If you’re anything like me, you’ve seen and felt how different the online business and marketing world is, how different consumers are reacting to your marketing and not responding to buy in the same way they might have in years gone by.
You’re watching the Ecommerce world transform right in front of your eyes and thinking, “What the hell is actually happening?” (Or did I just out myself as being… ahem… a LOT older than Gen Z? ?)
Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to unpack in a series of articles that I’m calling “The Great Ecommerce Realignment”.
Starting with the big one. The one everyone’s talking about but most people are getting completely wrong. Artificial Intelligence.
Now, before you roll your eyes and think “Oh great, another blog about AI,” stick with me.
Because here’s the thing – while everyone else is freaking out about robots taking over, or getting distracted by ChatGPT writing their Instagram captions…
The real AI revolution in eCommerce is happening quietly, behind the scenes, and it’s already changing everything.
The Reality Check
I’m frequently asked about how my team and I are using AI in our businesses and marketing, so let’s start with some real talk. When most people hear “AI in eCommerce,” they think of tech tools, such as chatbots. You know, those incredibly annoying pop-ups that ask “How can I help you today?” when you’ve literally just landed on a website and haven’t even figured out what they sell yet.
Or they think it’s about using AI to write product descriptions. Which, don’t get me wrong, can be helpful, but that’s like using a Ferrari to deliver pizza. Not only will these applications of AI not make a meaningful difference to your efficiency or profitability, but also – it’s missing the point entirely.
The real AI revolution in eCommerce isn’t about replacing humans or automating everything. It’s about understanding your customers at a level that was literally impossible before.
Let me give you a real example from a case study I was just reading. Every Man Jack – a Californian brand that makes all-natural personal care products for men’s hair, skin, and beards, in nature-inspired scents like sandalwood and sea salt. So this brand was struggling with the same thing most brands face: how do you know when to reach out to customers without being annoying?
Here’s what they did with Klaviyo’s AI. Instead of just tracking purchases, they let the AI analyse every micro-behaviour – browsing patterns, email engagement, purchase timing, even how long people spent looking at different products. The AI started predicting each customer’s “next order date” with scary accuracy.
Now they send daily emails to customers for two weeks on either side of their AI-generated predicted date of next order, and those emails are driving incredibly strong conversion rates. Troy from Every Man Jack says, “I trust and value Klaviyo AI because it saves me time, it helps me leverage our customer data to personalise our email timing and strategies.”
The result? 12.4% of their total Klaviyo revenue now comes from these predictive analytics campaigns. That’s not small potatoes — that’s a whole new revenue stream they created by letting AI understand their customers better than they understood themselves.
And this is what we’re implementing right now with our Indagare Natural Beauty brand. We’re taking this Every Man Jack strategy and applying it to skincare replenishment.
Here’s what we’ve learned about our customers: skincare routines are incredibly personal and cyclical. A serum that lasts one person 6 weeks might last another person 4 months depending on their application method, skin type, and consistency of use. Traditional “reorder in X days” email campaigns miss the mark completely.
So we’re starting to use Klaviyo’s AI to track individual usage patterns. When someone buys a cleanser, we’re not just setting a generic 60-day reminder. We’re tracking their email engagement, their browsing behaviour, whether they’re looking at complementary products, even seasonal variations in their purchase patterns.
The AI is learning that Sarah from Melbourne tends to run out of her face oils faster in winter, that Jessica from Perth orders hair oils every 8 weeks like clockwork, and that Emma from Sydney stocks up on her cleanser monthly.
We’re early days with this test, but I’m already seeing predicted replenishment emails with 40% higher open rates than our standard “time to reorder” campaigns. The AI is getting the timing so precisely right that customers are telling us “It’s like you read my mind – I was just thinking I needed to reorder!”
This is the future, people. Not creepy surveillance, but genuinely helpful anticipation of customer needs.
The Three AI Powers You’re Not Using
Okay, so let’s talk about the three ways AI is actually revolutionising eCommerce right now. And none of them involve robots.
Power Number One: Predictive Personalisation
This isn’t about showing someone red shoes because they looked at red shoes. That’s basic. I’m talking about AI that understands intent before your customer even knows they have it.
I worked with a kids’ brand where we implemented Klaviyo’s predictive analytics to understand growth spurts. Parents don’t just wake up one day and realise their kid needs new clothes – there are subtle behavioural patterns that happen weeks before. Kids start browsing styles and sizes, parents start looking at growth charts, they spend more time on sizing guides.
Klaviyo’s AI was picking up on these patterns and predicting when parents were about to have a “my kid has outgrown everything” moment. So instead of waiting for parents to frantically search for “size 6 school shoes urgent delivery,” the brand could reach out to them proactively with perfectly timed, personalised recommendations.
The results were incredible – these predictive timing campaigns had conversion rates 3x higher than their regular campaigns. And here’s the kicker – Klaviyo found that across 2.5 billion emails they analysed, segmented and personalised sends got nearly 2x the open and click rates compared to basic blast emails, and 3x the revenue per recipient.
Power Number Two: Emotional Intelligence
This one blows my mind. Modern AI can actually detect emotional states from how people interact with your website. How long they hover over an “Add to Cart” button. Whether they scroll quickly or slowly through product images. If they abandon their cart and come back within an hour versus three days later.
We’re starting to tap into these kinds of insights with Indagare Natural Beauty so that we can completely redesign our customer journey and serve our audience with the right, relevant information just when they want it.
Our environmentally conscious customers take way longer to make decisions – not because they don’t want the product, but because they’re doing things like researching ingredients, checking certifications, reading reviews. They are thoughtful and considerate, not necessarily hesitant.
So instead of bombarding these customers with urgency tactics like “Only 3 left in stock!” – which actually turns them off – we’re creating nurture sequences that celebrate this thoughtful approach.
Power Number Three: Dynamic Optimisation
This is where AI gets really clever. Instead of running A/B tests for weeks to find out which version of your product page works better, AI can optimise in real-time for every individual visitor.
Same product page, but the AI might show social proof to someone who seems uncertainty-driven, highlight sustainability credentials to eco-conscious browsers, or emphasise convenience and speed to time-poor parents.
This is not something we’ve implemented with our skincare brand Indagare Natural Beauty yet, but I can’t wait to do so. Using the deep Klaviyo / Shopify integration, it’s now possible to dynamically create the ultimate customer experience for each individual, helping shoppers find even more to love with personalised recommendations, personalised coupons, wishlists, and more.
The Mistakes Everyone’s Making
But here’s where most people go wrong. They think AI is a magic wand. They expect to plug it in and suddenly their sales will double overnight.
Mistake One: Garbage In, Garbage Out
AI is only as good as the data you feed it. If your customer data is messy, inconsistent, or incomplete, your AI is going to make terrible decisions. I’ve seen brands spend thousands on AI tools that end up recommending completely irrelevant things.
This can easily happen if segmenting based on too-generic parameters, like age or gender or location, and assuming that everyone in those segments wants the same things. Or, if the brand’s database segmentation is a mess, recommending something totally irrelevant like beard oil to a teenage girl! Either way, it’s off-putting to the customer and risks more harm to the brand than good.
Mistake Two: Treating AI Like a Set-and-Forget Solution
AI needs human oversight. Like the Aussie government’s ‘Robo Debt’ algorithm that caused all kinds of grief before humans double checked what the tech was doing, you don’t want your AI tech deciding, for example, that anyone who visits your returns page must be an “unprofitable customer” and consequently start showing them lower-quality product recommendations.
Sales are liable to tank before anyone notices what’s happening.
Mistake Three: Ignoring the Creepiness Factor
There’s a fine line between “Wow, they really get me” and “This is creepy, how do they know that?” Most brands are crossing that line without realising it.
I heard an example of a brand whose AI was so sophisticated it started predicting major life events – like when someone was probably pregnant based on their browsing patterns. The marketing team thought this was amazing and started sending baby-related ads. The backlash was swift and brutal, and deservingly so in my opinion.
Even something as innocuous as sending a text message to someone who was just browsing a particular product saying ‘I saw you checked out X product just now – is there anything I can help with?’. One of my team received just such an SMS a few weeks ago – on a weekend too, so not during business hours – and felt like that was pretty creepy.
What This Means for Your Brand
So what does this mean for you? Whether you’re selling organic baby food or luxury handbags, and whether you like it or not, AI is going to fundamentally change how you connect with your customers.
The brands that thrive will be the ones that use AI to become more human, not less.
Think about it – AI can handle all the data crunching, pattern recognition, and optimisation so that you can focus on what humans do best: creativity, empathy, and building genuine relationships.
For Shopify brands especially, this is a game-changer. The Klaviyo-Shopify integration is so seamless that it’s tracking everything – what products people view, how long they stay on each page, what they add to cart but don’t buy, when they come back, what device they’re using. All of this data feeds into Klaviyo’s AI to create incredibly detailed customer profiles.
Another case study is about Culture Kings – the Australian streetwear brand with 8 million customers worldwide – used Klaviyo AI to completely shift from “batch-and-blast” messaging to hyper-personalised communications. Apparently they saw a 388% year-over-year increase in global SMS click rates and massive decreases in unsubscribe rates.
The crazy part? They’re not just personalising what they send – they’re personalising when they send it, how often they send it, and even which channel they use for each individual customer.
But here’s what you need to know: this isn’t optional anymore. While you’re debating whether to embrace AI, your competitors are already using it to steal your customers.
Getting Started Without Going Crazy
Okay, so you’re convinced AI matters. But where do you start without breaking the bank or losing your mind?
Start with Your Data Foundation
If you’re on Shopify, get Klaviyo connected properly. Not just basically connected – I mean fully integrated with all the tracking parameters turned on. You want it capturing browsing behaviour, purchase patterns, email engagement, the works.
Focus on Predictive Timing First
Don’t try to be fancy with complex AI strategies. Start with Klaviyo’s predicted next order date feature. Use it to time your email campaigns better. This one change alone can double your email revenue.
Segment with AI-Powered Insights
Use Klaviyo’s predicted lifetime value and predicted gender features to create smarter customer segments. Send different messages to high-value customers versus bargain hunters. The personalisation will blow your mind.
Test AI-Generated Send Times
Let Klaviyo’s AI determine the optimal send time for each individual subscriber. Stop sending everything at 10am on Tuesday just because some blog post told you to.
The Story Continues…
Look, AI in eCommerce isn’t about replacing human connection – it’s about enabling deeper, more meaningful connections at scale. It’s about understanding your customers so well that you can serve them better than they even knew they wanted to be served.
In our next article in this series about The Great Ecommerce Realignment, we’re talking about something that’s going to make a lot of people uncomfortable: why traditional advertising is dying faster than anyone wants to admit.
And no, it’s not just because of iOS updates or privacy changes. The shift is way deeper than that….
