Introduction
In 2019, Google introduced AMP email marketing to combat dwindling attention spans and help marketers grab eyeballs in overflowing inboxes. These emails, with interactive features like carousels, accordions, product catalogs, add-to-cart, games, and order tracking, allowed shoppers to browse, search, purchase, and track within the confines of their inbox’s familiarity. It elevated email’s status from static, text-laden messages to e-malls that offered a dynamic shopper experience similar to SMS, WhatsApp, Ads, apps, and web push notifications.
You might wonder, “How did a simple upgrade make such a difference?”Read through the blog as we attempt to discover the “what and why” of amp email marketing and how to implement it while highlighting the key benefits you won’t find with traditional HTML emails.
What Is Amp For Email?
Imagine seamlessly completing a purchase or scheduling an appointment directly from your inbox. This is the power of AMP email marketing, a revolutionary technology that transforms static emails into dynamic experiences. Gone are the days of clunky links and frustrating navigation.
With AMP, emails become interactive hubs, allowing users to engage with features like forms, carousels, accordions, quizzes, and real-time data – all within the familiar comfort of their inboxes. This innovative technology bridges the gap between email and the dynamic experiences users crave, boosting engagement and simplifying business and customer interactions.
Simply put, it is a framework that injects interactivity into emails, similar to the dynamic experiences we’re used to on websites.
Ever booked a hotel and dreaded filling out a lengthy survey on a separate website? AMP email marketing changes that. With just a few clicks, you can provide feedback on your recent stay using interactive elements like forms or star ratings without leaving your email. AMP in email marketing eliminates the need for frustrating website redirects, making interactions quicker and more convenient.
How are AMP Emails Different From Regular Emails?
Traditional or HTML emails have been the mainstay of email marketing for years. They’re used for everything from promotional campaigns to transactional updates. However, they primarily rely on static content and offer limited interactivity. You can reply, forward, and click on links, but that’s about it. They’re like electronic brochures—you can see the information but can’t directly interact with it.
However, interactive emails that AMP powers break free from these constraints. They usher in a new age of email engagement, where emails become dynamic hubs for interaction. Users can actively participate within the email, eliminating the need for frustrating back-and-forth clicks and website visits. This shift transforms emails from passive notifications into powerful tools for driving action and building deeper customer relationships.
Following is a side-by-side in-depth comparison of both formats for you to decide which one stands out as the most reliable to win the battle of conquering inboxes in a digital world cluttered with spam:-
Did You Know? AMP email generated 41% conversion against 11% of traditional HTML emails.
Having established the concept of AMP email marketing, their advantages over traditional emails, and their potential to transform email interactions, let’s delve deeper into the building blocks that make this technology tick. In the section of this post, we’ll dissect the three core components of an AMP email and understand their importance in crafting engaging and interactive email experiences.
What Are The Components Of An AMP Email Marketing?
Ditch those clumsy links in your emails! Gone are the days of frustrating redirects – now you can browse product carousels, schedule appointments, or even get live updates directly within your inbox. What makes this magic possible? It’s all thanks to AMP HTML components, categorized into three key groups:
1. Media components
2. Dynamic components
3. Layout components
But before we dive into every component, you must understand that AMP HTML and regular HTML build web pages are different. Apart from their respective doctype being <html ⚡4email data-css-strict> and <html>, AMP HTML is a streamlined subset designed for blazing-fast mobile load times. It achieves this by following stricter guidelines:
1. Limited Tags: AMP HTML restricts certain functionalities like custom JavaScript to prioritize core rendering.
2. Asynchronous Resources: Non-critical elements like ads or analytics load asynchronously, preventing them from slowing down initial page rendering.
3. AMP Caching: AMP leverages Google’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve cached versions of your pages, further boosting performance.
Media Components
Bring your emails to life with stunning visuals! AMP’s media components, including amp-img and amp-anim, let you effortlessly embed images and GIFs within your emails. This eliminates the need for clunky attachments or external links, keeping your recipients engaged without them ever leaving their inbox.
Effortless Image Embedding with amp-img
The component lets you add stunning images instead of heavy and irrelevant attachments directly within your emails. There is no need for extra steps – simply specify the image source, width, and height for optimal layout across all email clients. For a truly engaging experience, consider using the responsive attribute to ensure your images adapt perfectly to any device.
1. You must specify the image source (src) and its dimensions (width and height) for optimal viewing across email clients. This ensures your images appear correctly, regardless of the device they’re viewed on.
- <amp-img src=”img.jpg” width=”350″ height=”200″>
2. Want your images to adapt seamlessly to any screen size? The responsive attribute is your friend! Adding this attribute creates a flexible layout that automatically adjusts your images for optimal viewing on any device.
- <layout=”responsive” alt=”My Image”\>
3. For even more granular control, consider using the srcset attribute. This allows you to specify different image versions for various screen sizes and pixel densities, similar to how it works in non-AMP images.
Lively Animations with amp-anim
Want to add some movement to your emails? The component allows you to embed GIFs seamlessly. Plus, AMP optimizes these animations for reduced CPU usage, ensuring a smooth experience for your recipients.
Dynamic Components
AMP’s dynamic components (amp-form, amp-selector, amp-bind, amp-image-lightbox, amp-state, amp-mustache, and amp-list) transform emails into interactive hubs. Imagine forms, menus, and personalized content – all within the inbox. Engage your audience in a whole new way.
Effortless Forms With amp-form
Make taking action within your emails a breeze! The component lets you create interactive forms with input fields. Users can submit information directly via email, boosting engagement and eliminating the need to visit separate web pages.
Interactive Selection With amp-selector
This allows you to control the list of options and help users choose an option. The contents can also go beyond the text. For example, you can include it as a list in your AMP emails.
Data Binding And Personalization With Amp-bind
This component unlocks the power of dynamic content. It allows you to link data points within your email to JavaScript expressions, enabling personalized experiences and real-time updates.
Advanced Interactivity With amp-state
For even more dynamic email possibilities, consider amp-state. This component provides a foundation for building custom interactive elements beyond what pre-built AMP components offer.
Enhanced Image Viewing With amp-image-lightbox
Create a captivating experience when users click on images! The component displays images in a lightbox format, bringing them to the center of attention for a more immersive experience.
Personalized Content With amp-mustache
Tailor your emails to each recipient with amp-mustache. This component allows you to integrate dynamic content using templates that reference information stored on your backend. The result? Highly personalized emails that resonate better with each user, potentially boosting conversion rates.
Fetching Dynamic Content With amp-list
Want to showcase real-time data or updates in your emails? The component comes to the rescue. It retrieves dynamic elements from a designated endpoint of CORS JSON, allowing you to integrate live content seamlessly.
Layout Components
Craft visually stunning and user-friendly emails with layout components. It empowers you to create emails that look great and are a breeze to navigate for your recipients. These layout components, including amp-carousel, amp-fit-text, amp-layout, amp-sidebar, and amp-accordion, provide the building blocks for a seamless user experience:
Organized Content With amp-accordion
This component improves readability and user navigation. It creates expandable sections, allowing users to quickly glance at the content outline and jump to specific sections they’re interested in. Clicking on a section heading expands or collapses its corresponding content, promoting a more scannable reading experience.
Eye Catchy Visuals With amp-carousel
Showcase your visuals in a captivating way with an amp carousel. This component creates a carousel that lets users swipe through multiple images or content snippets, keeping your audience engaged. There is no need to worry about image sizes – simply define the carousel’s height, and AMP takes care of the rest!
Perfect Text Fit, Every Time With amp-fit-text
Ensure your text displays flawlessly across all devices. This component automatically adjusts the size of your text to fit within a defined space, guaranteeing optimal readability on any screen.
More Responsive Layouts With amp-layout
Consider using amp-layout for more control over your email’s layout and responsiveness. This component offers various options to fine-tune how your content is displayed and ensures it adapts seamlessly to different devices.
Enable Sidebar Navigation With amp-sidebar
Offer additional navigation options with an amp-sidebar. This component creates a collapsible sidebar that can house menus, buttons, or other relevant content. Users can access the sidebar for more information while keeping sight of the leading email content.
You might be wondering how to put it all together. Fear not, even if coding isn’t your forte. Our user-friendly, no-code editor with drag-and-drop functionality and pre-built components empowers anyone to experiment and build interactive AMP email experiences for maximum impact.
Now that we’ve explored the building blocks of AMP emails – the various components that power interactivity and visual appeal –let’s delve into the practical advantages they bring. In the next section, we’ll discover how AMP emails can revolutionize your email marketing strategy by boosting engagement, driving conversions, and strengthening your connection with your audience.
Benefits Of AMP Email In Marketing
1. Better engaging emails
Forget static emails collecting dust in inboxes! AMP email marketing technology shatters limitations, transforming emails into visually stunning and interactive experiences. Imagine ditching clumsy attachments and replacing them with captivating product carousels, engaging animations, and even real-time content updates – all within the familiar comfort of your inbox.
This shift from static messages to dynamic content isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about capturing user attention and driving engagement. By incorporating visually appealing and actionable elements, brands can tempt users to interact with their emails in a new way.
2. Dynamic and up-to-date automated content
Imagine this: A customer browses your website and adds items to their cart but needs to complete the purchase. Traditionally, a static email reminder might not be enough to bring them back. Here’s where AMP emails shine! With AMP email marketing, you can embed dynamic CTAs directly within your emails. This could be a “Complete Your Purchase” button that seamlessly takes users to their cart or a “Shop Similar Items” option that keeps them engaged. The possibilities are endless!
By leveraging AMP’s interactive CTAs, you can strategically target users at different stages of their lifecycle, like nudging them to complete abandoned carts and ultimately driving more sales and conversions.
3. Increased time spent on email
The longer users interact with your emails, the deeper the connection they build with your brand. This increased engagement isn’t just a vanity metric; it directly translates into higher conversion rates and, ultimately, stronger customer relationships.
4. Better customer experience
Traditional emails often feel congested and require users to jump through hoops to take action. AMP email marketing changes the game. By offering dynamic content and interactive features like carousels, accordions, games, forms, etc., they keep users engaged for longer.
Imagine browsing product carousels, RSVPing to events, or completing purchases directly within the email! This eliminates the need to visit separate web pages or apps, creating a seamless and frictionless user experience.
After implementing AMP email marketing, YourStory, a renowned media platform that reports about India’s startups and entrepreneurs, has reached an impressive milestone. 5.5X uplift in registrations of an event, an 85% contribution to the overall registrations.
5. Hyper-personalization of content
No more website detours. Users can subscribe to a service, agree to participate in an event, choose a product from catalogs, transact to secure the delivery, and more, all directly in the email. This streamlines actions and fosters a smoother user experience, perfect for personalized and interactive email marketing campaigns.
6. Higher ROI
AMP transforms email marketing into visually captivating experiences with valuable, actionable content and real-time updates. This shift empowers email marketers to design campaigns with useful, actionable content and real-time updates, all without redirects that can disrupt the shopper’s journey. The result? A more seamless and engaging experience which translates to higher open rates, click-throughs, and a significant boost in brand popularity and ROI.
7. Better email deliverability and inboxing
Traditionally, email deliverability hinged on factors like domain reputation and sending time. AMP email marketing elevates this game by prioritizing user engagement. Interactive elements like carousels and forms within the email encourage recipients to take action, leading to positive signals for email providers. These signals, coupled with AMP’s strict security protocols that minimize spam and phishing risks, build trust with ISPs, ultimately increasing the chances of your emails landing directly in inboxes.
The engaging possibilities of AMP interactive emails are clear, but translating that potential into reality requires a practical approach. Here’s where platforms like Netcore Cloud offer a streamlined process to implement AMP email campaigns for your marketing efforts.
How To Send AMP Emails With The Ideal Email Service Provider (ESP)?
You’re brimming with ideas for interactive, engaging AMP emails – we get it! But before diving headfirst into template creation, you must make a crucial pit stop. Understanding these essential elements will ensure smooth takeoff and position your campaigns for success.
1. AMP works if the webpage content sent via email is created with an additional MIME type, HTML format—text-x-amp HTML.
2. To send AMP-powered emails, you must get your domain whitelisted with Gmail and Yahoo.
3. To send AMP emails to your users, your settings need to be proper:
a. Your emails should pass SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication.
b. Your email settings need to have a dedicated envelope.
c. Your sending domain reputation with Gmail should be medium to high.
Did you know? Recovering from a lousy sender reputation is possible within the blink of an eye. Here is how it is done.
With the necessary groundwork laid, follow these steps to convert your emails into one-point shoppable destinations and drive multifold conversions within the inbox:-
- Discuss a use case in your organization’s AMP for Email’ with your automation partner
- Platforms usually need some essential resources from you to craft your ideal AMP email template. These include visual representations like wireframes or mockups, all your email copy (headlines, body text, etc.), high-quality images, and your brand’s style guide. These materials will allow the partner team to design an AMP email that perfectly reflects your vision and brand identity.
- If the template has any input fields or data to be collected from your recipients, the data will be handled at your end (database) with endpoints as required.
- The ‘AMP for Email’ templates will be tested in the AMP Playground by sending a test email to the developer’s email address.
- Parallel to the AMP Email template, ask the vendor to create a fallback HTML template for clients that do not support ‘AMP for Email.’
- Once the ‘AMP for Email templates is ready, apply for sender domain verification with Gmail, which takes 1-2 weeks. The AMP sender domain verification is a one-time task.
- You must send the AMP email to Gmail for approval. It needs to be an actual, production-ready email coming from your production servers (or a server with similar SPF/DKIM/DMARC/From:/Return- Path: headers), including the dynamic email MIME part to [email protected].
- The next step includes filling out a Gmail registration form.
- Once the form is submitted, Google will send the form data to the action-xhr URL, where the sender needs to attach an access token to the URL, which will be unique to the email id and in an encrypted form.
- On the receiving end, your platform partner will set up the security or authentication handler, which will validate requests coming from Gmail Proxy based on the sender ID and access token.
- The developers will usually perform tests to ensure everything is in order.
- After successful testing, your campaign will go live in multiple batches.
Conclusion
Emails are poised to usher in a new era for email marketing with AMP. It has enabled interactive experiences, personalized content, and engagement that transcends the limitations of traditional emails. Challenges remain in widespread adoption, but the potential for creativity is boundless. As this technology evolves, a collaborative spirit is critical. By working together – marketers, developers, and email service providers – we can unlock AMP emails’ full potential and redefine how we connect with audiences in our inboxes.
