AI agent: what it is, how it works and examples in marketing and email
What it is, how it differs from a chatbot and how to use it in your campaigns
An AI agent (or artificial intelligence agent) is a system that receives a goal, decides which steps to take to achieve it and uses external tools to carry them out. It doesn’t just answer: it looks up data, performs tasks and checks the result.
For example, a chatbot explains how to create a segment. An agent goes into your email marketing tool, creates the segment and tells you how many contacts it has.
How does an AI agent work?
Behind almost every agent there is a language model, like the ones used by ChatGPT or Claude. What turns it into an agent is everything around it.
It usually works in a five-step cycle:
- Goal. You tell it what you want to achieve, in your own words.
- Plan. The agent breaks the task down into smaller steps.
- Tools. It uses the applications it has access to: an API, a search engine, a spreadsheet or your email marketing account.
- Memory. It keeps track of what it has done and what it has found to decide on the next step.
- Review. It checks the result and, if something goes wrong, it adjusts the plan or asks you for confirmation.
Tools are the key. A model with no connections can only write. With connections, it can act. Today, the most widespread way to provide those connections is MCP (Model Context Protocol), an open standard used by the leading AI assistants.
Connect your email marketing to AI
Create your free account and request access to the beta of the Mailrelay MCP server.
What is the difference between a chatbot, an assistant and an AI agent?
All three use artificial intelligence, but they do different things.
| Chatbot | AI assistant | AI agent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Answers questions from a script or a database | Converses, writes and summarizes | Achieves multi-step goals |
| Uses tools | No, or very few | Sometimes, if you give it them | Yes, it’s what it’s built for |
| Decides the steps | No | Only within the conversation | Yes, it plans and corrects |
| Example | FAQ bot on a website | Asking it to write a subject line | Asking it to prepare and schedule a campaign |
The line is blurring. Many assistants already work as agents when you connect them to your applications. Even so, the distinction helps you know what to expect from each one.
What types of AI agents are there?
Single-task agents. They do one specific thing, such as sorting incoming emails or answering first-line support tickets.
Workflow agents. They chain several tasks within a process: finding a piece of data, preparing a document and sending it for review.
Agents connected to your tools. They work inside your applications (CRM, online store, email marketing) with the permissions you give them.
Multi-agent systems. Several specialized agents share the work. One researches, another writes and another reviews.
Examples of AI agents in marketing
- Analyze the results of the latest campaigns and suggest what to change in the next one.
- Draft a newsletter based on the articles published on the blog that week.
- Review a contact list and flag duplicate or incorrect addresses.
- Find out which products sold best and create a segment with the customers who bought them.
- Summarize the answers to a survey and group them by topic.
- Compare competitors’ ads and prepare a report.
In every case, the agent saves time on repetitive tasks. The strategy, the brand tone and the final decision are still yours.
How do you use an AI agent in email marketing?
Email marketing has many tasks that are a good fit for an agent: checking statistics, organizing contacts or putting together campaigns that you then review.
For this to work, the agent needs access to your sending tool. That’s where the MCP server comes in. It’s the piece that lets an assistant like ChatGPT or Claude read your data and perform tasks in your account, always with the permissions you choose.
With that connection, you can ask for things like these:
Which links got the most clicks in my last newsletter?
Create a group with the subscribers who signed up this month.
Prepare a draft campaign with the usual sender and suggest two subject lines for an A/B test.
The agent answers with your real data, not with guesses. And if you don’t give it sending permission, it can only prepare drafts.
What are the risks of an AI agent?
Mistakes with consequences. A mistake in an answer is fixed by reading it. A mistake in an action, such as deleting contacts, is harder to undo.
Overly broad permissions. If the agent can do everything, any misunderstanding can end in an unwanted send.
Hidden instructions. A web page or a document can contain text designed to trick the agent. This is known as prompt injection.
Personal data. If the agent works with customer data, you have to comply with the GDPR just as with any other tool.
The rule of thumb is to grant the minimum permission needed, review before sending and start with read-only tasks.
How Mailrelay helps you
Mailrelay has its own MCP server so you can connect your account to ChatGPT, Claude or another compatible assistant and use it as an email marketing agent. It’s in beta and, for now, it’s also included in the free account. To enable it, open a ticket from Help → Tickets.
When you connect it, you choose the permissions: read, write, send and delete. You can start with read-only access, so the agent can check statistics, and later expand to write access so it can prepare drafts and manage groups. You’ll find the step-by-step instructions and 20 prompts to copy in the guide to connect Mailrelay with ChatGPT and Claude.
The free account lets you send up to 80,000 emails a month to 20,000 contacts, with human support on every plan.
Put your AI agent to work
Check statistics, organize contacts and prepare campaigns with ChatGPT or Claude.
Frequently asked questions about AI agents
These are the most common questions about artificial intelligence agents.
What does AI agent mean?
It’s an artificial intelligence system that can receive a goal, plan the steps and use tools to achieve it. In Spanish it’s called agente IA.
Is ChatGPT an AI agent?
ChatGPT is an assistant. It behaves like an agent when you connect it to other applications and ask it to perform tasks in them, not just to answer.
What is the difference between an AI agent and an automation?
An automation follows fixed rules: if A happens, do B. An agent decides the steps based on the goal and can adapt if something changes.
Do I need to know how to code to use an AI agent?
Not always. With assistants that support MCP connections, you just add the connection, sign in and choose the permissions.
Can an AI agent send campaigns on its own?
Only if you give it sending permission. The recommended approach is for it to prepare the draft and for you to do the sending, after a test.