Emotion-Informed GenAI: Making Your Marketing Content More Human

Emotions are central to how we engage, communicate with, and react to our world, motivating our behavior and deepening our interactions. Brands that lean into the intricacies of human emotions are proven to generate more sales and loyalty. According to McKinsey, 76 percent of consumers reported that receiving personalized communications was a top factor in considering a brand, while 78 percent reported that personalized content drove the likelihood of repurchasing.

We know that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can be a helpful content co-pilot for retail marketers to produce messages at scale, but emotion-informed GenAI takes this further. Specialized GenAI, trained on a knowledge base of consumer message elements and their performance, enables us to identify the language variants that best resonate with consumers to power better digital interactions. With such emotion indexing and insights, marketers extend productivity gains to include performance gains as well.

GenAI’s 2023 Holiday Impact and What to Expect in 2024

An example of such emotion-driven content performance is a brand’s ability to break through holiday noise by using GenAI to create more human connections across channels. Persado’s analysis of consumer responses to tens of thousands of marketing messages sent between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 found achievement, intimacy, and gratitude were the top-performing emotions for retailers this past holiday season.

Achievement is a consistently high performer for retail brands because praise is enticing; we like being rewarded. Intimacy and gratitude, meanwhile, tie directly to holiday sentiments around the value of relationships and appreciation of others. Attention has also been a high performer as it’s informative and raises awareness. This emotion is successful around the holidays because it draws consumers’ eyes towards promotions, products and narratives of interest. Attention is often associated with urgency, another emotion that’s more common as consumers rush to complete their holiday shopping.

Throughout 2024, I anticipate we’ll see content continue to speak to achievement, along with the evergreen top-performer exclusivity — which both generally trend well for retailers. Ultimately, people like to feel good about their accomplishments and like to feel special. Phrases that tap into these feelings motivate response.

Leveraging AI for the 2024 Holiday Season and Beyond

Many retailers begin planning campaigns NOW for the next season. GenAI plays a key role in helping brands leverage emotional drivers to test patterns and identify the content that connects with customers and drives return on investment. The right narratives — applied to email subject lines, email bodies, web or SMS copy, and social media posts — drive 40 percent uplift in conversions on average and transform prospects into loyal customers.

It’s important to note, however, that AI alone cannot create high-performing, on-brand marketing content. There are self-service solutions that empower humans to enlist specifically trained large language models (LLMs) — rather than ChatGPT — to create content that sounds like them and delivers results. They can configure brand voice guardrails and set approval workflows. We're the ultimate decision-makers of what content to use, and with GenAI’s help, e-commerce teams and digital marketers can keep pace with which language resonates with consumers and sparks action.

Looking Ahead

With 72 percent of retail decision-makers ready to leverage GenAI this year, it’s essential to consider outcomes vs. solely efficiency when looking into solutions. Increased productivity is a huge gain, but solutions that also generate value in terms of key performance indicators such as click rates and conversions are ultimately better for business. It makes sense to start now in making your marketing campaigns more human with the help of AI, rather than waiting until the 2024 holiday season.

Lisa Spira is vice president of content intelligence at Persado, a company that provides the only Motivation AI platform that generates personalized communications at scale, inspiring each individual to engage and act.