Feeding AI your email data: a glossary
This glossary is based on the What Happens When You Feed AI 21,000 Emails and Ask What to Do Next webinar, published on the AI Lab by ActiveCampaign.
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This is a scannable glossary of the AI and ActiveCampaign terms used in this webinar. Use it as a quick reference while you watch or while you work through the guides.
AI terms
Context:
- The background details you give an AI so it can answer well, such as the goal, the audience, and the specific campaign you’re asking about. Why it matters: a little context turns a generic answer into one grounded in your actual data, so name the tag, the goal, and the outcome you want.
Guardrails:
- The boundaries you set so an AI focuses on what you care about instead of wandering. Why it matters: Scrappy ABM calls AI “the best intern that has access to everything,” and like any intern it does better work when you tell it what to focus on.
Prompt iteration:
- Refining an AI’s answer by asking again with more detail rather than accepting the first response. Why it matters: the first output is a draft, so add context and ask follow-ups to get usable recommendations.
Skill atrophy:
- The idea that any skill you fully hand off to AI will weaken in you over time, so you should choose deliberately what to delegate. Why it matters: it’s a useful filter for what to automate—Scrappy ABM was comfortable handing off report writing to free up time for strategy and content.
Thought partner:
- Using AI as a collaborator that helps you think through a problem rather than as a system that runs the work without you. Why it matters: it sets a realistic expectation—AI sharpens your decisions, it doesn’t replace the marketer making them.
ActiveCampaign terms
Active Intelligence:
- ActiveCampaign’s built-in AI layer that you can ask plain-language questions about your campaigns and email performance. Where it lives: inside your ActiveCampaign account, available from your campaign data.
Automations:
- Sequences that run on their own when a contact takes an action, such as a welcome flow that fires when someone requests a resource. Where it lives: under the Automations section.
Segments:
- Groups of contacts built by combining tags and conditions so you can send targeted content instead of emailing everyone at once. Where it lives: built from your contacts and used when sending campaigns.
Tags:
- Labels you apply to contacts to mark behavior or attendance, such as who registered for an event versus who stayed for the offer. Where it lives: on individual contacts, managed under your tagging structure.
Related
More data from the AI Lab.