Do We Actually Need AI for This?
Every brand feels like it should be doing more with AI. But where does it actually help an email and CRM team, and where is it just a robot arm making coffee?
Elliot sits down with Kimberly Fox, a CRM Activation Lead who has worked in email and CRM at agencies and brands in the US and the UK.
They start before the AI question: Kimberly's move from Indiana, Chicago and Denver to London, how conferences and networking have changed with hybrid work, and what she brought from agency life to the brand side, from project management habits to treating the CRM team as the agency inside the company. She also covers prioritisation when legal, product and promotional teams all want a place in email.
The second half turns to AI. Kimberly explains why clean data comes first (Einstein in Salesforce Marketing Cloud was no use on a database full of duplicates), why AI adoption is a culture job rather than a one-off rollout, and why teams should be open about where AI helped. Elliot shares where he sees teams start well, using AI to check copy against brand guidelines rather than write it, and why replacing people with AI is a risk to the brand.
In this episode:
Elliot sits down with Kimberly Fox, a CRM Activation Lead who has worked in email and CRM at agencies and brands in the US and the UK.
They start before the AI question: Kimberly's move from Indiana, Chicago and Denver to London, how conferences and networking have changed with hybrid work, and what she brought from agency life to the brand side, from project management habits to treating the CRM team as the agency inside the company. She also covers prioritisation when legal, product and promotional teams all want a place in email.
The second half turns to AI. Kimberly explains why clean data comes first (Einstein in Salesforce Marketing Cloud was no use on a database full of duplicates), why AI adoption is a culture job rather than a one-off rollout, and why teams should be open about where AI helped. Elliot shares where he sees teams start well, using AI to check copy against brand guidelines rather than write it, and why replacing people with AI is a risk to the brand.
In this episode:
- Conferences, networking and hybrid work
- From Indiana to London
- What agency experience brings to the brand side
- Prioritising when every team wants email
- Why AI needs clean data first
- Making AI adoption part of team culture
- Where to start, and when you don't need AI at all
If you run email or CRM at a brand, in Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe, Klaviyo or any other ESP, and you're working out where AI fits in your team, this episode is a sensible place to start.
What's the most needless use of AI you've seen at work? Tell us in the comments.
Subscribe for new episodes on email marketing, AI, CRM and email design systems.
Kimberly Fox — CRM Activation Lead
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlyafox/
Elliot Ross — Founder, ActionRocket; co-founder, Taxi for Email
https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamelliot/
EmailShepherd — the agentic email creation platform to do what used to take days in just minutes:
https://www.emailshepherd.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep06
ActionRocket — the independent CRM creative agency:
https://www.actionrocket.co/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep06
#emailgeeks #EmailMarketing #EmailDesign #AIinMarketing #AIAdoption
What's the most needless use of AI you've seen at work? Tell us in the comments.
Subscribe for new episodes on email marketing, AI, CRM and email design systems.
Kimberly Fox — CRM Activation Lead
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlyafox/
Elliot Ross — Founder, ActionRocket; co-founder, Taxi for Email
https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamelliot/
EmailShepherd — the agentic email creation platform to do what used to take days in just minutes:
https://www.emailshepherd.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep06
ActionRocket — the independent CRM creative agency:
https://www.actionrocket.co/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep06
#emailgeeks #EmailMarketing #EmailDesign #AIinMarketing #AIAdoption