In the age of digital content, generating email that engages is a way of producing a competitive edge.

There are many ways to generate interactive emails. The options range from inserting videos and quizzes to gamification.

It’s worth remembering that interactivity, in the case of email campaigns, begins with the communication of the message and ends with a direct action by the user. The intention is for them to actively participate in the process.

In this way, it is possible to generate a connection and, consequently, a closer relationship between the brand and the lead who gets involved in the actions.

For example: a click to conclude an idea; the insertion of a comment; selectable buttons within the layout, among other ways of attracting and retaining the consumer’s attention are part of the strategies.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways to captivate leads using emails that stimulate immediate user action.

What is AMP email

AMP email began as a result of a Google project created in 2015 to improve the loading speed of websites on cell phones.

Over time, AMP technology – Accelerated Mobile Pages – has also been used in emails and has achieved great success, since through it, messages gain a lot in terms of interactivity with readers.

Thanks to this innovation, it is now possible to make a restaurant reservation via email, for example.

It works like this: the message includes available dates for the reservation, where the user clicks on the date and time they want and that’s it. The reservation is made!

How to generate AMP emails

To generate an AMP email, you need to know that there is technical documentation for this creation and that the result you create also goes through validation, registration and approval processes by email providers such as Gmail.

If you are going to create your email yourself, we recommend that you visit the official AMP website (https://amp.dev/) which provides guides, tutorials and the complete API reference for developing in AMP, including specific sections for AMP emails.

There are numerous online tools that allow you to generate AMP emails easily, such as Stripo, Emaildojo and others.

Which email services does AMP work with?

Despite being a very interesting open source technology, AMP emails don’t work with all email providers and clients.

Among webmails, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Mail.ru and AOL are among those that support AMP emails. Hotmail/Outlook.com has announced experimental support for AMP, so it may not be available for all users or features.

As for email clients, things are much more restricted and complex: MS Outlook doesn’t support AMP email, as it focuses on more traditional standards such as HTML and CSS. Mozilla’s Thunderbird also doesn’t support AMP Email, as does IBM notes.

Therefore, before planning an AMP email, check the behavior of your recipients and prefer actions that target those who use webmail the most. Corporate environments will tend to struggle, as they use more email clients.

First and foremost, focus on quality and the inbox!

It’s important to remember that there’s no point in generating interactive emails if the message doesn’t reach the recipient’s inbox.

For this reason, email verification should be part of building and maintaining contact lists, taking into account the applications of email marketing in Inbound and Outbound Marketing.

AMP email resources include gamification, interactive calculators, RSVP for events, quizzes, among others.

Although it doesn’t interfere with email marketing strategies, it’s important to know that AMP technology only lasts a short time.

After 30 days from the date of sending, the message loses its interactive function and becomes static, and can only be viewed in HTML.

Basic interactive emails

Of course, AMP technology is not the only way to generate interactive emails. It is possible to create emails that enable interaction, without requiring more advanced knowledge of programming or specialized creation software.

Let’s take a look at some frequently used techniques:

• Insertion of animated Gifs highlighting buttons, photos or any element that requires user interference to click or access. The function here is to attract attention through movement.

• Addition of video thumbnails, prompting the user to click to watch.

• Selectable icons, where the reader clicks on the one that represents their choice.

• Quizzes, where the recipient can click to select an answer and see if it is correct in the destination URL.

Unlike AMP technology, ordinary interactive emails do not lose their interactive function.

The difference between generating AMP emails and generating basic interactive emails

Think of an AMP email as if it were a web page, running in the body of the email. As a result, the user’s action is immediate and almost entirely carried out within the body of the email itself.

An ordinary interactive email is an absolutely normal email message, containing stimulating elements for interaction, which can be a button, an animated Gif or even a link.

How to generate a common interactive email: what not to do

The biggest problem with generating interactive emails is being careful with content that could easily be mistaken for spam.

This is because the recipients’ ISPs have very demanding criteria, especially with regard to the weight of the emails and the images used.

For example, if a message exceeds 500 kb, it is already classified as spam. Therefore, work with image compression in Gif, Jpeg and PNG extensions.

Another recommendation is never to generate an email entirely in image format. This represents a major risk for the sender, since the message may not load on the recipient’s screen if there is a problem with the destination server.

In addition, good email marketing practices recommend a ratio of 40% images to 60% text, and anti-spam filters take this recommendation into account.

In other words, if you don’t want to be mistaken for a spammer, be careful with images. And check your emails frequently.

Stay tuned

As common interactive emails require users to move their screen, this may not be supported by the structure of some recipient servers.

This means: you create your interactive email and when the message reaches the recipient, the action cannot be completed.

Why does this happen? There are several answers. Outlook, for example, doesn’t have the structure to support various interactive features.

In addition, you need to check the responsiveness of the motion action on mobile devices. Does the structure of cell phones support the interactive features of your email?

To check these and other details that could cause your campaigns to plummet or take off, run tests.

Before you send out your interactive emails, check the receptivity and correct rendering on various providers such as Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, among others, and remember cell phones!

Conclusion

It’s a fact that interactive emails increase engagement and click-through rates. After all, it’s their job to fulfill these objectives.

But in addition, generating emails that provoke direct action from the public creates connections and ends up bringing leads closer to the brand, since people’s involvement denotes interest and, above all, a persuasive strategy capable of generating positive results.

For those who can afford to invest in AMP technology, it’s important to be aware of the short lifespan of interactive emails.

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