There's a lot of talk about AI in email marketing, but I've been relunctant to share my thoughts – until now.

Reluctant because I have a lot of existential-related worries about AI, but I also understand it's not going anywhere and it's important for me to get ahead of it and understand how to use it.

So I've been having a lot of fun with it. I've been integrating it into my work and systems. I use it daily for my own business, though I'm still figuring out how (and how much) to use it with clients. For now, I have strict parameters around that.

But for my own email marketing, I'm experimenting with AI and I'm loving how much time it saves me — and how it sparks my creativity rather than stifling it.

I spend $20 a month on ChatGPT, $90 a month on Claude, and $25 a month on Lovable. It's an investment for sure, but I'm definitely making the most of my subscriptions.

The conversation around using AI specifically for email marketing seems to lie somewhere between two extremes:

Use AI for everything and do nothing yourself OR don't use AI at all.

I land somewhere in the middle. Here's how I use AI specifically for my email marketing. (Note: my emails, not clients'):

1. AI as my editor

I write the email myself, in my own voice, with my own thoughts, and then I put it through an LLM.

I've trained both Claude and ChatGPT to know my writing inside out — I've fed them my past emails so they can see the patterns, my brand voice and messaging guide so they know how and why I write, and now they act as a kind of always-available editor I can lean on when I'm not able to send my work to my human editor.

I'll ask things like "tighten this up" or "how would you make this email better?" The writing stays the same – it's always mine. But it gets a second set of eyes, which is really helpful.

2. AI as a repurposing tool

This one has changed how much I get out of a single email.

I'll take the newsletter I've just sent and ask Claude to turn it into a five-part Instagram carousel – a cover page, three or four content slides, and a CTA at the end.

It can even handle the design side of things if you point it in the right direction. One email becomes multiple pieces of content, none of which require me to start from scratch.

3. AI as my sounding board

When I'm stuck on a subject line, a hook, an angle, or how to name something — AI can be a big help.

Actually, I named The Email Debrief with AI. I was running on very little sleep (baby life), couldn't think of a name I loved, and asked for a list of options.

I told it the vibe — state of email marketing in 2026 — and it came back with The Email Debrief. I loved it. And I love that that name came from a tired late-night brainstorm with an AI assistant.

4. AI as my researcher

When people signed up for The Email Debrief, I asked them one question that was basically four questions wrapped in one:

• what made them register
• what they were hoping to learn
• what they were struggling with
• what they wanted to take away

Then I fed all of those answers into AI and asked it to generate a report.

What were the patterns? What did this event need to cover to be genuinely useful for the people coming? It pulled the responses together in a way that would've taken me hours, and it shaped what I decided to teach (and also not teach).

I regularly use AI to analyse customer research and data, but I should add that I think it's so effective because I'm trained in analysing this data. So instead of AI replacing me, it's supercharging my existing skills and abilities.

5. AI as my drafting partner

This is one of my favourite uses, especially when I'm busy looking after baby and can't get to my laptop to write out an email.

Instead, I'll take a podcast transcript, an event recording, or a long voice note where I've talked through my thoughts on a topic, and I'll ask AI to turn it into an email draft for me.

The thinking is already there, in my own words, in my own voice. AI just helps me shape it into something readable. I always edit heavily afterwards, but it gets me from blank page to first draft in a fraction of the time.

Where I draw the line

What I don't do is let AI write my newsletters from scratch.

Not because I'm anti-AI — clearly I'm not — but because the connection between me and you, the thinking, the perspective, the point of view — that's the bit that matters most. That's the bit nobody else can replicate.

AI is great, but it's not so great at being you. It's great at helping you get more of you into the world.

My approach is to treat AI like a team member, like an assistant. To help me do more of the things I want to do, better and faster.

Do I think about the deeper implications of using AI?

Yes, absolutely. As someone said to me the other day, "Every time you use AI, you're feeding it your work, training it to get better, and training yourself out of your job."

Hm. Well, that made me pause for thought.

I also worry about the long-term effects of accidentally outsourcing my thinking, so I'm doing more to counter my use of AI too. I'm reading more books than I have in years, I write my notes in a Moleskine to encourage AI-free thinking and creativity, I pick and choose the tasks I ask it to help with – keeping the high-level thinking work and strategy for me.

I'm intentional about using AI, but I'm also intentional about not using it.

So what about you Reader? How are you using AI in your emails?

Eman :)

PS. I first spoke about this topic in The Email Debrief ($37). If you enjoyed this email, you'll enjoy the hour-ish replay of that event. I give you a breakdown of how email marketing is shifting in 2026 and what you need to do about it.

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