Remember AI? It’s gone from exciting to background noise. But important things keep happening. For example, here’s an integration that embeds AI-generated email subject lines from Persado in emails sent by Listrak. It’s exactly the sort of friction elimination that will embed unnoticed AI in everything. Which is just as the machines want it.
Grapeshot calls itself a ‘contextual intelligence platform’, which could mean just about anything. What they really do is analyze and classify Web page content. The main application these days is brand safety – that is, avoiding placing ads on pages with objectionable messages. Oracle just bought them for an undisclosed amount.
Is personalization as important as marketers think? When customer care vendor Narvar asked retail shoppers why they’d give a retailer repeat business, 77% cited fast shipping on replacements for lost or damaged items, 69% said quick refunds on returns, 54% mentioned an accurate delivery date promise…and just 25% cited a personalized experience. Of course, marketers always don’t control those operational practices. But maybe they should try.
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.