Apple Mail and Gmail change the first impression of your emails
Apple Mail and Gmail change the first impression of your campaign emails
It is no longer certain that the subject line and preview text alone are the first thing recipients encounter. Apple itself describes how Apple Intelligence can automatically display summaries below emails in the inbox, and that users can choose summaries instead of the first lines of the most recent message.
Gmail takes a different approach. In the Promotions tab, brands can use annotations so that Gmail displays images, deals and expiry dates directly in the inbox. Google also describes how rich previews can bring the most valuable parts of an email to the fore through image previews and deal badges.
What does this mean for email marketing?
First and foremost, it means that the visual and textual first impression in the inbox is no longer shaped solely by the subject line and preview text. When Apple summarises the content of an email and Gmail can highlight campaign elements directly in Promotions, the email content itself becomes a greater part of the inbox experience. This is the practical consequence of the features that Apple and Google themselves describe.
Write for both people and inbox systems
This places new demands on the structure of your emails. The most important message should come early. Headlines must be clear. Offers, discount codes and expiry dates should not be buried. And if something is critical for clicks or purchases, it should not only appear in graphics, but also be clearly stated in text — and ideally supported by correct markup if you are actively working with Gmail Promotions annotations. Google's own best practices specifically point out that relevant information such as images, deals and expiry dates makes emails more likely to be seen and clicked on in the Promotions tab.
It's not about dropping the subject line and preview text
You still need to optimise both. But going forward, it's just as important to consider how the email itself is read, summarised and highlighted in the inbox. The first screenshot of your email no longer necessarily starts at the first pixel of your hero section. For some users, it already begins in the Apple Mail summary or in Gmail's Promotions preview.
