The email marketing landscape is undergoing a seismic shift with Apple’s iOS 18 update. If you’re a marketer, your carefully crafted email strategies will face new challenges – and opportunities. Let’s dive into three game-changing features that will reshape how your guests interact with your emails.

Here are the top 3 changes to prepare for:

• Preview text: AI-generated email recaps to replace preview text
• Inbox categorization: Sorts mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions
• Digest view: Groups all of the messages from one sender into a single bundle

1. AI takes over preview text

Starting in October 2024, Apple made a notable shift in the space when they rolled out a new suite of AI-powered features known as Apple Intelligence, available with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 and currently available on the following devices:

• iPhone 16 (all models)
• iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPads with A17 Pro or M1 and later
• Macs with M1 or later

Now, Apple Intelligence will analyze your email content and create a summary to be displayed as preview text. This will dramatically change how a user might see emails at a glance, which could, in turn, significantly impact email open rates down the road.

And if you aren’t a marketer and haven’t heard of preview text, it’s the text that gives you a sneak peek of what’s inside the email — the snippet following the subject line, aka pre-header text or a snippet. Until now, marketers have had much control over what is shown here, although it can be rendered differently depending on the recipient’s inbox settings.

Keep in mind that, for now, this is only in Apple Mail’s inbox, and not all users are using the newest software versions. To limit it even more, recipients must have opted into Apple Intelligence. So, while it is a significant change, it will only apply to a small subset of your database.

1.1 What this means for your strategy

These changes don’t mean you need to re-do your entire email marketing strategy to get readers to open your emails. Still, you should prioritize some best practices and ensure your content is clearly conveyed to avoid AI misinterpreting the email.

1. Optimize subject lines more than ever. Get your main message across in your subject line. That way, even if your AI summary is slightly off, the reader will understand what the email is about. Remember that 37 is the character limit visible limit for most iPhone models.
2. Avoid image-heavy emails. Stick to the 60/40 rule (60% text / 40% images), as AI may misinterpret your images and ALT text.
3. Keep an eye on your open rates. If your emails are clear and AI interprets them correctly, your open rates shouldn’t change much.

Since not all your recipients are on Apple’s latest software update, you need to continue optimizing your preview text for legacy systems and non-Apple users.

Apple Mail is shaking up the status quo by limiting our control over preview text and instead leaving it in the hands of AI. Giving up control over those ~80 characters seems like a big deal to marketers, but this change isn’t happening overnight, and we still have plenty of time to optimize, test, and adjust to what is coming.

2. Inbox Categorization beyond the Primary Tab

If you’re a Gmail user, Inbox Categorization isn’t new. Google has been doing this for years. Apple will now sort emails into one of these four categories:

1. Primary (most important)
2. Transactions (financial related)
3. Updates (notifications and newsletters)
4. Promotions (marketing emails)

2.1 Standing out in a segmented world

The main difference between Apple and Google’s categorizations? Apple processes these categories on-device, unlike Gmail’s cloud-based categorization. Meaning your emails might land differently for different guests. Here’s how to adapt:

• Leverage time-sensitivity: iOS 18.2 automatically pushes time-sensitive messages to the Primary inbox, regardless of category. Use this to your advantage for urgent promotions.
• Strategic timing: Include clear expiration dates for deals to trigger time-sensitivity filters.
• Think seasonal: Clearly state time-limited offers in your holiday campaigns and Black Friday deals to prevent them from being overlooked.

And while you might think that the Primary tab is the north star, that is not always the case. While landing in the Promotions tab may initially lead to fewer opens, in the long run, it could lead to a more interested audience for those who do open the email.

3. Apple’s Digest View: The new email bundle

The new Digest View bundles messages from a single sender into a unified message, making interacting with your email easier for the guest, but the most significant shift in how users consume emails, potentially affecting your open rates and engagement metrics.

This means that your emails might not be displayed individually, but the guest will be provided with a summary or snippet of your emails. The guest can then expand to read the entire message or keep them collapsed.

See Digest View in action here: Digest View in action

3.1 Standing out in the Digest View era

• Front-load value: Your first message in a digest needs to capture attention immediately.
• Vary content types: Mix up your content strategy to make each email distinct and worthy of individual attention.
• Strategic sending schedule: Consider how your emails will appear when grouped together.

Looking ahead: The future of email marketing

These changes are geared towards improving the end users’ experience. As always, the age-old email marketing techniques will stay true. Here are a few to keep in mind:

• Quality over quantity: With bundled emails, each message must deliver clear value.
• Enhanced personalization: Use data-driven insights to make your messages more relevant and timely.
• Continuous testing: Regularly A/B test different approaches to find what works best with these new features

Remember: While these changes may seem daunting, they ultimately push us toward better, more meaningful email marketing. Focus on creating valuable, timely content that serves your audience’s needs, and you’ll continue to succeed regardless of how it’s delivered.