Turning AI’s potential into marketing results

AI is transforming marketing from hype to real results. Intuit Mailchimp’s Anthony Capano explains how starting small and staying strategic helps marketers use AI to work smarter, personalise better, and build lasting customer connections.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant promise for marketers. It’s a practical tool that’s reshaping how we work every day. But while there’s plenty of hype, ‌marketers seeing real results aren’t chasing buzzwords or waiting for a perfect use case. They’re using it now to solve specific problems, make smarter decisions, and deliver more value to their customers.

AI, and martech more broadly, aren’t silver bullets. They’re tools – very powerful ones – that help you work more efficiently, personalise at scale, and build more sustainable growth. To get the most from these investments, you need stakeholder support, and that starts with a clear-eyed and strategic approach.

Here’s why winning support means thinking big, starting small, and proving real value along the way.

Anchor your AI strategy to real business goals

The most successful AI strategies aren’t built around technology for its own sake. They start with clear business priorities. Whether your goal is to boost customer loyalty, improve efficiency, or get ahead of shifting consumer behaviour, AI should support that plan, not define it.

Take loyalty. It’s easy to think of it as simply rewarding purchases, but real loyalty is more complex. Intuit Mailchimp’s Science of Loyalty research shows that loyalty is driven by memory, emotion, and social connection as much as rational factors. People often buy on autopilot, driven by habit, convenience, and familiarity.

AI can help marketers keep brands top-of-mind by delivering the right content or offer at the right time, making interactions feel seamless and relevant. That builds the kind of familiarity and ease that keeps people coming back, even when the competition is only a click away.

For example, AI can analyse purchase history, browsing behaviour, or email engagement to predict what a customer might need next. This means you can serve them a perfectly timed reminder or recommendation without manual guesswork. Done well, it creates a sense that your brand just “gets” them.

The key is to start with what matters most to your business.

Win early and share it widely

Winning over stakeholders often comes down to showing results. The fastest way to get buy-in for AI or martech investments is by delivering small and measurable wins.

One simple starting point? Automate reporting. Many marketing teams spend hours pulling and formatting data for presentations. AI can do it in seconds, freeing people to focus on strategy and creative work. It also improves accuracy by removing manual copy-paste errors, a small but meaningful improvement that saves time and headaches.

Another early win is predictive analytics. By using AI to spot which audiences are most likely to convert, you can optimise spend and improve campaign performance. You might identify high-value customers to target with exclusive offers, or see which segments respond best to certain channels. This level of insight helps you be more deliberate and cost-effective in your approach.

Once you have those results, share them widely. When teams see the impact in black and white, confidence grows. A few successful experiments can build real momentum, and momentum builds trust.

Personalise with purpose

Personalisation has long been seen as essential, but it’s often poorly executed. Done well, it doesn’t feel intrusive; it feels helpful. As we head into a world without third-party cookies, first-party data will be the most valuable asset marketers have for doing this right.

That includes what your customers click, open, buy, or browse. With AI, you can make sense of these signals and turn them into smarter segments, better recommendations, and more tailored messaging, at scale.

Imagine launching a seasonal campaign where AI automatically adjusts subject lines based on a customer’s past behaviour, or optimises send times to when they’re most likely to open your email. It’s not the stuff of science fiction. It’s practical, available now, and remarkably effective.

Personalisation at scale isn’t just about one channel either. It can extend to your website, app notifications, or even in-store offers. By delivering consistent and relevant experiences wherever your customer interacts with you, you reinforce your brand’s value without needing a huge team of analysts behind the scenes.

This matters because habitual customers – those who buy out of routine – represent a significant opportunity. By personalising consistently, you’re building familiarity and convenience into every experience, two major drivers of long-term loyalty.

AI doesn’t replace marketers, it amplifies them

AI can’t replace creativity, strategy, or empathy. But it can help marketers do more of what works, faster. And with every task it automates or insight it unlocks, it frees up space for teams to focus on what really matters: connecting with people. It helps you meet your goals, speak to your customers more personally, and make your marketing more human, not less.

Think of AI as an assistant that never sleeps, always looking for ways to make you more effective. It spots patterns you might miss, suggests optimisations you wouldn’t think of, and handles repetitive tasks so you can focus on the big ideas.

So start small. Share your wins. And keep your eyes on the long game. With the right approach, you’ll turn AI from a line item into a competitive edge.