AMP In Emails: How Can You Use It Effectively?
AMP by Google has been at the helm of attention for a couple of years as far as SEO is concerned, but there’s one more digital channel that is set to benefit tremendously from it: Emails. Yes, you heard it right; Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) brings two of the most used technologies, HTML and CSS, under one umbrella alongside JavaScript. This is, by far, the tech upgrade we needed, as no matter if you work with Mailchimp or with Klaviyo email templates, achieving near-website functionality was never possible.
With this improvement, emails will soon transform into websites like fully functional digital entities that can interact with other entities and technologies. In this article, I will walk you through the basics of AMP in emails and discuss how you can use it effectively in your email campaigns. Let’s get started:
What Is AMP And Why Email Marketers Need To Know About It
Despite the fact that as a technology, AMP isn’t widely used in emails even in 2022, Google introduced it way back in 2016. As discussed above, it is a framework that combines HTML, CSS, and JS that supports embedding functionalities like dynamic elements, API integration-enabled dynamic content blocks, and real-time synchronous and asynchronous data exchange between email templates and other platforms. Its need dates back to the early 00s when emails and websites shared nearly the same tech infrastructure and UI, which of course, turned drastically different due to the lack of technological upgrades in emails.
However, the lack of enthusiasm on the part of inbox providers wasn’t completely insensible either. Email-based scams have been a major concern for all email users ever since they became popular, supporting a more potent tech stack that could potentially serve malicious actors. Thus, Google AMP for emails will also face inertia to some extent, but it is likely to get broader acceptance in the days to come.
Getting Started With AMP-Enabled Emails
To get started with AMP-enabled emails, you must fulfill a few prerequisites, which also include filling out a (now obsolete) form to manually verify your sending credentials. To begin with, you must ensure compliance with Gmail bulk senders guidelines with limited spam complaints against your sender’s IP address.
Next, you must have yourself verified on DKIM, DMARC, and SPF’s platforms, respectively. To improve your odds of getting AMP emails, email to ampforemail.whit[email protected] to see if your AMP emails are up to the mark.
When it comes to coding templates for AMP, you must add the suffix “amp” to the elements when coding templates. Here’s an example:
| AMP Element | Code |
| Forms | <amp-form> |
| Dynamic list | <amp-list> |
| Accordions | <amp-accordion> |
| Carousel | <amp-carousel> |
| Images | <amp-image> |
On top of these elements, there are many other dynamic elements like AMP Anim, AMP Timeago, and AMP LightBox that you can use. The framework also adds MIME to the code as Gmail itself blocks JavaScript renderings. All in all, you will be able to develop and render PWA (Progressive Web Apps) type Klaviyo email templates for your email efforts.
Applications Of AMP In Email Marketing
With the flexibility that comes with the introduction of AMP in emails, it is natural for you to be excited as a marketer. However, this isn’t something completely new for the users, as Google has itself been a forerunner when it comes to using AMP for emails. In the below example, you can see how messages regarding activity on the Google Workspace are rendered using AMP to give a near-native user experience to the recipients:
Thus, you can expect a decent improvement in the user experience which, combined with the fact that emails provide you with single-channel access to the user interactions since no other brand/message is competing for your recipient’s attention, you can achieve much more than just displaying messages. Here’s an example of using AMP-enabled email templates to send an interactive, dynamic email:
Thus you can send emails that contain replies to user comments, actions taken on your platform (if you are a SaaS company,) messages seeking permissions and workflow-based approvals, and a variety of marketing materials. This includes features like adding a dynamic timer, polls, hyper-personalized offers, and gamified in-mail marketing offers.
With that being said, it is extremely necessary that you include a simple HTML version of the AMP-enabled template that suffices enough value on a standalone basis. This is a necessary step as many email clients may block AMP-enabled emails due to their respective security policies. Also, as far as your AMP-enabled email template, make sure you limit their file size to a maximum of 100 KBs.
Thus, we can agree with the fact that AMP can be implemented across all types of emails sent currently to improve their functional capabilities. In a way, AMP allows you to go beyond your existing email marketing strategies and approach each email type in a more creative manner.
Summing Up
Despite the fact that AMP has been around for more than six years, it is yet to realize its full potential. As an email marketer, this is a great opportunity as you can capitalize on the feeble market traction and provide your subscribers with an unparalleled email experience. AMP helps you improve both aesthetic and functional aspects of your emails, so it is going to be as effective as your ability to imagine!
Author: Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.
