Why interactivity matters more than ever
All three experts agreed on one fundamental point:
email hasn’t evolved in decades, while customer expectations have.
Dimitri framed it simply: people expect instant, on-screen actions everywhere — apps, sites, tools — but email still forces them to click away and “go somewhere else” to complete even basic tasks.
That friction is exactly what interactive emails remove.
What changes when interactivity is embedded inside email
Higher engagement because the user stays where the action happens
Faster response loops (e.g., forms, surveys, bookings, feedback)
Meaningfully higher conversion rates
Dimitri shared a striking example: adding a simple form directly in the email (instead of forcing a website click) produced 5× more responses for one of his clients.
Aquib echoed the same pattern:
"Brands using interactive elements for feedback collected 3–4× more responses, and abandoned-cart flows with inside-email actions saw 50–60% higher conversions."
Matthew added a broader view:
"With inbox competition increasing every year, interactivity isn’t just
beneficial — it’s becoming a way to stand out and set yourself above
everything else your customer sees.”
Instead of treating email as a place to send people away, interactive email turns it into a place where business processes actually happen.
The experts broke this down across three major areas:
This is the most universal use case.
Everything from:
…moves inside the inbox.
Aquib shared multiple amp email examples where interactive forms didn’t just improve engagement — they drastically improved outcomes:
Event registration inside email → higher attendance
Referral forms inside email → instant growth loops
Insurance premium calculators → more call-back requests
2. Gamification
Gamification came up repeatedly — but not as “cute tricks.”
Used intentionally, it builds anticipation, repeat engagement, and loyalty.
Matthew shared results from:
Dimitri demonstrated deeper, creative game flows:
Valentine’s puzzles that matched user-found words to custom outcomes
Christmas pixel boards where users “drew” postcards in-email
Memory games with tiles representing brand assets or products
One campaign he ran achieved a 27% click-to-open rate, purely through gamified interaction.
3. Embedded Workflow Actions
This is where interactive email becomes transformational.
Matthew offered examples from SaaS and workflow-heavy industries:
Live contract status inside the email
Real-time parcel tracking that updates every time the email is opened
Multi-step patient intake processes inside healthcare emails
These aren’t gimmicks — they’re core business operations moved into the inbox.
Why adoption has been slow
Despite clear benefits, interactive email still isn’t mainstream.
Here’s why, according to the experts — and how to overcome it.
1. Perception of complexity
Marketers assume interactive email requires:
Dimitri addressed this directly:
"Marketers aren’t coders, and that’s been the biggest bottleneck".
2. The cost of doing it “just once”
If interactivity is treated as a one-off experiment, it’s expensive and hard to justify.
All three experts emphasized this:
"The value compounds only when interactivity becomes part of your
marketing rhythm, not a one-time stunt."
How to win internal buy-in
Their advice was unified:
Benchmark one recurring campaign (e.g., newsletter) to show quick wins
Move on to triggered journeys (where the real ROI lies)
Show uplift in conversion and engagement, not just clicks
Tie everything to downstream revenue
Aquib added the simplest framing to convince leadership:
"Interactive email reduces friction → friction reduction increases
revenue."
Do interactive emails hurt deliverability?
Thomas raised a question many marketers have:
“Will interactive emails land in promotions or spam?”
The audience poll overwhelmingly voted “myth”, and Matthew confirmed it.
The expert consensus
AMP for email or interactive elements do not hurt deliverability
Promotions tab placement is mostly driven by your sending patterns, not interactivity
Higher engagement from interactivity often improves deliverability over time
The only caveat: some older HTML-based interactive techniques could increase spam score, but that’s not how modern interactive email is implemented.
When you shouldn’t use interactive email
Aquib was clear and direct:
if your email requires no action — e.g., password resets, OTPs — interactivity is unnecessary.
The limitation isn’t usefulness, but relevance.
He also noted the practical constraint:
AMP isn’t supported everywhere (e.g., Apple Mail), but fallback HTML ensures nothing breaks — non-AMP users simply see the standard version.
Why marketers can finally adopt interactive email without coding
Dimitri explained the reality:
AMP requires AMP HTML, regular HTML, and plaintext in one email — and a single error can break it.
Historically, that made interactive email feel like “rocket science.”
But his metaphor was perfect:
“Just like reusable modules changed rocket launches, reusable
interactive modules will change email.”
Aquib expanded on this from Mailmodo’s perspective:
most use cases repeat across brands (forms, polls, games, calculators)
these can be templatized
fallback versions can be auto-generated
marketers no longer need coding or engineering timelines
Marketers can finally create interactive experiences as easily as building any other email.
Key takeaways
Interactive email isn’t a trend — it’s a functional shift.
The experts were unanimous: it reduces customer effort, increases engagement, and drives measurable revenue lifts across industries.
From forms to games to embedded workflows, the most successful brands treat interactivity as an ongoing extension of customer experience, not a one-off campaign. Tools now remove the coding barrier, deliverability isn’t harmed, and the ROI shows up quickly when used in recurring or triggered journeys.
