customer queries, which saves time and enhances user experience,” Seelen explains.

On the product research front, Seelen uses AI tools for keyword research and product trend analysis. After using AI, Seelen has seen improved customer satisfaction rates and loyalty overall.

The Takeaway

Integrating AI into customer service areas can reduce response times, improve aftercare, and create a better purchasing experience.

Then, using AI in product research is a way to find actionable insights about what products customers want and how they’re searching for them.

You can then fill the demand and use search terms that make it easier for customers to find and purchase the products they need.

Product and Competitor Research

“We use AI for product and competitor research for clients selling on Amazon,” says Nat Miletic, owner and CEO of Clio Websites.

AI-powered research tools help Miletic and their team conduct “in-depth analysis of Amazon products.” They can then see insights like “the most searched products, fastest-growing and high-potential products.”

Miletic also looks for overall product competition in their client’s respective niches.

“We use this data to identify and compare the client’s strongest products and ones that need more boost to meet customer demands,” Miletic continues.

Aside from this, Miletic uses AI to extract “product reviews from similar products.” This gives them insights on how to sell products more successfully.

The Takeaway

AI can gather and organize large volumes of data much faster than humans. This makes it a game changer for product and competitor research.

Once you have the data, you can segment it, find key trends, and create a plan to improve your product offering.

But that’s not all. Remember that VOC thing I talked about earlier? Like Nat, you can use AI to extract product reviews and use them as your VOC data.

Competitive Pricing

“I use AI-powered repricing software to ensure my prices remain competitive,” says Rahul Paragi.

“The algorithm adjusts prices based on competitors’ pricing, sales, inventory data, marketplace trends, and custom profit goals,” explains Paragi.

Paragi advises other Amazon sellers, “Don’t be afraid to hand optimization and efficiency tasks off to AI. It’s made my business far more profitable than I could have imagined.”

Gil Clark Jr. mirrors Paragi’s point about using AI to price competitively on Amazon. Repricing tools area game-changer, automatically adjusting prices to stay competitive while maximizing profits,” says Clark.

The Takeaway

9 out of 10 shoppers price check on Amazon. Sure, they could be comparing online product prices with in-store prices. But they could also compare your pricing with your Amazon competitor’s to source the best deal.

Savvy Amazon sellers know they must stay competitive in their prices without eroding profit margins. That’s probably why using AI for dynamic pricing was an everyday use case for most, if not all, of the sellers I interviewed for this guide.

Increased Sales

Our interviewees reported increased sales directly from using AI across different areas of their Amazon business.

Pricing strategy, specifically, was a popular area with all Amazon experts, with Seelen citing increased sales due to optimal pricing. This “ensures I stay competitive without eroding profit margins,” says Seelen.

Aside from pricing strategy, Seelen leverages “AI algorithms to better target my PPC ads on Amazon, increasing ROI significantly.”

The Takeaway

Using AI to track and predict market trends and optimize product listings for increased visibility can increase sales. That’s because market trends show you what products are in demand and what your competitors charge.

Then, optimizing the listings for in-demand products helps customers find what they need in search through your store.

Optimal pricing is another area that has helped all our Amazon interviewees experience more sales. Using AI tools within your Amazon marketing and advertising strategy may also increase ROI on ads, which can increase product sales.

Building an AI Strategy for Amazon

Let‘s put what we’ve learned into practice by building an AI product strategy for Amazon. For this exercise, I‘ve chosen the skincare niche, and the specific product I’m strategizing for is a Vitamin C moisturizer. Here‘s where I’d go from there.

1. Competitor Research

I’d start by using AI to gather similar product listings from competitors. When the data is in, I will analyze it, first looking for high-level trends (i.e., what performs well and why.)

I‘d also be looking to find gaps (i.e., what other sellers are doing that I’m not.) But more importantly, I’d be looking for opportunities—aka, what aren’t other sellers doing that I can do? And what can I do better?

I‘d then look for specifics about the top-ranking competitor products via Amazon search. I’d narrow down the top five best-performing product listings.

Then, I’d go beyond AI data analysis and look at them with my own eyes for insights that AI might miss. Doing this also helps me get a general feel for the niche/product landscape.

2. Gathering VOC Data

I’d then use an AI tool to gather the best and worst customer reviews from the top five products. This matters because I want to see what pain points the product solves, what the results are, and where other products fail.

But more specifically, I want to see how customers describe all of this in their own words. I’d also note any key phrases or terms customers use, so I recycle them in my product description.

3. Keyword Research

Now I know what competitors are doing and what customers are saying, it’s time to start keyword research. Some people begin with keyword research, but I prefer to know what real people are saying and doing first.

In my experience, this approach helps you discover some hidden gems your competitors might overlook. It also improves your ability to build resonance with customers.

To start, I‘d use an AI tool to conduct keyword research. That’ll help me optimize my Amazon listing for search. I’d look for a keyword that matches customer search intent, has decent volume, and has low competition.

Let‘s use “vitamin C day cream” as the target term for this exercise. It’s not as specific as “vitamin C moisturizer.” Still, the search intent is similar, and the competition for the keyword is lower.

There are also fewer sponsored results for “vitamin C day cream” vs. “vitamin C moisturizer.” That means less competition for the top search results.

4. Amazon Listing Optimization

As I mentioned, I don’t use AI writing tools because I genuinely love writing. That said, I see the utility of using AI writing tools at scale if you know what you‘re doing. So, for educational purposes, I’ve hopped aboard the AI writing train.

Product Title

At this stage, I‘d use an AI writing tool to help me generate a product listing draft and different title ideas. For the Amazon product title, I’d want to prioritize a mix of my chosen keyword, “vitamin C day cream,” for search visibility.

Plus, I want something that speaks to my customers‘ pain points and desires to increase conversions. And if I had any, I’d also share social proof about my product.

All of that could equate to something like:

“Vitamin C Day Cream & Moisturizer With Hyaluronic Acid & Vitamin E: Get Hydrated, Brighter, Plumper Skin in 4-8 Weeks With This Five-Star Rated Customer Product.”

I’d also aim to keep to around 200 characters as a general rule of thumb. Plus, I’d want the title to be on-brand and not say anything factually inaccurate or misleading.

So, I wouldn‘t add that information if the product hadn’t been rated five stars or customers had yet to experience specific results in a given time frame.

Product Description

I’d include the product description’s target keyword, VOC data, and customer pain points. To see how I‘d do this, head to “Anyword” in the “AI tools for Amazon Sellers” section.

I’d also add a bulleted list of Amazon Product features to give a brief overview of what the product does and how it benefits the customer.

Product Image

Here, I’d use AI to help optimize and test product images. Ideally, I’d have authentic product images, actual before and after photos, and user-generated examples of real customers using the products.

In that case, I’d use an AI tool to help me analyze which ones are likely to perform the best.

If I didn‘t have images, I’d be looking to use an AI tool to help me generate them in line with Amazon’s image specifications.

I may also look at a hybrid approach using real photos alongside an AI mock-up generator to show people using the products in different settings.

5. Making Listing Live and Testing

I wouldn’t be looking for perfection; I’d be looking for good enough. It seems counterintuitive, right? But the sooner I get the listing live, the sooner I can see actual data. That will show me what‘s working and what isn’t.

Ideally, I‘d enlist AI tools to feed me data insights and suggestions. I’d also be looking for a tool to provide different ways to A/B test listings or something that can help me brainstorm solutions.

6. Multi-Channel Marketing Approach

In my experience with e-commerce, winning the sales game takes multiple marketing channels.

Knowing what I know, there‘s no way I’d rely on optimizing my Amazon listing and leaving it at that. I’d look at ways to drive external traffic to my product listing. I’d think of Amazon SEO first (I‘m an organic girl at heart).

But I’d also consider PPC, depending on resources.

Aside from SEO, I‘d have social on my list because you can use the platforms for free in most cases. I’m not the only one thinking that way.

The State of the Amazon Seller report found over 40% of Amazon sellers market on social media. That figure has been rising 15% year on year.

That said, I’d want an AI tool that caters to a multi-channel approach. I’d also like something that feeds me suggestions for social channels based on accurate customer data and SEO suggestions based on keyword research.

7. Admin

In this instance, admin means customer service, pricing, inventory management, and any other task I can reasonably outsource to AI. I‘d also use AI for basic customer service on the back end.

Based on urgency, I’d look at ChatBots to answer frequently asked questions and route tickets to human reps.

Then, I‘d want a tool that automatically reprices my listing within a minimum and maximum range so that they stay competitive. I’d also look for something that forecasts inventory needs to avoid running out of stock.

AI Tools for Amazon Sellers

Now it’s time to take six AI tools for Amazon sellers out for a test drive. Keep reading to learn what the tools do, the price, expert insights, and my experience using each.

RepricerExpress

“One fantastic AI tool recommendation for fellow Amazon sellers is RepricerExpress,” says Hawke. Using the tool to automate price adjustments has saved Adam time and boosted Amazon sales.

Ben Seelen also uses RepricerExpress to adjust real-time prices based on market trends. “This ensures I stay competitive without eroding profit margins,” says Ben.

Price: You can try the product for free for 14 days. Paid plans range from $85 to $1,249 per month.

What we like: RepricerExpress is one of the most comprehensive tools for Amazon repricing. Its real-time insights are ideal for staying competitive and maintaining sales.

You can also set price boundaries — i.e., your minimum (floor) and maximum (ceiling) prices per product — to avoid racing your competitors to the bottom.

Using the Tool

I found registering for a Repricer account easy as they only required a few bits of information. Repricer walks you through the setup process. But if you struggle, different help options are available on the setup screen.

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I love that you have the option to create minimum and maximum prices straight away. You also start in “Safe Mode” from the get-go, so Repricer will only change live prices once you turn “Safe Mode” off.

After completing the setup, you can access competitor information, which is helpful. I also liked how flexible the tool was. You can try various pricing strategies, including pre-made repricing templates.

Helium 10

Like RepricerExpress, Helium 10 was highly recommended by multiple Amazon sellers I interviewed.

Seelen recommends Helium 10 for keyword research and product trend analysis. Miletic uses the tool to get actionable insights like the most searched, fastest-growing, and high-potential products.

You can also use the tool to explore product competition in your specific niche and write and optimize your listings.

Price: You can start a free trial account. Paid plans range from $29 to $229 per month.

What we like: Helium 10’s analytics are impressive. You can track your sales, broader market trends, and keyword rankings. They also offer marketing tools so Amazon sellers can run AI-powered PPC campaigns on autopilot.

That means you can drive traffic from search engines like Google to your Amazon product listings.

Using the Tool

When you first sign up, Helium directs you to a quiz with different options like “Seller,” “Brand,” and “Agency.” It is interactive, and the tool can give you the best dashboard setup based on the data.

I loved how each step of the setup process had an accompanying video. It highlighted the amount of resources available for Helium users straight away.

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At first glance at the demo dashboard, having everything available (i.e., revenue, profit, orders, refunds, and product rankings) on one screen/dashboard will help overall productivity.

The fact that the tool records your history will make monitoring changes and comparing results easier.

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Overall, Helium 10 is easy to use. I also see the capabilities of the research tools giving sellers a competitive edge when launching new products.

Pixmap

Pixmap was Linares’ tool of choice for AI-optimized Amazon product images. Pixmap is a mobile app available via the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The app helps you test a picture before you use it so you can understand how people see the image before uploading it to Amazon.

Price: You can get three free tests, and then you need to purchase credits.

What we like: Getting fresh eyes on any marketing campaign before it goes to market is essential. That way, you can test the effectiveness and avoid embarrassment before it goes live.

The same applies to your Amazon product images. But it’s not always realistic in practice and can be costly.

That‘s what’s excellent about Pixmap. The tool uses machine learning to give you an idea of how people will react to your images. And it only takes the tool seven seconds to process a photo and share its findings.

Using the Tool

First, I love that this app is for mobile, and it was straightforward to download from the Apple App Store. I found it easy to upload images, and the results came in fast.

Pixmap also makes it quick to understand how the app works by including three starter pictures to browse. That gave me a quick entry point into understanding the different features like “Heatmap,” “Opacity,” and “Focus.”

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SellerApp

Adam recommends SellerApp as his top pick for “valuable insights and keyword optimization suggestions.” Like Helium 10, SellerApp comes with extensive tools for product research.

You can use the tool to find high-potential products with low competition. It‘s ideal if you’re looking to extend your product offering.

Price: You can start a free trial account. Paid plans range from $39 to $49 per month.

What we like: On the free trial, you can do five product and five keyword searches daily. If you’re a smaller Amazon seller, that could be enough to get you started. When it comes to affordability, SellerApp beats other tools.

The tool is also helpful for budget allocation. It helps sellers find products with high conversion so you can optimize them and allocate a budget to bid on Amazon search phrases strategically.

Using the Tool

Like with Helium 10, SellerApp asked me to answer a few questions before getting started. SellerApp also made it clear from the outset that the tool’s goal was to help me scale and provide insights for growth.

Establishing that direct link to what matters to Amazon sellers early on is great for buying into the product.

When it comes to the dashboard, it’s straightforward to navigate. I also see the range of tools being beneficial for Amazon sellers.

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I tested out the keyword research tool and can see why Adam uses this tool for the task. The results are clear to understand, and the range of related keyword suggestions is good.

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Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout is an excellent tool for in-depth product research. You can also access general market trends and specific seasonal shopping (think Halloween and Black Friday) insights.

This tool would be great for beginner sellers looking to find a high-demand product to sell.

Price: Paid plans range from $29 to $84 per month.

What we like: The “Opportunity Finder” helps sellers find low-competition keywords for in-demand products. Then, the tool has other features to take these keyword insights and help you create a product strategy using AI insights.

You also have the option to save ideas so you can monitor and return to them later.

Using the Tool

There wasn‘t a free sign-up for Jungle Scout, so I checked out some YouTube demos and reviews to get an idea of the tool’s capabilities.

After watching this Jungle Scouts video, I see real potential for its Product Database, especially for sellers who don’t know what to sell. The database seems comprehensive but manageable enough that it stays user-friendly.

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Anyword

Anyword is an AI copywriting assistant. It is aimed at marketing professionals rather than Amazon sellers. But it does cater to Amazon product listings specifically.

The tool wasn’t recommended by any of the Amazon sellers I interviewed.

However, I wanted to try a tool specifically for writing because that’s my area of expertise.

Price: You can start a seven-day free trial. Paid plans range from $39 to $249 monthly with custom Enterprise pricing.

What we like: The tool isn’t trying to be a Jack of All Trades. The makers have chosen a specialism and have honed in on that area. Aside from creating listings from scratch, you can analyze and optimize existing text, which is a bonus.

Plus, having the option to train the AI on your brand voice may save a lot of headaches down the road.

Using the Tool

The sign-up process was easy. I had to give the usual details (i.e., email) and answer a few relevant questions. Then, I was on my way to getting started with the tool.

Even though Anyword only deals with one area (writing), it has many features within that area.

So, honestly, the dashboard seemed overwhelming at first.

I wanted to write a product description for this exercise, so I took an educated guess and headed to “Data-Driven Editor.” I found “Product Listings” and chose “Amazon Product Listing.”

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I dove straight in with a prompt. I constructed the prompt to include the product keyword “vitamin C night cream” and VOC phrases I’d picked up from existing customer reviews.

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The tool gives three different product listings, which works well. There aren’t too many listing variations to be overwhelming. But there are enough for you to make an informed choice.

You could also mix and match, taking bits from each listing if you wanted.

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The text was better than I thought it would be. Although, I personally wouldn’t use raw AI-generated text, and I’d recommend that if you do, you at least edit it to differentiate your brand.

It‘s also helpful that Anyword scores how well the listing may do based on existing text. I recommend caution here, though.

At the end of the day, you don’t know how well something will do until you release it into the wild and see actual customer data.

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Two more features caught my eye during the test. You can start with a broad audience. Then, once you generate the text, Anyword will automatically suggest new target audiences for you.

I’m assuming you can then use the audience data to hone the text further or choose a more specific one next time you need a listing for a similar product.

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You can also upload your existing target audiences through various integrations, including HubSpot, Google Ads, and Meta Ads.

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AI for Amazon Sellers: Transform How You Do Business

From optimizing product listings to competitive pricing and customer service, AI can transform how Amazon sellers do business. If you‘re new to this tech, AI’s potential might seem overwhelming.

But, knowing how to use AI as an Amazon seller and which tools to use will help you build a more competitive strategy. Even starting with one area, like product repricing, can save time and help you compete effectively with larger competitors.

How to Plan a Seasonal Marketing Campaign: A 5-Step Guide

Every year has built-in opportunities to boost sales, increase brand recognition, and bolster customer relationships. Seasonal marketing is the key to aligning your outreach with special times of the year, like holidays and events, to capitalize on increased consumer enthusiasm.

A well-executed seasonal marketing campaign will increase sales and strengthen the emotional connection between your brand and your audience, which is a recipe for dedicated, lifelong customers.

Pulling off a standout seasonal marketing campaign requires hard work, creativity, and a little know-how — but don’t fret, I’m here to help. Read on to learn all about seasonal marketing, check out our step-by-step campaign guide, and get inspired with top-tier seasonal marketing examples.

Table of Contents

What is seasonal marketing?
How to Plan a Seasonal Marketing Campaign (in 5 Steps)
Seasonal Marketing Examples


The holidays are associated with strong emotions such as joy, love, and hope. Businesses can create a more meaningful and memorable connection with their customers by marketing products and services that appeal to these emotions.

Seasonal marketing isn’t just about holidays, though. Special events like the Super Bowl and seasonal opportunities like Back-to-School shopping and Black Friday are further examples of chances to flex the seasonal marketing muscle.

Seasonal marketing aims to drive sales and foster an emotional connection with your target audience. Read on for a step-by-step guide to jumpstart your next seasonal campaign.

Here’s are five key steps for planning your own seasonal marketing campaign.

1. Choose a seasonal opportunity.

Choosing the seasonal opportunity to capitalize on is the first step to a successful campaign.

Major seasonal events like Black Friday are always a safe bet to campaign around. However, you should research your target audience to find seasonal opportunities that resonate with your customers and their values.

Audit existing seasonal campaigns.

Once you have decided on a seasonal event to utilize for a campaign, it’s time to do some homework on similar, successful campaigns — Ahrefs and BuzzSumo are great places to begin your research.

Consider how each piece approached content format, distribution, messaging, and emotion when evaluating previous campaigns.

When validating a campaign, ask yourself the following questions:

How has this piece used multiple content types and distribution platforms?
Is the messaging clear, and if so, what is it?
What emotion does this campaign evoke in the user?

Gather insights via external outreach.

Consider gathering outside opinions from journalists and digital publications in your space.

Seek out platforms that have covered campaigns you admire and ask for feedback on what makes a seasonal campaign compelling from their point of view.

2. Plan for marketing-friendly holidays.

Lucky for us marketers, every year comes packed with advantageous marketing opportunities in the form of holidays.

But what is it about holidays that makes them so great for marketing campaigns?

It’s the built-in positive sentiment.

Holidays are generally positive times that beget warm feelings like joy, nostalgia, and gratitude.

Marketing is all about evoking positive emotions in your audience and aligning your campaigns with marketing-friendly holidays allows you to ride the wave of seasonal good vibes and make customers feel good about buying your product.

According to a 2022 HubSpot survey of 247 marketers, Black Friday and Winter/End-of-Year Holidays were the most popular seasonal marketing events for future campaign planning.

51.4% and 52.6% of respondents indicated plans to build marketing strategies around those holidays.

While Black Friday and Winter holidays evoke different feelings, the marketing strategy of riding those times’ excitement and positive sentiment remains the same.

Of course, there are many other holidays to consider, and choosing the right one depends on your brand values and goals.

3. Establish a schedule.

With seasonal campaigns, timing is of the essence.

Your planning should begin well before your selected seasonal event, and you must create a schedule to execute each campaign step.

Generally, your content should be prepared, built, planned, and ready for press releases at least two months before the big event.

Consider using a marketing calendar to streamline your processes and get your team on the same page.

When creating a schedule for your campaign, don’t forget about your audience. When is the best time to contact them? When will they be most willing to share the content or engage with the campaign?

5. Organize your assets.

Your seasonal marketing campaign should touch all major platforms, including social media, email, blogs, and out-of-home advertisements (if that’s your thing).

A wide-reaching campaign requires meticulously organized assets. You should brief your creative team on the assets needed for each channel and the necessary resolutions and dimensions.

Pro Tip: A practical, up-to-date campaign plan document is essential during this process. It will enable you to better organize the timing and frequency of content releases and keep your messaging consistent by serving as a home for all your campaign assets and communications.

Check out these content marketing planning templates to get started.

5. Report and remain agile.

Remaining agile means prioritizing speed, collaboration, flexibility, and testing.

Reporting and reviewing your campaign’s performance as you go is necessary for maintaining the ability to adjust the campaign as it unfolds.

Where is the majority of traffic coming from? Which pages have the best bounce rate? Which ones are converting the best? These are some examples of metrics that can inform your strategy moving forward.

Don’t be afraid to make alterations to the original plans. If the changes you will make will ultimately improve the campaign’s success, why wouldn’t you make them?

Check out the video below for helpful information on running seasonal marketing campaigns. The video discusses promoting digital products like online courses, but the advice is broadly applicable.

Seasonal Marketing Examples

Back-to-School Shopping

Company: Walmart

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As much as we wish it weren’t the case, summer comes to an end every year. With summer’s end comes back-to-school shopping season, which can bring about excitement or dread, depending on who you are.

Still, the back-to-school season presents a tangible seasonal marketing opportunity, and Walmart seized it.

What makes it great: Walmart cleverly combines the urgency of back-to-school shopping with an exciting deal. Walmart offered customers last year’s prices on this year’s school supplies, which is an exciting way to frame their low prices, especially for inflation-conscious consumers.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to get a jump start on things. Walmart announced their 2023 back-to-school campaign on July 6th (too soon if you’re a student, but just right if you’re a marketer), and planning occurred many months beforehand.

Back-to-school spending is expected to reach record highs of $41.5 billion, up from $36.9 billion last year and the previous high of $37.1 billion in 2021. So, don’t miss out on the opportunity to ride that wave if your products fit the bill.

Winter Holidays

Company: Starbucks

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Starbucks’ holiday cups are almost as ubiquitous as the winter holidays themselves.

Every year, as the colder months approach, Starbucks releases a festive holiday cup to kick off the season. Starbucks has been taking advantage of this seasonal marketing opportunity since 1995, and brand loyalty increases as the tradition cements yearly.

What makes it great: Starbucks gives customers something fun to look forward to every holiday season with fresh, festive design. They have piggybacked off the warm and inviting feelings of the holiday season so consistently and effectively that their seasonal marketing campaign has become a mainstay of the holidays.

Pro Tip: Consistency is key. If you can devise a seasonal marketing campaign that you can execute every year (while still keeping things fresh), your customers will look forward to it and open their wallets accordingly.

Summer Fun

Company: Target

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Target appeals to summer fun in their #TargetDrop seasonal marketing campaign.

Tik-Tok creator Hungry-Fam surprises his family with a pool party featuring Target’s summertime products like ice pops, swimsuits, and pool toys, all peddled from a rolling ice cream-themed mystery box.

Target’s campaign evokes the seasonal excitement of summer from a wholesome, family-friendly angle.

What We Like: Target takes advantage of a growing influencer marketing industry (up to $21.1B from $16.4B in 2022) and carves out a broad seasonal niche that doesn’t rely on a specific holiday.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to think big picture when crafting a seasonal campaign. It doesn’t always need to be a specific holiday you highlight in advertising. A broader seasonal campaign can resonate with a more significant number of people.

Spring Cleaning

Company: OXO

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As winter fades into spring, a feeling of freshness washes over us, and the urge to tidy our spaces resurfaces.

OXO supports that sentiment with helpful content to motivate peoples’ Spring Cleaning journeys. OXO’s contribution to this list shows how to approach seasonality from a content marketing perspective meant to delight and inform.

What We Like: OXO’s Spring Cleaning content perfectly matches seasonal opportunity and brand values.

Pro Tip: Formatting your written content as a list (when appropriate) makes it easier for readers to skim, increasing page views.

Halloween

 

Company: Reese’s

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Reese’s set out to cement their position as a top-tier Halloween candy with their Candy Converter vending machine.

Reese’s seasonal marketing pop-up installation was a vending machine that let people exchange unwanted Halloween candy (like store-brand lollipops and Almond Joys) for their coveted peanut butter cups.

What Makes It Great: Reese’s Candy Converter was a creative, attention-grabbing stunt that bolstered positive brand sentiment with seasonal excitement. Running a seasonal marketing campaign around Halloween was a no-brainer for a candy brand, and the exciting pop-up stunt garnered significant press.

Pro Tip: Physical pop-up installations can be a great way to get eyes on your brand and garner press. However, pulling off can be difficult and costly and requires a high degree of creativity.

‘Tis the Season for Marketing

Use the power of seasonal marketing to your advantage. With the right recipe of relevancy, creativity, and timing, you can capitalize on big events — and ultimately, boost sales.

What’s Holding AI Adoption Back in Marketing? [New Data]

Adoption of any new technology can take time, and this is especially true when the technology is complex. The rapid explosion of artificial intelligence tools has already changed how most marketing teams operate — but there are still some factors that are holding marketers back from fully embracing AI.

In our 2023 State of AI Report, we dove deep to understand how marketers are already using AI, and what barriers are causing hesitation for marketers who have been reticent to adopt this advanced technology.

We’ll review statistics and predictions for the future of AI in the marketing sector.

AI Use Today: By the Numbers

Across all industries, the AI revolution is set to continue expanding and growing, with experts predicting that nearly 100% of all organizations will use AI to some degree by the year 2025 — less than two years away.

Meanwhile, the market impact of AI software is, according to some predictions, on track to reach between $13 and $150 trillion by the same year.

That’s a staggering figure that reveals just how pervasive AI technology will soon become. With far-reaching impacts across every industry, one of the key sectors affected by AI is the field of marketing.

According to our recent survey data, 68% of leaders in the marketing field predict that their business will experience astounding levels of growth once AI and automation tools are completely integrated into their operations.

Over half of marketing leaders (62% of those surveyed), confirm that their company has already invested in AI.

The majority of these cases involve AI tools for marketing employees to use, with 72% of these company leaders reporting that AI makes their employees more efficient and productive, and 71% of these marketing leaders reporting positive returns on their investment in AI tools and technology.

How Marketers are Already Using AI

Since the majority of marketing agencies already rely on AI and automation to varying degrees, let’s investigate the top ways marketers today use artificial intelligence tools and technology.

Content Creation

Of the marketing companies surveyed, 48% report using AI for content creation. This makes content creation one of the most popular AI use cases right now.

Over half of marketers use AI to generate new written content, making small edits by hand before publishing it.

This can include blog articles and website content, but also social media copy, landing page CTAs, or even product descriptions.

Marketers who use AI tools to craft new content can save an average of three hours per piece of content—three hours that can instead be applied to researching, outreach, strategy planning, and creative brainstorming.

AI content creation tools like HubSpot’s content assistant, ChatSpot, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT can respond to prompts, almost instantaneously generating new images and/or written content to answer the marketer’s specific needs, honing results to create the right tone and messaging.

Data Analysis and Reporting

From assessing competitors in the same industry to identifying and analyzing niche target audiences, AI tools provide invaluable data analysis support for marketers, 45% of whom use AI tools for data analysis and reporting.

Since AI has the capacity to process monumental amounts of data extremely quickly, it can identify patterns of customer behavior and analyze trends across the marketplace.

Conducting Research

Research can take time, and results are not always easy to acquire. This might be why 45% of marketing professionals utilize AI for research purposes.

AI can sort through the irrelevant results to provide answers to very specific inquiries, thus saving immense amounts of time.

AI tools can also sort responses into categories, emphasizing results that provide the most insight on different facets of a complex issue. This ability can amplify the research process, providing much more in-depth coverage for employees. But AI-powered research extends beyond simply market research.

In addition to utilizing market research capabilities from AI, 32% of marketing employees use AI to learn and develop skills. In fact, AI may be revolutionizing the field of education, prompting students of all ages to engage in a more personalized and responsive form of skills acquisition.

AI can provide customized feedback and help employees track their learning journeys with progress charts and analyses, providing concrete interactive examples to help employees learn skills better and faster.

Why Some Marketers Haven’t Invested in AI Yet

A recent Gartner study showed that 63% of leaders in marketing had either already invested in AI or were planning to do so within the next 24 months. So that leaves just 37% of marketers who have not yet invested in AI.

With so many powerful capabilities for improving communications and increasing efficiency, why have these marketers chosen not to adopt AI tools yet?

According to the same study, the main causes for hesitancy have to do with uncertainty about the accuracy of the results that AI tools provide, potential intrinsic biases exhibited by AI software, and relying too heavily on AI technology.

Even our own survey supports this position, with a whopping 76% of respondents saying that we should use AI/automation in marketing, but not to a point where we’re dependent on it.

Although skepticism is always warranted during the early stages of a new product or service, it’s worth taking a closer look at each of these three reasons why marketers haven’t adopted AI.

1. They fear faulty results and inaccurate information.

The main cause for concern that marketers identify when it comes to AI is that they fear AI tools may come up with inaccurate information.

his concern about accuracy is reasonably well-founded- our data shows that nearly 50% of marketers who already use generative AI tools report having received results from AI tools that have contained information the marketers knew to be inaccurate.

Our further research has shown that only 27% of marketers who are already using AI feel extremely confident that they would be able to identify faulty results produced by AI tools.

Since AI technologies are still evolving, there is a reasonable chance that some of the results AI tools produce will be variable, and developers are working to tighten these outcomes.

2. They worry about the inherent bias of AI tools.

Some of the most attention-grabbing news headlines surrounding early results from the public release of AI tools highlighted the troubling biases these AI tools displayed.

Machine learning or AI bias comes about as a result of the biases that its developers may have, whether they are conscious of them or not.

Since AI developers and engineers are programming the algorithms that power AI tools, they are essentially teaching AI machines what to look for and how to identify different types of data.

When that developer has a bias they are not aware of, the AI may become infused with that slant, assumption, or even prejudice.

A study by the United States Department of Commerce, for example, revealed that facial recognition tools in AI frequently misidentify people of color, which can lead to wrongful arrests and further consequences. And new AI tools, like automated headshot generators, are still riddled with bias.

3. Marketers are concerned about becoming AI-dependent.

Some marketing professionals cite concerns over becoming too reliant on AI and automation tools.

The fear is that the more we come to rely on AI skills for content creation, strategy planning, research, and more, the less capable we will become at completing those tasks ourselves.

Luckily, AI does not fully substitute for the creativity and capability of a human employee. Instead, AI offers tools and abilities to help make routine tasks and content creation more efficient and productive.

Like the ultimate administrative and research assistant, it frees up time for marketers to focus on honing their irreplaceable skills.

Getting Started with AI

If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, or are still unsure how your content can benefit from these innovations, try these approaches to using generative AI:

Turn to AI for keyword suggestions and demographics analysis, honing the profiles of your target audiences for marketing campaigns.
Use AI to create or repurpose content, with tools such as HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant and Paragraph Rewriter.
Allow AI to help identify competitors in the field and provide actionable insights on how to surpass them.
Let AI find content gaps and faults in your existing content.

These are some simple (and helpful) ways to incorporate AI into your workflow if you’re interested but hesitant to take the plunge.

Email Marketing Audit — The Complete Guide

Increased open rates, click-throughs, and sales: If you want these results, running an email marketing audit can help you get there. That’s why I’ve teamed up with six email marketing experts to help you create an audit of your own.

Together, we cover:

What is an email marketing audit?

The Benefits of Email Marketing Audits

The Anatomy of an Email Marketing Audit

How to Conduct an Email Marketing Audit

Tips for Conducting an Email Marketing Audit

What is an email marketing audit?

An email marketing audit means checking in with your email strategy, campaigns, and overall account health. Like a general marketing audit, the main goal is to see what‘s working and what isn’t.

But you can also find any untapped opportunities for improvement.

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That said, only some audits will cover every element that‘s involved with email marketing in its entirety. You might run an audit to check technical issues like deliverability, workflow automation, and accessibility, for example.

You may also audit a specific campaign’s performance to see whether it’s meeting its goals.

The Benefits of Email Marketing Audits

I interviewed six email marketing experts to find out how an audit has helped them and their lists. Here’s what they had to say about why email marketing audits matter.

Better Open Rates, Click-Through Rates, and Sales

“I was tasked to improve the open rates (OPR) and click-thru rates (CTR) of the emails my client was sending to their target audience,” says Gabriel Gan, head of editorial for In Real Life Malaysia.

The email list Fan worked with had around 250,000 active users.

“Using email audit best practices, my team and I were able to pinpoint areas of improvement and increase our client’s OPR and CTR from 10-15% to 27-35%,” Gan continues.

Aside from OPR and CTR, sales improved, too. Gan recalls “an increase of 7% in sales during Black Friday, compared to the previous year (100% to 107%).”

Finding What Resonates With Your Audience

“An email audit is like a health check. It’s an opportunity to see what’s working and what isn’t,” says Senior Content Strategist Lia Parisyan. One area an audit can help you understand more clearly is what resonates with your audience.

“At one company, we wanted to test if questions in the subject line converted better than statements,” explains Parisyan. “We tested out this observation and found some segments preferred numbers and questions in subject lines while others were swayed less by numbers and more by ‘how to’ statements in subject lines.”

Gan cites a similar experience regarding audience resonance: “When I first started doing email marketing, the emails they [the company] were sending out had a distinctly ‘direct sell’ approach in the copy.”

Gan explains that traditionally, this approach is the best way to get prospects. But “it wasn’t great at scaling to an international, cross-generational audience (20s to 40s) with a wide range of tastes and needs,” Gan says.

An audit helped Gan and the team discover this and create more resonance.

Improved Engagement and Deliverability

“Email audits have been invaluable for our logistic company’s email marketing,” says Onur Kutlubay, CEO at YouParcel. Kutlubay explains how audits looking at “email lists, content quality, segmentation, and delivery practices” have helped YouParcel evaluate its email marketing campaigns.

Kutlubay cites “a 20% increase in open rates and a 15% rise in click-through rates” after refining email targeting and content based on the audit findings.

Parisyan also highlights that “an email audit can help you identify and resolve deliverability issues.” Long story short?

Fixing these issues makes sure your messages get to the right inboxes, which can improve deliverability and engagement overall.

Seeing the Big Picture and Refocusing Goals

“It’s so easy to lose track of [what’s working and what’s not] when you’re focused on the small details of everyday work — and let’s be honest, email marketing requires a lot of attention to detail,” says Anna Czechowska, email marketing specialist at Uscreen.

According to Czechowska, an email audit shows you the flaws of your campaigns and areas where you can improve while highlighting the wins.

“You may be surprised looking at what worked and what didn’t,” says Czechowska. Still, having the data from your audit will help you to “see the big picture and refocus on the right goals.”

Improving Email List Health

“Email audits are key to understanding the health of our client’s accounts,” says Yair Barojas, marketing strategist at Mindgruve.

Barojas explains that email audits help them to “determine the structures, methodology, and implementation that are currently in place.”

From there, they can find any areas of opportunity to improve the overall account and list health.

Barojas mentions “segmentation, list development, data mapping improvements, tracking implementations, and automation, to connectivity between systems” as areas they check to find these opportunities.

Prioritizing and Nurturing Relationships

“Email audits have been a huge help for Travel-Lingual,” says James Smith, founder of Travel-Lingual. “They’re like a check-up on your email list, ensuring you’re sending out your top-notch content to those who care about it.”

Smith also emphasizes the importance of focusing on quality rather than quantity and that removing inactive members helps them do this. “Email audits have helped us cut down on all the junk and focus on the people who enjoy our travel content,” closes Smith.

The Anatomy of an Email Marketing Audit

The specific parts of your email marketing audit all depend on your end goal. That said, you may find yourself addressing all or some of the following areas:

Performance Metrics

For any audit, it makes sense to get a summary of where you‘re at right now. That gives you a benchmark to see whether your follow-up actions based on the audit do or don’t work.

Reporting on email performance metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI will give you a basic comparison. You can then compare how your email campaigns perform before and after the audit.

List Health Analysis

You evaluate the quality and cleanliness of your email subscriber list. Reports usually include list size, quality, segmentation, and any issues related to bounce rates and unsubscribes.

Content and Design Review

You analyze the email copy and design for quality, relevance, engagement, and consistency with the brand. You’ll also want to double-check that emails are mobile-friendly, accessible, and responsive.

If you lack design experience or technical chops, HubSpot’s Drag and Drop Email Builder can help you create visually appealing emails.

Deliverability and Compliance Assessment

You‘ll typically review email deliverability issues/challenges, spam complaints, and sender reputation as a minimum. You’ll also want to audit compliance with email marketing laws and regulations.

Automation and Workflow Evaluation

You‘ll want to analyze any automated email workflows in line with your segmentation strategy. If automation isn’t in place, you can report on actions to take to improve efficiency with automation.

You can also find opportunities to streamline the existing workflow.

Whether you audit one or all of these areas, you‘ll need to create recommendations and an action plan. You can then optimize what’s working in your email marketing strategy and fix what isn’t.

[Video: How to Master Email Marketing (2023)]

How to Conduct an Email Marketing Audit

I asked experts Parisyan, Barojas, Czechowska, and Gan how they run email marketing audits. Together, we crafted this nine-step process for running an email marketing audit.

You can apply these steps to an entire email audit or a specific element you focus on.

I’ve also factored in tips about running audits in-house or as an external resource.

1. Define your scope and set goals.

“The most important thing is defining scope. What is the purpose of the email audit? Is it compliance? Security? Improving conversions?’ Parisyan says.

“It can be more than one thing, but the more precise you are with your scope, the less likely you will lose focus or draw the audit out,” says Parisyan.

At this stage, Parisyan recommends choosing the most impactful email area to audit.You can do smaller audits. Choose one variable. Improve, test, and tackle the next variable instead of boiling the ocean,” Parisyan explains.

From my experience with content audits, I suggest making sure that your email marketing goals and objectives complement the broader business strategy.

That way, you’re focusing your activity on areas that help to achieve the more general company goals.

I suggest requesting everything you need to get the job done sooner rather than later, too. If you get things like permissions and documentation early, you can avoid delays caused by chasing these down.

That stands if you‘re in-house, but it’s vital if you‘re an external resource because you’ll have fewer contact points with decision-makers.

Expert Tip

“If we can not access the client’s email system, we interview key stakeholders to understand how it works and where they need improvement and help,” says Barojas.

Barojas, who works agency-side, also recommends getting examples of “emails and any workflow paperwork” at this stage.

2. Build your audit team.

“Next, who’s going to be on your audit team? If you’re solving for security, Do you need to involve legal? Cybersecurity?” says Parisyan.

After you’ve finalized your team, Parisyan recommends assigning roles and responsibilities and using project management tools.

Expert Tip:

PM tools can help you plan the email marketing audit timeline, assign tasks, and oversee progress from start to finish. Either way, project management tools are a great way to avoid having multiple spreadsheets everywhere.

And as anyone in marketing knows, spreadsheets can get messy fast.

3. Choose your audit tools.

“There are lots of [tool] options. You may already be using one,” says Parisyan. “However, I wouldn‘t recommend switching tools during an audit if you haven’t vetted them. I would consider that a separate activity.”

Parisyan also explains that third-party solutions are often neglected during audits. So, document these, as they may affect security and compliance.

To stay aligned with your core objective, Parisyan also recommends identifying “the tools you’re using, how, and to what purpose.”

Expert Tip

If you still need to get a tool in place, consider looking for one with an email marketing audit template or checklist built in.

You could also look for a tool that helps you track your audit process, although you can use a project management tool for that, too.

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For context, I don’t think everything in content marketing needs a template. Content templates are how writing gets stale and predictable, for example. However, templates are necessary when it comes to processes.

Having an in-house framework or agency SOP to follow will save you time and help you improve with each audit iteration. It also gives you a visual guide to follow as you work through the nitty-gritty of your email marketing audit.

4. Data collection and legal review.

“You’ll want to make sure everything you’re gathering complies with privacy regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA (in healthcare),” warns Parisyan.

While it‘s easy to overlook this step, it’s critical to make sure you’re in line with email marketing laws in specific locations and industries.

Expert Tip

Aside from GDPR (Europe), CAN-SPAM (United States) is another law you may need to comply with, depending on your list. If you‘re within the U.S., you should also comply with state-by-state policies.

Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) is an example of one of these.

5. List the areas you want to audit.

At this stage, you want to list the areas most relevant to your goal and then audit those. If you’re doing a full audit, Barojas recommends covering the following areas:

Account structure.
Audiences.
Campaigns and content.
System connectivity.
Testing and optimizations.
Tracking.

You could also focus on a smaller area, like increasing your conversion rate for a specific email campaign. The conversion action could be clicking the call to action button. The relevant audit areas could be content and design.

In that case, you’d want to audit the subject lines, design elements, copy, and calls to action at a minimum.

Expert Tip

Gan mentions auditing email content as it relates to the broader customer journey, which is: “Open email inbox > open email > scroll down to the bottom of the page > click the CTA button,” says Gan.

Gan maps out the more specific customer journey and touchpoints like this: “(begin customer journey) Email subject line > preview text > email header image > headline > introductory text > product image > product description > cta button (end customer journey).”

Gan explains that at each stage of this journey, the customer could click away, get distracted, or lose interest. So, to increase conversions, you should aim toretain attention all the way till they click the CTA button.”

6. Assess impact using email marketing metrics.

Now you know your goals and which areas you’d like to audit, you need to assess them using relevant email performance metrics. This will give you a benchmark so you a) know how to move forward and b) have pre and post-audit comparison data.

Some common email metrics include click-through rate, open rate, bounce rate, and list growth rate. But let‘s stick with our example goal of having more list members click the call to action button on an email campaign.

The metric in that instance is conversion rate. Here’s how you can measure it.

“To calculate the conversion rate, I divide the number of people who completed the desired action by the number of emails delivered and multiply the answer by 100,” says staff writer for HubSpot’s marketing blog Erica Santiago.

So the formula would look like this:

Expert Tip

“To measure the conversion rate of your emails, you’ll need to integrate your email platform and web analytics,” says Santiago. “You can do this by creating unique tracking URLs for your email links that identify the source of the click as coming from a specific email campaign.”

7. A/B testing and optimization.

“When doing your audit, the first step is identifying the areas which you must look into. The second step is to test,” Gan says. Gan recommends following two main rules for your A/B testing:

Set email A as the incumbent. Set email B as the contender.
Only change one variable at a time.

“For example, in email B, when testing open rates, only tweak the subject line and not the preview,” says Gan.

That’s because “If you have more than one variable that has been changed from the old email, it’s almost impossible to determine which new addition you made has contributed to the improvement in OPR/CTR.”

Expert Tip

Aside from A/B testing campaigns, you can dive into the email campaigns yourself.

“I test emails on different devices and in different email clients. I try to really get into subscribers’ shoes, e.g., by joining our email sequence,” says Czechowska.

She explains that this helps to get a first-hand perspective of the “actual experience for our email audience.”

8. Create an action plan and get approval.

Now, you need to put all of your email marketing audit findings into a clear and logical action plan. In my experience of running audits, I recommend outlining an action plan in sprints.

If you don’t do this, the data can be visually overwhelming, which makes it hard to know where to start.

I’d also say to frontload the actions that will have the most impact on your goals. That will increase stakeholder and team buy-in.

Once you have a clear plan of action, you may need to present it to stakeholders, decision-makers, and/or senior team members to get approval.

Expert Tip

“To get stakeholders to take action on your recommendations, format your analysis for your audience,” says Parisyan.

For example, executives are busy.

So, “A short slide deck with critical stats and findings may work best. Or you can call a meeting to discuss your findings and recommendations if that’s what stakeholders prefer.”

In short, Parisyan recommends knowing your audience so that your recommendations get implemented. That’s because doing the audit is not enough. Convincing stakeholders to take actiondemands equal focus and championing.”

9. Implement an action plan and analyze the results.

When decision-makers have approved your action plan, it’s time to implement the findings from your email marketing audit. You can then analyze the results of your audit recommendations.

You should consider revisiting Gan’s A/B testing advice and rules here — only changing one variable at once and continuing to test and improve in iterations.

But implementation and analysis don’t mean the work is over. You also want to create a system for ongoing monitoring and reporting to track progress and make adjustments.

Expert Tip

“Once changes are signed off, march forward, monitor what’s happening, and keep documenting,” says Parisyan. “Having a record will enable you to conduct more vigorous audits in the future and avoid testing the same hypothesis again.”

Tips for Conducting an Email Marketing Audit

Want to run a successful email marketing audit? Here’s what the email marketing experts I interviewed suggest.

Break it down into manageable chunks.

“The number of things to review may be overwhelming at first, but breaking it down into smaller steps will help,” says Czechowska.

Czechowska suggests first defining your goals to help you break things down. “You may want to focus on some areas more than others — e.g., deliverability or list segmentation strategy,” she explains.

Within that, there could be “a specific problem that requires your attention, such as high bounce rate or low engagement.”

Remember, it’s not a solo job.

“Even if you’re at a small company, involve others. Beyond building collaboration and tapping into other people’s skills, involving others helps you catch things you might miss,” says Parisyan.

“If you have photos in your emails or graphics, maybe consult your designer. See if they have any recommendations,” Parisyan continues.

You can also connect your sales and customer service teams to “see how the language tone and length of your content compares with their messaging.”

Marketing Strategist Yair Barojas agrees.

“Lean on additional team members who may have experience with other areas you need to encounter during the audit, such as developers or analytics,” says Barojas.

Try an expectation test for your messaging.

“This is not as common, but you can try an expectation test,” says Parisyan. The test involves showing someone an email headline and asking them what they think the email will be about.

To eliminate confirmation bias, Parisyan suggests that you don’t show participants the email copy. You can then learn how people really feel about the headline without them knowing what the email copy is about.

Parisyan also recommends interviewing customers “in ‘the green'” and to “think about integrating them into a beta testing campaign” as another way to test and tailor your messaging.

Account for differences in strategies and campaigns.

“Each company handles documentation and email strategy differently, so don’t shy away from reaching out to the client with questions,” says Barojas. He also explains that every audit is unique, too.

So, “being flexible is as important as being timely.”

Czechowska also references campaign differences.

“Don’t measure every email against the same standards,” says Czechowska. “Think about what you consider a success for each of your campaigns — it’ll be different for your weekly newsletter, and e.g., an abandoned cart sequence.”

Use quantitative data and qualitative feedback.

“For an effective email audit, my tip is to consider quantitative data (open and click-through rates) and qualitative feedback (customer responses),” says CEO Onur Kutlubay.

Through this “holistic approach,” Kutlubay’s company has been able to tailor emails “for better engagement, leading to increased ROI and more satisfied customers.”

Kutlubay reports an increase in open rates and click-through rates, specifically. But that’s not all.

“This combination of qualitative and quantitative improvements generated a 25% growth in email-driven revenue, demonstrating that investing in email audits can lead to substantial gains,” says Kutlubay.

Remove inactive subscribers.

Founder James Smith recommends taking a data-driven approach to your strategy, including looking for “any inactive members” of your email list.

“First, get rid of the inactive people on your list. Then, tailor your content to what your audience likes,” says Smith.

Doing that will help you focus on delivering quality content to the people who are the most engaged so you can nurture those relationships.

Kutlubay also focuses on list health during email audits. In terms of the impact, Kutlubay’s bounce rate was reduced by 10% after a “careful list cleanup.”

A/B test often.

“There’s a perception that once you set up your email list and create a template for your emails, you can ‘set it and forget it,'” says Head of Editorial Gabriel Gan.

“But now, with the power of A/B testing, with just a few rounds of testing your headlines, visuals, copy, offer, call to action, etc., you can find out what your audience loves, do more of it, and improve your conversion rates twofold or threefold,” Gan says.

Gan recommends testing often, noting down your findings, and improving on each email iteration until you find out what works and what doesn’t.

Find outside-of-the-box solutions.

“The conventional method is to send your email at the busiest times of the day (when people are most likely to check their emails),” says Gan. “But if that’s what everybody else is doing, your email will likely get lost in the shuffle, so you have to think in terms of your customer’s mindsets as well.”

Gan explains that for retail products, “evening time just before dinner or just before bedtime is likely the right time.” But for productivity hacks or daily news, “updates are likely better early in the day before work.”

You can apply this non-conventional thinking in your audit recommendations.

Email Marketing Audit: Do More of What Works

Running an email marketing audit can provide invaluable insights into your campaigns and email accounts in general.

You’ll have everything necessary to create a clear action plan aligning your email marketing activity with broader business goals.

Whether analyzing a specific area like list health or running a full audit, following a tested framework cuts out the guesswork. Start doing more of what‘s working and less of what isn’t with our expert-led email marketing audit process.