Welcome to Vol.34 of Email Advice in Your Inbox!

It's our penultimate Volume for 2024!

After BFCM, and what's been a a pretty insane year for email senders, there are so many things for email senders to look out for into 2025.

Today, we're sharing 4 trends we think you'll want to note and what impact these will have on the email-sending world.


We've also got a few gems in the form of resources, knowledge and email inspiration, carefully curated out of our (insanely) busy inboxes over the past 2 weeks 😅

 

Here's what you'll learn this week
 

• 4 email trends to look out for in 2025
   

• This week's top email resources
   

• Email expert practical tip of the week
   

• Smart email senders we're learning from (BFCM edition)
   

• The fun stuff: Email attachments as a corporate power play
  
   

Time to look into the crystal ball 🔮

Email trends to look out for in 2025

It's crazy how, despite how long email has been around, there are still so many changes in the email world 🤯

2025 is going to be no exception.

We took a look at a few trends we thought would impact email senders the most in 2024 here.

Many of these took shape this year, and many are still developing, but with technological advancements (looking at you AI), inbox changes and more, there are still loads of changes to come.

Let's look at what we think will be major trends and focus areas for email senders into the new year and beyond.
 

1. The Apple iOS 18 revolution

Apple's recent iOS 18 update will be introducing AI-powered email summaries, which will change the way folks using Apple interact with their inboxes massively.

These summaries will provide overviews of email content, which means that subscribers will get a TLDR of the email, and likely open fewer emails based on their subject lines while losing pre-header text completely.

Apple's intentions are solid - There's a ton of information overload in many inboxes, but this still sits atop the list of worries for many email senders next year.

Here's a great article you can read about the upcoming changes we highly recommend you save and read later.
 

To prepare for this, here are a few quick things to add to your planning list for next year:

• Focus on writing well, with good structure and well-formatted copy.
• Use key messages and insights at the beginning of your emails.
• Don't bury critical information in long-form text.
• Test on Apple devices before sending.

These may sound like general best-practice tips, but the quality of your message and structure is going to count in a big way in Apple very soon.

2. It's getting interactive out there

Email inboxes will soon evolve from static message repositories to dynamic, interactive environments.

Interactive emails are making massive headway already.

The major limitations are currently that certain inboxes can't support interactive emails, but with the demand for interactivity, this may soon change.

AMP for email is essentially the framework used to add interactivity inside emails. We're guessing that AMP is going to be adopted far more into 2025, and there may well be a few inbox changes to support this technology further.

If you want to explore this a little more or are keen to begin preparing your email environment for AMP, use these:

• Decide if losing tracking or action data is worth it for you.
• Use responsive design that supports rich, interactive content across devices.
• Read this in-depth article by Jordie from Email Monday to get the full breakdown.

AMP for email is still relatively unknown, but as ESPs gain the ability to support these, and as more inboxes accept AMP, the possibilities are endless.
 

3. Hyper-personalisation at scale

AI is already changing email segmentation from a manual, rule-based process to an intelligent, predictive approach.

We've seen some phenomenal developments in this space already, but it's crazy to see the potential of AI as an aid to hyper-segmentation.

We see AI enabling email senders to create microsegments based on nuanced behavioural patterns, engagement history, and predictive modelling.

Data collection has seen exponential growth. Combine this with advanced machine learning algorithms and you get the makings of a map to granular audience insight.

We'll soon see traditional demographic segmentation give way to dynamic, real-time segmentation strategies too.

How to prepare for this?

• Invest in solid first-party data collection systems and processes.
• Integrate AI insights into your analytical and tracking platforms.
• Use AI to soundboard your email environment and help provide suggestions, improvements and ideas.

There are so many ways email senders will begin using AI for audience segmentation and personalisation, so keep a lookout for those.
 

4. It all starts moving

Microanimation is already gaining traction.

The subtle, purposeful use of GIFs and animated images is helping email senders to guide user attention, provide visual feedback, and create more engaging communication experiences.

The goal: Enhance understanding without causing distraction.

UX research has consistently shown that well-designed motion can improve comprehension, highlight important information, and create more memorable interactions.

Human eyes find animations and movement visually stimulating.

Want to begin working on this in your emails? Think about this:

• Animations need to serve a clear communicative purpose.
• They need to be lightweight an not increase email load times.
• Motion works best to highlight calls-to-action, explain complex concepts, or provide visual hierarchy.
• Always consider accessibility, providing alternative experiences for readers who may be sensitive to motion.
   

We all seem to love motion in email, so let's see where it goes in 2025.

Some exciting for email in 2025

There's a lot on the horizon, with a ton more we simply wouldn't be able to feature in in one email.

If you want to stay on top of these trends, changes and knowledge to win, stick with us into 2025 as we share more with our growing community.

We have one more special Volume next week before we take our annual (quick) hiatus.

Stay tuned as we share our highlights of the year to line up your reading for 2025 💌

Email resources of the week

New articles & resources to help you become a better email sender
 

Email Expert Practical Tip of the Week

Today's insight comes from agency owner and conversion design expert, Jackson Yew, via our friends at GURU Media Hub.

While not technically an email expert, Jackson provides a brilliant illustration of how visual hierarchy works in design and email.

We discussed this topic way back in Volume 4, but Jackson sums up how it works in the most practical way possible; through practical application.
 

PS: Follow Jackson on X here. 👈

Smart email senders we're learning from

We believe that learning from some of the greatest in the industry is one of the best ways to improve.

This week we're exploring some of the best emails we saw this Black Friday 
 

Dive in and see what we thought hit the right notes 🖤
 

Some more (non-email) fun to make your day better

Merely remembering to attach what you meant to attach when sending an email can be tough.

Remembering to add context is sometimes an afterthought.

Here's why it's slightly important to do so first 👀


(This brilliant tweet comes from Beth Ashley; we can't quite remember where it was first found.)
 

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