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You’ve got access to the best AI tools. You’ve got the right team. So why are your campaigns still limping along or not delivering stellar results?
After all, people say that AI is the moonshot of our time. The scale of monetary investment behind it, its rapid adoption, those staggering productivity gains you hear about and its transformative impact on the workforce all say so! In fact, AI-related jobs have already swelled to 97 million, globally . . . and your job is likely one of them. Congrats!
However, AI optimism can overpower the more frank conversations we need to have about the technology. Implementing “AI for AI’s sake” is unproductive. And while you may actually have the right reasons and tech to achieve your goals, it might be throwing a wrench in your workflows and freaking out your teammates in the process.
Is this how it feels when you introduce a new AI tool to your team?
As a means to both improve those workflows’ efficiencies—and their outputs—while simultaneously overcoming AI fatigue, we suggest taking a little extra time to learn new AI systems and teach them to your team. Training deficits are real. Nearly 70% of marketers report they have not received any formal AI training, despite using or being expected to use AI-driven tools within their workflows. And every time your team spends an afternoon wrestling with prompts or manually stitching together product data, you’re paying in lost time and sales.
The fix isn’t more tools. You need a smarter way to use the ones you already have. Keep reading to learn how to train ecommerce teams on AI, as a means to fix your learning curve.
Your AI Learning Course to Fast Track Adoption
Below are our quick-hit sets of practical strategies your team can adopt this week to start getting real ROI from your AI tools for ecommerce brands. Think of this blog as your AI playbook, covering these three helpful pillars:
How to build a prompt library
How to automate workflows with AI
How to continue effectively collaborating with AI
AI Guide Step #1: Build an AI Prompt Library
The fastest way to cut the AI learning curve is to stop reinventing prompts for every campaign. After all, your brand has established its voice, identity and product offerings. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel!
Instead, create a resource for your team to reference when writing generative AI prompts. Think of your prompt library as an AI cheat sheet on steroids. It's a slick, curated stash of pre-tested, high-performance prompts that guide generative AI to perform specific tasks more effectively and consistently.
Here’s how to buld your AI prompt library:
Identify your repeat messaging needs. These could be product descriptions, promo email openers, Instagram captions, abandoned cart SMS reminders, etc.
Draft reusable prompts in plain language, with your brand’s tone and style baked in.
Organize them in a shared doc, Notion board or within your AI tool’s template library.
Iterate based on performance data. Basically, keep what works and tweak what doesn’t.
Need to learn the basics on how to write an effective prompt? Visit our blog 6 Marketing Toolkit Essentials That AI Experts Swear By to get the step-by-step.
AI Guide Step #2: Automate Your Workflows
AI-powered workflow automation can increase productivity by up to 4.8 times while reducing errors by nearly half. With AI’s assistance your team can instead focus on their higher value strategic and creative work (which, let’s be honest, they probably enjoy more anyway). Their time is too valuable to waste on repeatable tasks that AI can handle in seconds.
So here are a few steps to start your AI workflow automation:
Map your repetitive tasks. Think about tasks like bulk product uploads, resizing images, generating SEO tags and writing social post variations.
Choose the right AI tools for ecommerce projects. Pick and pilot ones that integrate with your CMS, ESP and ad platforms.
Automate the handoff. Find ways that AI can handle your thoughtless busywork. For example, as soon as a new SKU is added to Shopify, ensure your AI tool drafts an accurate product description and stores it for review.
Let’s look at a more real-world example of AI workflow automation: You’re a beauty brand that just launched 50 new lipstick shades. Instead of writing each product description manually, AI generates them in minutes. Then, they’re simply ready for human review!
Pro tip: If you’re fighting for your life right now, because AI broke your workflow (or will soon), check out our guide Marketing, Interrupted: Change Management & What to Do When AI Breaks Your Workflow. It’ll help you get a handle on things, so matter where you are in your change management process.
AI Guide Step #3. Learn How to Train Ecommerce Teams on AI
AI isn’t just your personal turbo button. It can be the glue that keeps teams running in sync. With shared prompts, standardized workflows and consistent outputs, everyone should be speaking the same language. Projects move faster. Miscommunication gets ghosted.
But even the best AI playbook won’t work if your team isn’t trained to use it. 48% of employees rank training as the most crucial factor for AI adoption. So train your people, for Pete’s sake!
*ahem*
With that in mind, here are some tips and resources for AI training in ecommerce:
Assign role-specific learning. Copywriters should become experts in prompting. They could even lead prompt optimization workshops. Merchandisers can handle product data automation sessions. As your teams continue learning, bring them together regularly to collectively share their techniques and findings.
Run AI sprints. Spice things up by trying something new on the regular! Create one focused challenge per week, that’ll deliver quick wins. Assess and share what you experienced during the sprint.
You can even get a little competitive. Create an AI champions Slack channel. Or give teammates a shout-out for sharing their hacks, achievements and discoveries. Name someone your AI Champion of the Week. Just do what you need to in order to motivate people to learn, grow their skillsets and start using new tech correctly.
Remember that training your ecommerce team on AI and rolling out your brand’s ultimate AI playbook isn’t a one-and-done project. As the technology evolves at break-neck speed, your processes and teams will need to continue adapting alongside it.
Therefore, we recommend that you:
Review AI workflows quarterly and evaluate if any new technology can add value by disrupting your current processes,
Update your AI prompt library to adhere to new offers and seasonal campaigns,
Keep onboarding materials current for new hires . . . or when more internal folks want to learn!
Want to see how to 10x your own output? Check out our blog Welcome to the Era of the 10x Marketer (Thanks to AI) to get started.
AI Fatigue is Real . . . But So Is The Cost of Falling Behind
AI fatigue happens when marketers are expected to learn every shiny new tool on the fly, with no training, no extra time and no strategy. It’s a fast track to disengagement and burnout. Yes, this phenomenon is real, but so are the consequences of throwing your hands up or burying your head in the sand.
AI isn’t going anywhere, but neither is the cost of stumbling through the learning curve. The faster your team can ditch the “trial-and-error” phase, the sooner you’ll start seeing real ROI from the tools you pay for.
So focus on how things can get done and how to get your team to try new things, learn new tools and break old workflows for the sake of improvement. Then, magic will happen.
In regards to Backstroke, that magic looks like higher engagement, next-gen segmentation and email visuals . . . and 31% more revenue per send.
