Persado
Persado is a company that uses AI to help businesses optimize their marketing language. It specializes in creating and refining marketing language for various channels and audiences using AI technology. The platform analyzes customer motivations and emotions to generate the best words, phrases, and images to persuade them to take action.
Our Verdict
What is Persado
Persado is an AI-powered marketing language and messaging platform that helps businesses create more persuasive and emotionally resonant communication. Instead of relying on guesswork or traditional A/B testing, Persado analyzes customer motivations, emotional drivers, and language patterns to generate words, phrases, and imagery that are more likely to inspire action. It’s used by major enterprises—such as JPMorgan Chase—for email campaigns, ads, SMS, and customer service messaging, helping companies deliver personalized, high-performing communication across multiple channels.
Is Persado worth registering and paying for
Persado is worth paying for if your company runs large-scale marketing campaigns and needs highly optimized, conversion-focused messaging. Enterprises and mid-sized businesses with significant email, SMS, and ad volume can see strong performance improvements thanks to Persado’s emotional targeting and data-driven language insights. However, for small businesses, startups, or teams with limited budgets, the cost and complexity may outweigh the benefits. Overall, Persado is a powerful tool for organizations that want to elevate their messaging with AI and maximize campaign performance at scale.
Our experience
I’m the email marketing director at a top-10 U.S. credit card issuer. We send roughly 400 million emails a year. Before Persado, subject lines were a bloodbath—half the team swearing by emojis, the other half swearing by urgency, me swearing at everyone. Open rates were stuck in the mid-teens and we were basically throwing darts blindfolded.
Then our CMO came back from some fancy conference and dropped a seven-figure PO on my desk for Persado. I thought we’d just bought the world’s most expensive thesaurus.
First test nearly gave me a heart attack.
We let Persado write 10 subject-line variants for our balance-transfer offer instead of our usual 3-4 human ones. The winner it picked? “Your Fresh Start Awaits – Exclusive Invitation Inside.” Sounds like every other cheesy bank line ever, right? Wrong. It beat our control by 41%. Click-through was up 27%. We rolled it out to the full list and brought in an extra $4.8 million in applications in one week. I just stared at the dashboard and whispered “what the hell just happened.”
The language motivation stuff is legitimately creepy. Persado told us our cardholders respond hardest to “Belonging” + “Achievement” emotions with a dash of “Security.” So instead of “Save Big Today!” it spits out stuff like “Join the thousands who’ve already taken control of their tomorrow.” Sounds softer, converts harder. Same offer, totally different vibe.
SMS is where it really gets stupid. We were scared to send more than one text a month because people would scream. Persado rewrote our re-engagement texts from “Your points expire soon!” to “You’ve earned this – don’t let it slip away.” Complaint rate dropped 68%, redemption rate went up 73%. We now text 3-4 times a month and people thank us.
The imagery part shocked me too. Persado started pairing copy with specific hero images and colors. One campaign with a calm blue gradient and the line “Peace of mind is priceless” outperformed our red “urgent” creative by 84%. I would’ve bet my house on red.
Real numbers from our book of record:
- Average subject-line lift: 28%
- Best single campaign lift: 67%
- Annual incremental revenue directly attributed: $38M and counting
- Creative approval meetings: went from 2 hours of arguing to 10 minutes of nodding
The ugly bits:
- It’s absurdly expensive. Think low-seven figures a year.
- You feel dumb sometimes. The AI beats your “genius” line 4 out of 5 times.
- Onboarding is slow and you need their team for the first 60-90 days.
- The platform looks like enterprise software from 2009.
But honestly? I went from being the guy who defended every open-rate dip to the guy who gets invited to board meetings. My writers went from hating it to secretly using it on their side hustles.
If you’re a big brand sending millions of messages and tired of creative roulette, Persado is worth selling your soul (and a chunk of budget) for. If you’re small or still testing messaging, stick to good old A/B and save the cash.
For the rest of us moving serious volume? It’s the closest thing to a crystal ball marketing has ever had.
