In a recent episode of the eCom@One Podcast, Richard Hill speaks with Michael Duxbury about a topic that’s becoming harder to ignore: how AI, automation and human creativity actually coexist in modern CRM and email marketing.
Table of Contents
- A Quick Note on Michael Duxbury
- AI Is Powerful, but Most Brands Are Using It Badly
- Human Creativity Means That AI Isn’t a Replacement
- Email Is Still One of the Most Underutilised Channels
- Personalisation Is Misunderstood
- The Gap Between Strategy and Execution Is Where Most Brands Lose
- Why This Episode Stands Out
A quick note on Michael Duxbury
Micharl’s background sits firmly in CRM, email and customer engagement with 20+ years experience at Dotdigital. He’s worked in roles spanning platform-side and brand-side environments, with a focus on how businesses use data and messaging to build better customer relationships, particularly through channels like email marketing.
That perspective shapes the whole conversation. This isn’t abstract “AI will change everything” talk, it’s grounded in how teams are actually using (and misusing) these tools right now.
1. AI is powerful, but most brands are using it badly
One of the clearest points in the episode is that AI isn’t the differentiator people think it is, at least not yet.
Michael calls out a common pattern: brands adopting AI tools to generate content quickly, but ending up with output that feels generic, flat and indistinguishable. The barrier to entry has dropped, which means the baseline quality has too.
The real opportunity isn’t just using AI, it’s how you use it.
Why it matters:
If everyone is using the same tools in the same way, you don’t stand out, you blend in.
2. Human creativity means that AI isn’t a replacement
Rather than framing AI as a replacement for marketers, the conversation positions it as an amplifier. AI can handle speed, scale and iteration. But the direction, the taste, the tone, the creative edge still needs to come from humans.
Michael leans into the idea that the best outcomes come from combining the two: using AI to accelerate execution, while humans focus on differentiation.
Why it matters:
Efficiency without originality doesn’t drive growth. It just produces more average work.
3. Email is still one of the most underutilised channels
Despite being one of the oldest digital channels, email (and CRM more broadly) is still not being used to its full potential.
The episode highlights how many brands treat email as a campaign channel rather than a lifecycle tool. Flows are often basic, segmentation is shallow and personalisation is surface-level.
There’s a gap between what the technology allows and what most businesses actually implement.
Why it matters:
The opportunity isn’t in doing more email, it’s in doing it better, with more relevance and intent.
4. Personalisation is misunderstood
“Personalisation” often gets reduced to inserting a first name or recommending products based on past purchases.
Michael pushes this further. Real personalisation is about context, where the customer is in their journey, what they need at that moment and how the brand responds.
That requires better thinking, not just better tooling.
Why it matters:
Shallow personalisation is easy to ignore. Meaningful personalisation changes behaviour.
5. The gap between strategy and execution is where most brands lose
A recurring theme is that most teams know what they should be doing, which is better segmentation, smarter automation, more thoughtful messaging, but they struggle to execute consistently.
Sometimes it’s resource. Sometimes it’s prioritisation. Often it’s a lack of clear ownership.
This episode highlights that the competitive advantage isn’t just knowing best practices, it’s actually implementing them properly.
Why it matters:
In eCommerce, the gap between “knowing” and “doing” is often where performance is won or lost.
Why this episode stands out
What makes this conversation useful is how grounded it is. It doesn’t overhype AI and it doesn’t dismiss it either. Instead, it focuses on where real value is being created right now, at the intersection of tools, strategy and execution.
The underlying message is fairly simple, but easy to overlook:
- AI won’t fix weak strategy
- Automation won’t fix unclear messaging
- More emails won’t fix poor customer understanding
Those fundamentals still matter. If anything, they matter more now because the tools have made it easier than ever to produce work that looks right but performs poorly.
This episode is a good reminder that the edge isn’t in the technology itself, it’s in how deliberately it’s used. Listen to the full episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
