AI Drives Faster Email Marketing, but Personalization and ROI Challenges Persist

AI's Growing Influence on Email Marketing Teams

AI is helping email marketing teams speed up their work, but many old challenges still persist. According to the “2025 State of Email” report from Litmus by Validity, nearly 30% of marketers expect advanced AI-driven content and analytics to bring the biggest changes to email marketing next year. Additionally, 70% predict that by 2026, AI will handle up to half of their email operations, with 18% expecting AI to cover 50-75% of their email marketing tasks.

This data highlights that AI is becoming a core part of many email marketing strategies. By 2025, nearly half of marketers plan to use generative AI for static copywriting, and AI-powered image generation usage has surged by 340% over the past year.

Challenges Persistence Despite AI Adoption

Even as AI adoption grows, marketers still face familiar hurdles. Frequent updates from mailbox providers, evolving technology, complex privacy regulations, and shifting consumer behaviors continue to complicate email marketing efforts.

Measuring ROI remains a challenge for some; 22% of marketers struggle to demonstrate or measure email ROI clearly. Personalization also presents difficulties. The main pain points include:

• Efficient creation of personalized content (17%)
• Collecting and analyzing data for personalization (16%)
• Measuring personalization's impact on email results (15%)

Interestingly, companies that see higher ROI (36:1 to 50:1) typically dedicate 25-50% of their marketing team to email operations. This suggests that investing in email marketing resources correlates with better performance. Moreover, businesses allocating more than 15% of their marketing budget to email are twice as likely to achieve open rates above 40% compared to the average.

Efficiency Gains and Skills in Demand

Efficiency is improving significantly. Only 6% of teams now take more than two weeks to produce an email, compared to 62% in 2024. Content creation remains critical, with 30% of marketers naming it the top skill they're hiring for in email marketing.

Interactive elements are nearly universal, with 97% of marketers including at least one in their emails. Buttons and calls-to-action (CTAs) are viewed as the most effective interactive features by 35% of respondents.

Privacy Compliance and Industry Differences

Privacy remains a concern, especially for companies with larger email budgets. Fourteen percent of marketers overall cite data privacy compliance as a major operational challenge, rising to 23% among those spending 15% or more of their marketing budget on email.

Different industries use email marketing in distinct ways. Retail and professional services lean on email for brand awareness and engagement metrics. Tech companies focus more on purchase and transaction history data, using email to drive leads.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• AI is becoming an essential part of email content creation and analytics, but old challenges like ROI measurement and personalization remain.
• Companies that invest more in email marketing teams and budgets tend to see stronger results.
• Faster email production times and the rise in interactive content are improving campaign effectiveness.
• Privacy compliance demands are growing, especially for marketers with significant email budgets.

For marketers seeking to sharpen their AI skills and stay ahead in email marketing, exploring targeted AI training courses can be a strategic move. Resources like Complete AI Training's certification for marketing specialists offer practical learning paths tailored to marketing professionals.

The report is based on a survey of 692 marketing professionals from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and Ireland collected between December 2024 and January 2025.